The Housekeeper and the Professor (2005) by Yōko Ogawa #WITMonth #20BooksofSummer2025

🔢 In 1975, a brilliant Professor of Mathematics had a car accident, which caused a severe head injury, with a peculiar side effect. His memory of events before the accident is intact, but after 1975, the Professor lives with short-term memory of only eighty minutes. It means that after eighty minutes, his memory would be completely erased, except for that of 1975 and before. "In the simplest terms, it's as if he has a single, eighty-minute videotape inside his head, and when he records anything new, he has to record over the existing memories."

🔢 A housekeeper who works for an agency, was hired by the Professor's widowed sister-in-law, to keep house for the Professor, who is now on his sixties. He lives in a small cottage, adjunct to the sister-in-law's house. Eight other housekeepers had been hired and left, and so this one (we never get to know her name) was a little apprehensive when she arrived at the first day. The Professor is quite peculiar in appearance; his suit was worn, and several scraps of notepaper with his handwriting were pinned on it. It was his way of remembering important things. The most important one seems to be the one with "my memory lasts for eighty minutes", but after the arrival of the new housekeeper, he has a new one that says: "the new housekeeper" with a sketch of a woman's face. And that appears to be the beginning of a deep friendship.

🔢 The Professor is fond of numbers. His first greeting to the new housekeeper was: "What's your shoe number"? It's an odd way to say to a new acquaintance, but it's his way to cover his nervousness or awkwardness. After one produces him any number (shoe, telephone, birthdate, and so on), he would give you a theorem of prime numbers or factorial numbers. But the story gets much more interesting when the housekeeper's son came into the scene. He was nicknamed "Root" by the Professor, as the top of his head is flat, just like the square root symbol. Apparently the Professor cares so much for the boy, and since then, an intimate friendship wrought itself between the three unlikely persons. Either around the dinner table, or the baseball stadium, they were always happy in each other's company.

🔢 I think the biggest question that the author, Yōko Ogawa, wanted us to reflect is, whether it is possible to have an intimate relationship when one does not have memory. How can you have a deep affection to someone whom you completely forgot you've ever met before? That is something I have never thought before. Is our relationships built from things we enjoyed in the past? And if we're get rid of that; if we see the other as a stranger each time, will we recognize the bond, even if we don't understand why or how? Interesting isn't it?

🔢 On the whole, this is a thought provoking story. You'll enjoy it more, perhaps, if you love Math and/or baseball. I don't both, but I still enjoy the trio's deep relationship.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Read for:

20 Books of Summer 2025
hosted by Annabel and Emma

The Healing Season of Pottery (2023) by Yeon Somin #WITMonth #20BooksofSummer2025

🏺 My first interest of this book was pottery. I always admire people who are passionate about something - either hobby or career; and you rarely read about pottery. Add "healing" with that, and an image of a cat sitting near the potteries - well, it sold me instantly! And I think it would be a good choice for this year's #WITMonth. A feel-good story with a tinge of slow-burning romance, set in an Asian country.

🏺 Jungmin has just quitted her job as broadcasting writer, and is now living as a recluse at her apartment in Chestnut Burr Village (what a name for a village!). After days of holing-up, without ever once going out, Jungmin suddenly emerged. She wanted to find a cafe, but stumbled instead upon a quiet pottery studio. The owner invited her in, and what with a cup of coffee and fresh smell of clay, Jungmin felt calm and composed for the very first time after a long while. And so, it's not a wonder that Jungmin started to learn about pottery.

🏺 As the story unfurls, we get to know more of the other members of Soyo Workshop, and most importantly what Jungmin had had experienced to shape her like that. I loved the interaction of the owner, Johee, and the other members: Jihye, Gisik, Jun, and Hyoseok. They all had a troubled past, and were struggling to build a future. Working the pottery wheel seems to be what everyone needs to shake off the past, while shaping a way to better future. In short, pottery was portrait here, not only as a hobby or pastime, but a way to embrace life.

“Whether it’s pottery or life, it takes more than one attempt for them to come out right. And all that effort makes the end product more valuable, too.”

