The Babysitters' Club

I used to love these books when I was a kid and decided to re-read them now that I'm often in need of simple, brainless activity. They totally hit the spot - great for reading a few pages while doing night-time feeds with Baby! I liked the thought that I was a child when I read them the first time and here I am now, re-visiting them with my own child in my arms.

The collection I got has the first three books - 'Kristy's Great Idea', 'Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls' and 'The Truth About Stacey'. I doubt you'd like them unless you read them as a kid - there's no great philosophy to the story lines, they're just about a group of 12-year-old girls who form a babysitting club. There are more books in the series than I remember, I'll see what's available on Bookmooch!

Hope everyone is doing well - I still don't have the hang of fitting blogging into my days, but I'm working on it! Everything else is going well, I'm loving being a Mom and dreading going back to work in June! :-)

Challenges: Flashback Challenge

A book and an update

The book first, though quickly. I needed a book for the Every Month is a Holiday Challenge and since September 30 is Botswana's national day, I read the fourth book in Alexander McCall Smith's No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, The Kalahari Typing School for Men. I love this whole series - the writing, the characters, the descriptions of daily life in Botswana... everything. They are all short and sweet and charming. This particular one is no exception - if you need something light and uplifting to read, I definitely recommend the entire series.

Challenges: 999 Challenge, Every Month is a Holiday Challenge

And my news. I had my 21-week scan this week and we found out that we're having a boy! I'm spending some time thinking about my future life as Mom to a little boy... it takes some getting used to, I was convinced I was having a girl. I'm thrilled to bits about this news though and so very excited. I can't wait till he's actually here!

Kindred

The first (and only) time I heard about Kindred by Octavia E. Butler was from Dewey's blog. I can't believe I'd never come across this book before, especially since I loved it so much that it might be my favorite read this year... Certainly one of my favorites anyway.

Kindred is the story of Dana, a black woman living in the 1970s, who on her 26th birthday somehow time travels to the antebellum South, with plantations, slaves, precursors to tje Ku-Klux Klan and everything. She eventually understands why this is happening to her and what her role is, but that knowledge doesn't make it any easier for a modern woman to take being treated like a slave, complete with whippings. It doesn't do wonders for her marriage to a white man either.

The story is original and beautifully written, plus the historical aspect is more than interesting. The author also asks some difficult questions about how easily we adapt to new places and circumstances... even if they are unthinkable to us at first.

Another one of those books that everyone should read!

Challenges: 999 Challenge, Dewey's Books, New Authors, Orbis Terrarum, Support your Local Library

P.S. The news I was waiting for is positive so I'm in a much better place. Thank you for all the warm words and wishes!

Karlson on the Roof

Astrid Lindgren is best known for the Pippi Longstocking character, but a friend of mine raved about Karlson so I wanted to check him out.

I wasn't blown away or anything, but then I'm not 7 and the main characters of this book are. Smidge is an ordinary boy with an ordinary life - except that he becomes friends with Karlson, a strange little man who lives on the roof of his building. Karlson can fly and he's the best at everything he tries, so makes for a very exciting playmate. I''m sure it's enchanting when you're in the right age group - or if you're re-reading it is an adult rather than reading it for the first time!

It was pleasant to read and exactly what I wanted for a couple of pages of light reading here and there in between more serious stuff.

Challenges: A-Z Challenge, 1st in a series, Lost in Translation, Themed Reading Challenge

Kitchen

I found out about this book by Banana Yoshimoto via the Japanese Literature 2 Challenge - thanks to all who reviewed it before me! It was very interesting to read something Japanese that wasn't by Murakami, who has such a specific style. Kitchen is in fact a bestseller in Japan and is regarded as a cult example of modern Japanese literature. Fascinating stuff.

My edition included not only Kitchen itself but also a novella called Moonlight Shadow. Although it dealt with the same themes, the second novella wasn't as inspiring to me as the first.

Kitchen has that title because of the main character's affinity to kitchen in general. They make Mikage feel comfortable - I loved the way Yoshimoto's writing (and Megan Backus' translation) really let us feel this. The words made me feel warm inside.

Mikage has to deal with many issues - grief, family, loss, love, transsexuality. The way she does so is beautiful. I know that can't literally be true, that it's the writing that makes it beautiful, but that's what I felt when I read. She loses her grandmother, gains some friends and then loses another person close to her, a mother-figure. So much to cope with and yet she manages and shows so much intelligence.

The way the author phrases emotions and deep thoughts is so emotive, so starkly simple and yet with so many sub-components. Here's a passage that really spoke to me:

Why is it that we have so little choice? We live like the lowliest worms. Always defeated - defeated we make dinner, we eat, we sleep. Everyone we love is dying. Still, to cease living is unacceptable.

There were many passages like this one - another (which I can't find) spoke about how ignoring death is like ignoring life since they are connected, part of one another. Beautiful sentiments.

I'm so glad I read this and hope you will try it!

Challenges: A-Z Challenge, Japanese Literature 2

Kafka on the shore

What a fantastic book! A great story, characters I liked, wonderful writing, oh and the references to mythology and literature. And it was pretty much a page-turner, not much more you can ask for really.

Haruki Murakami tells two stories in alternating chapters. One is of a 15-year-old boy named Kafka who runs away from home and is trying to make sense of things on his own. The other is of an old man named Nakata who as a child had an accident and after which he lost his memory and with it any education he'd received - he ended up alone and considered dumb. Oh and he can communicate with cats.

Their two stories are somehow connected, though not necessarily in the physical sense. While reading this book I had moments when I thought I understood what was going on, but they'd disappear fairly quickly. Even now, I'm pretty sure that there are many layers of the book that I just didn't get. Apparently Murakami himself said that the secret to understanding the novel lies in reading it multiple times...

I really loved the way normal life intertwined with the characters' inner life, how their physical quest mirrored their internal quest. And I loved the references to japanese literature, history and religion - it makes me want to read more Murakami and learn more about Japan.

Challenges: A-Z Challenge, 1% Well-Read Challenge, 10 out of 100 out of 1000, Chunkster Challenge, Japanese Literature II, Orbis Terrarum, Seconds 2008, What an animal!