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Yoko Ogoawa is one of my favorite authors - and one of her books is on sale today for kindle (not sure about other formats). Needless to say I think it‘s a good book... so if you‘ve been meaning to check it out, now is a good time. 😁

"The Housekeeper and The Professor" is a quaint story of how kindness and compassion bring people together. This wasn't my favourite Yōko Ogawa book, but I still enjoyed it - 3 stars.

My full review is up on my blog now ?

https://wellreadneck.wordpress.com/2019/04/19/the-housekeeper-and-the-professor-...

This one gets filed under liked but didn‘t love. It is a sweet story about a housekeeper and her son who form lasting bonds with her employer, a professor who only has 80 minutes of short term memory. I love books about the families you choose for yourself but admit that I could have done with less math.

A short and sweet story about a friendship that develops between a brilliant math professor with a brain injury and his housekeeper and her son. I loved the gentleness and simplicity, and the ode to the maths! #Booked2019 #newtoyouauthor

A charming, touching story of a single mother with a young son,who works as a Housekeeper for a mathematics professor in Japan. The Professor has been in an accident ,and only has eighty minutes of short term memory. He and the boy share a love of baseball. This is a photo of the Professor‘s favorite player,Enatsu who still holds the record for strikeouts. I am not a fan of math or baseball (still loved it!),but if you are, all the better!

Slim, spare, and thought-provoking book exploring the relationships between a brain damaged mathematician, his housekeeper, and the housekeeper‘s son. Ogawa packs a lot to think about in a mere 180 pages. Highly recommend.

Current read. #mttbr

I finished this yesterday and then took a hike in the woods. Such a good book! It‘s written by a Japanese author and takes place there. It follows, as the title suggests, a professor and his housekeeper. Their story is unique though bc the professor can only remember the previous 80 minutes so each day he meets the housekeeper anew. They have a lovely relationship. Recommend!

Reading this book was a pleasant surprise since I knew nothing about it when it was recommended to me. I thoroughly enjoyed all of the mathematical discussions. It‘s also my new favorite of the Japanese novels I‘ve read.

The Professor explains that as numbers get bigger, the distance between primes becomes greater until searching for them becomes like wandering through a desert in search of water. This book has some beautiful things to say about mathematical relationships and concepts.

The time period was from back in the days that I followed Baltimore Orioles baseball on the radio. I had never heard of this pitcher in #Japanese #baseball whose pitching record was greater than that of American players. It took this novel for me to learn about Yutaka Enatsu - who was not a fictitious character but rather a legendary baseball #pitcher in #Japan.

One thing that makes me crazy is when young authors describe older people with one foot in the grave! Being seventy myself, I am acutely aware of this. The author was probably about 23 years old when this novel was published. His 64-year-old protagonist “looked older and somewhat haggard...his back was so badly hunched...the wrinkles on his bony neck...snow-white hair...voice was feeble...movements were slow”. He was in his 60s, not his 90s!

I decided to read this book for a challenge on #LibraryThing to read a book where the author‘s last name starts with a vowel – A, E, I, O, or U and for this challenge Y is included. I don‘t know anything about this novel other than it has been translated from #Japanese. Its original title was Hakase. I‘ll have to ask my older son what that means.

I am so glad I decided to give a book I originally DNF another try. I absolutely loved this book. 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Picking up this DNF in hopes of completing it this time.

A thousand thank yous to @MayJasper for sending me this beautiful book😍 I‘m much looking foward to reading it!!

Update - I am liking this book alot. It is a joy to read about human kindness and compassion and I am enjoying the mathematics too. I am not proficient enough to understand all the maths but it doesn't spoil the story.
@ju.ca.no

Lucky me I get to start a new book today. This one was another Litsy swap gift from @Izai.Amorim 😊

🌸 🌺 🌹💐🌷🌼🌻 #riotgrams

Thank you for picking this title, @JenP , it's fantastic! I'm looking forward to reading this one 😁👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻! This is the sixth and last pick--my June selection. Thank you!!! (I'll do this again in June for the rest of the year's selections 👍🏻.) #LittenPicksTBR

Last book of the year for me. 110 📚 this year.