🏺 As is in most Japanese feel-good novel, the pace is quite slow. I enjoyed it every time they work on the pottery; I could almost see the end products. It's pretty satisfying when they sold out all the vases, dishes, and bowls during a bazaar. And I agree, that a handmade pottery product, no matter how imperfect it was, is a perfect gift to someone who means a lot to us - it's private and unique; especially when the dish or vase had been made with that person always on the maker's mind.

🏺 As a feel-good novel, this is actually a bit dark. What Jungmin had experienced is deeper than what I had thought at first); it's a layered psychological problems that I think need more than pottery to heal. But on the whole, it's a slow-paced heartwarming read. I loved the end!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Read for:

20 Books of Summer 2025

hosted by Annabel and Emma

The Upside Down River (2000) by Jean-Claude Mourlevat #ParisInJuly2025

 

🚣 While searching for an audiobook of Garlic, Mint, & Sweet Basil - an essay by Jean-Claude Izzo - I've planned to read for #ParisInJuly2025 (it's a satisfying essay to read, by the way), I came across this audiobook by another Jean-Claude - a middle-grade fantasy story. And it turned out to be a gem, I loved it! The Upside Down River is a two-parts story. The one I listened to is the first, which is subtitled: Tomek's Journey. 

🚣 Tomek is a seventeen year old orphan boy who runs a store that sells everything. By everything, it means everything you can name. One day, a girl of his age came to the store, buying some barley sugar. When the girl asked for a drop of water from river Qjar, Tomek realized three things: one, that his store doesn't sell everything after all; two, that he's actually been bored for a long time, and longed for an adventure; and three, that he's fallen in love with the girl, whom he didn't have chance to ask the name.

🚣 From an old man whom he always calls grandfather, Tomek learned more about river Qjar - it's a magical river; an upside down river that runs from sea, up to the mountain. And drinking a drop of water for that river is believed to make the person immortal. Tomek was intrigued, he wanted to meet the girl, whom he knew would be on the quest of river Qjar, and he also wanted to bring the old grandfather a drop of its water. So, off he went for his journey one fine day. And what a journey and adventure it would proof to be, and what interesting characters he would meet on the way! My favorite is Marie, a widow who travels with her cart and a donkey that farts a lot :)). He met her just at the edge of Forest of Oblivion, inside which one would forget everything that happened before entering, but right after leaving, the memory would return. Not mentioning the colony of huge bears that lived in the forest, and who were blind, but had sharp hearing. Marie was a good travel company, and it's she who give Tomek encouragement to go on his journey.

🚣 But the most exciting of all, is perhaps when Tomek finally met Hannah - the girl who bought barley sugar - and they'd go together to the river Qjar. But not before Tomek went into a sort of comma after smelling a poisonous big blue flower, and got rescued by a group of farmers; and several others strange adventures. But would Tomek and Hannah succeeded to find the river Qjar? And would they get the drops of water from it, up on the summit of the mountain, to bring home? Hannah wanted to save her most beloved bird, I forgot to mention. 

🚣 All in all, it's a short read, but packed with fun adventures. Jean-Claude Mourlevat is, surely, a great fairy tale, fable and fantasy books writer! I might perhaps get to read (or listen) the second part of this book someday (Hannah's Journey), but for now, it's my last read for #ParisInJuly2025, and a very satisfying one to wrap it up! Thank you for Emma for hosting it this year. Au revoir!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Read for:

Paris in July 2025

hosted by Emma @ Words and Peace

The Martian (2011) by Andy Weir #20BooksofSummer2025

🗼 Science fiction is never my cup-of-tea, but from time to time I would read one that's interested me. I have bought a copy of The Martian solely because I have watched the movie - and quite liked it. Now I read it for year 2011 of my A Century of Books project. And it's not disappointing!

🗼 The story was told from Mark Watney's perspective. He's one of six NASA astronauts who were sent to Mars to collect samples. Each of them has unique expertise, and Mark's are botanist and engineer. One day during their works, a severe dust storm occurred, caused them to frantically returned to the hub, but Watney. He was injured, and since the other crew couldn't found his location, and thought him dead, in the crucial moment, they left Mars without him. But Mark Watney wasn't dead - he's alive and uninjured! For now at least, but how would he survive in Mars, alone, with limited quantity of food and supplies, and - with the communication tools dead thanks to the storm - without a way to communicate to Earth that he's alive?

