Picked this book for an image because I read it very recently and thought it was just beautiful!
Last year I joined a book club that a few of the parents and teachers at Weechan's school were forming, in the hope that it might force me to make some time for myself to read. I've always been a reader, from Narnia, the Famous Five, the Secret Seven, Anne of Green Gables, Little Women and on, but recently I found that reading, along with all the other trappings of adult life (like going out for a drink, or to the pictures occasionally, getting dressed up to go out, or even watching programmes without Tinkerbell in the credits) has been sacrificed to LIFE WITH SMALL CHILD.
If I've managed the odd Ian Rankin or Patricia Cornwell over the past few years I've done well.
So. I thought I'd take back some ME time. May sound like a bunch of poncy gits sitting around being all intellectual, but it has generally been half an hour of reactions to the book followed by good wine and chat with people I wouldn't otherwise have met. The best part of it for me, having been culturally annexed for a while, is getting book suggestions from people who do have time to read and sift through the rubbish. Of course you might not love every book, but it's good to try things you wouldn't otherwise pick too.
I have found all the books interesting, despite a definite ongoing concentration camp/end of the world theme there for a while, and it has got me back into reading again.
I often get the impression that my friends back "home" think the expat life in Japan all seems very glamourous and far flung, whereas in fact the reality of my life with Never-gets-a-day-off Dr Daddy and Need-to-meet-my-relatives-sometime-for goodness-sake Weechan means that almost all of them are much more traveled than me, as all my money and time seem to be used up on a constant commute between Scotland and Japan.
Thanks to the Book Club, this year I've been to war-ridden Southern Germany (The Book Thief), on the Road through a futuristic devastated North America (The Road), the Dominican Republic (The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao), the Ukraine (Everything is Illuminated), most of the countries in Africa (Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight), India, England, Thailand and the States (Unaccustomed Earth), Sweden (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and Hungary (Fateless), so far, with a couple of independent forays into India and round the world in a boat with a Tiger (Life of Pi), scary Tokyo (Grotesque), and off to uptight early 1960s England (On Chesil Beach). Next I'm off to Spain (The Shadow of the Wind), and who knows where I will go from there...
Thanks to Wendy for having the idea in the first place!
I look forward to the continuing journey!
(Links are all to the first review that came up on the google search, not because I agree with them particularly!)
If I've managed the odd Ian Rankin or Patricia Cornwell over the past few years I've done well.
So. I thought I'd take back some ME time. May sound like a bunch of poncy gits sitting around being all intellectual, but it has generally been half an hour of reactions to the book followed by good wine and chat with people I wouldn't otherwise have met. The best part of it for me, having been culturally annexed for a while, is getting book suggestions from people who do have time to read and sift through the rubbish. Of course you might not love every book, but it's good to try things you wouldn't otherwise pick too.
I have found all the books interesting, despite a definite ongoing concentration camp/end of the world theme there for a while, and it has got me back into reading again.
I often get the impression that my friends back "home" think the expat life in Japan all seems very glamourous and far flung, whereas in fact the reality of my life with Never-gets-a-day-off Dr Daddy and Need-to-meet-my-relatives-sometime-for goodness-sake Weechan means that almost all of them are much more traveled than me, as all my money and time seem to be used up on a constant commute between Scotland and Japan.
Thanks to the Book Club, this year I've been to war-ridden Southern Germany (The Book Thief), on the Road through a futuristic devastated North America (The Road), the Dominican Republic (The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao), the Ukraine (Everything is Illuminated), most of the countries in Africa (Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight), India, England, Thailand and the States (Unaccustomed Earth), Sweden (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and Hungary (Fateless), so far, with a couple of independent forays into India and round the world in a boat with a Tiger (Life of Pi), scary Tokyo (Grotesque), and off to uptight early 1960s England (On Chesil Beach). Next I'm off to Spain (The Shadow of the Wind), and who knows where I will go from there...
Thanks to Wendy for having the idea in the first place!
I look forward to the continuing journey!
(Links are all to the first review that came up on the google search, not because I agree with them particularly!)
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