I like how I am also learning about mathematics from this book 😂

Had a nice meeting with @scripturient today and what do Littens do? Book shopping. 😉

Amazing book. I fell in love with each character. LOTS of talk about math but don‘t let that scare you. Each problem is explained. Even the stuff you don‘t get is fine, the cadence & love the Professor has is what‘s important. If anything else this author write is half as good it will be excellent. Cassandra Campbell does the narration & gives this a quiet, loving feel that lulls you into the story without putting you to sleep. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

I was used to absurd demands from my employers—that I wear a different colour ribbon in my hair every day; that the water for tea be precisely 165 degrees; that I recite a little prayer every evening when Venus rose in the night sky—so the old woman's request struck me as relatively straightforward.

A thoughtful story about friendship and quiet lives. There was a bit too much math for me, but I admired the professor's passion for his subject and the way it allowed him to cope with his impaired memory (90 minutes only). The setting is vivid, following ordinary Japanese lives. The housekeeper is a kind of fictional character I enjoy: earnest and somewhat distant. Authors Helen Humphreys and Jane Urquhart often write about similar people.

I'm getting good return on my reading investment when I learn incidental things about life in another country. In this case, that a new mother is sent home from hospital in Japan with a wooden box containing her baby's umbilical cord; someone will know the number of brushstrokes in her name; students wear name tags at school; attendance at neighbourhood association meetings is expected; slippers are provided at the entrance to some offices. 🇯🇵

English is such a tricky language. I read: "The cherry blossoms are just over in the park and the dogwood is about to bloom." In the movie in my head, I pictured petals all over the ground, but in fact, the characters go out and the cherries are in full bloom. In this case, "just over" means not far away, instead of meaning that the blossoms had just finished. Rewind movie, petals flying back up into the trees.

My #fivestarpredictions all of these have been on my TBR for awhile and I'm excited about every single one! @anansigirl how about you? @sprainedbrain

#fallintobooks day 4: #occupationintitle
Two occupations in one title - and such a wonderful book too

Expressing nothing as a number - zero. An unknown man from India made NONEXISTENCE EXIST. 🤓👌🏾

Firing on all cylinders right off the bat!

A sweet story about memory and math, translated from the Japanese.

..my Saturday #WEEKENDGIVEAWAY @Liberty

Lots to love here: Japan, Mathematics, Baseball and a Heart-warming relationship.

Just started this one -- my weekend read. I'm a sucker for books translated from Japanese.

Ordered a second copy of The Housekeeper and the Professor because I didn't get my loan back. Love this book! I plan to read the other two by the same author.

Yoko Ogawa has published more than twenty works of fiction and nonfiction, and has won every major Japanese literary award. The tagged novel has been a bestseller in Japan and adapted into a film. Both books were translated by Stephen Snyder.
#booksintranslation #readingwomenmonth @thereadingwomen

The housekeeper goes to work for a maths professor whose memory, damaged by an accident, lasts only 80 minutes. He communicates in maths terms: she is less educated but sensitive and non-judgmental, so learns to appreciate his love of numbers. The professor is kind to her son & they share a passion for baseball. Much is unspoken (what was his life like before the accident?), with a gentle message to treat people with respect, not condescension.

Today our bookclub meeting was held outside under the sakura (cherry blossoms). We discussed this months excellent pick, The Housekeeper and the Professor, while enjoying a bookclub hanami party. Hanami is a Japanese tradition of welcoming spring by picnicking under the blossoms. We had homemade sweets, local sake and bookish conversation. I am sunburnt and happy. 🌸🍶📚

#aprilbookshowers #womenintranslation some favourites and my next read (Yoko Ogawa). ☺️

It's enchanting.

It's 6:30pm on Sunday, but better late then never! Greetings from my #LitsyPartyofOne 📚🍷🍫 I'm diving into this month's bookclub pick, The Housekeeper and the Professor - a story about a man whose memory only lasts for 80 minutes, and the housekeeper who has to figure out how to care for him.

Japan immersion for #AprilTBR

Lovely spring day called for this excellent book📚🌸

#diversebooks #wocreads

A charming and relaxing read, full of humanity. Caring, familial love pours out of every page, and the eternal beauty of mathematics is often evoked. An enchanting read!

My best reads of February, both translations.

@NataliePatalie
#BestofFebruary #feistyFeb #translations

Many thanks to @JenP for bringing this book into my life where it immediately went to the top of my TBR pile. This story is at once heartwarming and heartbreaking. The reader is bound to love the three nameless characters at the center of this book. I know I did. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️