🗼 And so, the heroic, relentless, and grueling efforts of Mark Watney to survive begins, the essence of this remarkable book. His ingenuity - farming potato in Mars, for instance - and his MacGyver-ish capability of quick thinking and assembly stuffs from limited equipment are wonderful. But most of all, is his determination to never quit. I think his huge courage helps - when one is not hampered by the scare of death, one could think more clearly, and decision making in every step would be much easier. That's my opinion , at least. I admired how Watney is always able to decide the next most crucial task he has to tackle first, after an assessment post incident. There are a lot of things to do, but he's never daunted by this. One thing at a time, is always his approach. The possibility of death is so huge, but he doggedly thinks and works to survive - at least for the present. 

 🗼 The Martian is not only a science fiction, with tons of scientific and technical jargons which, though I only understand perhaps 20% of it, still was entertaining. But the message behind Mark Watney's struggle of surviving is the most important element of this book: the beauty of humanity at work. The save-Mark-Watney project turned out to be, not only national, but international, interest. Though I doubt it will happen in reality, but I was really touched by this united warm humanity showed all over the world. This made the book awesome - not mentioning the dry and sarcastic humour showed by Watney; kudos to Andy Weir to draw the character so deeply!

🗼 Even when I don't really care much for science fiction, there's a priceless lesson to be drawn from this book: how to not succumb to desperation. Everytime I were in desperation, I'd remember Watney's attitude. He'd go from swearing, whining, then quickly to his optimist self once more. Like in this scene, right after something goes awry:

"Just once I'd like something to go as planned, ya know?...."

But then 3 sentence later...

"Okay, enough self-pity. I'm not doomed. Things will just be harder than planned."

I'm not doomed. Things will just be harder than planned - would be my future magic sentence to self control!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Read for:

20 Books of Summer 2025

hosted by Annabel and Emma

The Red Notebook (2014) by Antoine Laurain #ParisInJuly2025 #20BooksofSummer2025

📕 Antoine Laurain has become a staple author for me. His books (so far) are always highly entertaining, and so I had decided two or three years ago that I will read at least one Laurain's every #ParisInJuly. This year, The Red Notebook was my choice - red is my favorite color too - and again, I loved it! Laurain never disappoints, and I can't wait to read more of his next year. Now to the story...

📕 The red notebook belongs to a Parisian woman in her forty, who had been mugged one morning, and lost her handbag. Her head got hit quite hard from the incident, and for several days she was in hospital, having a coma. Meanwhile, the thief thrown the bag (after stealing the smartphone and purse, of course) on nearest garbage bin.

📕 That morning, bookstore owner Laurent Letellier was on his morning stroll when he noticed a mauve handbag discarded on top of a garbage bin. On impulse, he saved the bag, intended to drop it at the police station. But one thing led to another, he ended up taking the bag home to his apartment. Searching for any identification (which was none), he was fascinated to read the contents of the red moleskin notebook, which was a diary. Little by little Laurent came to "know" the woman, though not her name or address. Laurent was then on a mission to track down the woman, using some of the bag's contents as clues: a dry cleaner's receipt, a key ring with hieroglyphics, and a signed copy of Patrick Modiano's book. Would he succeed in his quest? 

📕 A little mystery, a quest, and a budding romance are the best ingredients for a lovely light book, and this one has all of them. Rare glimpses of the exotic profession of a Gilder added the charm; not mentioning the everyday life in Paris' apartment buildings, streets, and cafés which seeped through every lines of the story. Together, they create a little bubbling of happiness I always feel during #ParisInJuly, especially while reading Antoine Laurain's! ;)

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Read for:

Paris in July 2025

hosted by Emma @ Words and Peace

20 Books of Summer
hosted by Annabel and Emma

The Dalai Lama's Cat (2012) by David Michie #ReadingtheMeow2025 #20BooksOfSummer2025

🐈 My first choice for Mallika's #ReadingtheMeow2025 has long intrigued me. I don't know why, but I'm always fascinated by Tibet. Reading Herge's Tintin in Tibet more than forty years ago might be the first trigger. Tibet has been some sort of magnet for me ever since. Then, when you add the cat element in it, how could I ever resist? Hence, it had been my first choice, and I'm not disappointed - it's simply delightful and inspiring.

🐈 I love it when an animal tells a story from its point of view. This story is that - the titular cat told the story of its wonderful life, from near death to the highest point that could possibly be achieved by a cat. She was rescued by the Dalai Lama when, as a kitten, she was being snatched from her mother by two naughty boys who wanted to sell her and her siblings. It was in the street of New Delhi, and Dalai Lama passed by in his car from a visit. She soon became Dalai Lama's pet. And people call her various names, from His Holiness' Cat (HHC) - by Dalai lama himself and his entourage; Rinpoche (meaning precious) - by a cafe owner who's a Buddhism enthusiast; Snow Lion; and The Most Beautiful Creature that Ever Lived - by Dalai Lama's chef.

🐈 Living with Dalai Lama, it's no wonder that HHC gets used to listening to many Buddhism lessons as she's always around when Dalai Lama receives visitors. She's even practicing (or trying to) meditation, in fact, she aspires to be a bodhicatva!🐱 And HHC has a lot of weaknesses to be righted; gluttony is one of them. With her status of His Holiness's Cat, there're people who want to please her. And how one pleases a cat if not by offering foods - delicious foods, which HCC could not resist. And that's how she's getting fatter and fatter. But Dalai Lama's advice to a visitor inspired her to overcome her greediness. That's just an example, she is also guilty of pride, jealousy, and insecurity. She is attracted to a tiger tabby, but feels insecure about her own (non) breeding, and so, plays hard-to-get all the time. Is it wise, though? She just have to sit still on the windowsill of Dalai Lama's study, to get the answer.

🐈 In short, this is a book "written" by a cat who tells you her own story, while at the same time imparts spiritual lessons of how to live a happier and more wholesome life. I love it when a cat writes a book, especially if it has a well-balanced proportion between cat's daily life and its interaction with human beings. Of course, HHC's observation on Dharamsala and Jokhang monastery and temple life, brought to me by the cat's point of view every time she perches high on the magazine shelf at the cafe, or while wondering on the Dharamsala streets and alleyways - it made this an even wholesome book. Even if you aren't a cat person, this book is funny, charming, and inspiring, without being preachy.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Read for:

Reading the Meow 2025

hosted by Mallika

20 Books of Summer 2025
hosted by Annabel and Emma

The Convenience Store Woman (2016) by Sayaka Murata #JapaneseLitChallenge18

🏪 Keiko Furukura grown up as an unusual child. She never fits in, neither at home, nor at school. It's just that she thinks differently from other children. Like, when they found a dead bird, while the other children were devastated or crying, Keiko was thinking that her father would like to have the bird cooked for dinner tonight. I think I will feel similar to Keiko - dead bird is just, well... a dead creature. It would be different if it was my pet, but a random dead bird is just natural. That's just one example, but Keiko's family was worried, and always think she needs to be cured.

🏪 At eighteen, Keiko still doesn't fit in in college. At this point, she took a part time job at a convenience store. It was a God-send to her, so to speak, as she finally found peace inside the regulated small world of convenience store. When one works in a convenience store (the kind that are numerous in Japan, as well as other Asian countries), one becomes a store worker; no matter what one's gender, sex, education, race, or social background is. One is only expected to perform based on the store manual. One would not be expected to be, to feel, to look like anybody else, since during working hours, they are all one entity, convenience store workers. Then, and only then, does Keiko feel happy, safe, and comfortable. No wonder that she never leaves the job, and becomes more and more attached to it.

🏪 Now Keiko is in her thirties, still a part-timer, still unmarried. Her family and friends are uneasy, often annoy her with their comments, insinuations, persuasions. Apparently, Keiko still doesn't fit the society. What is her fault? She lives independently, doing a good job, doing no harm to others, and more especially, completely happy and peaceful with herself. What's wrong with that? Well, it's wrong because the society dictates that a normal person should marry and procreate, and he/she should always improve in career. Being comfortable in one place for the rest of one's life isn't normal. It seems that all the Keikos in the world have only two choices: being happy of their own values, but being shunned forever from the world, for rejecting the society's convention; or accepted in the society, but forever living as a soulless creature, always conform with others.

🏪 Who would have thought that this seemingly nice and sweet little book is actually so thought-provoking, though in a fun and easy going way, without judging or condemning? Beyond the main theme, I loved its convenience store dynamic atmosphere as the background, but also, almost, as a living entity in the story. As an Asian, I, too, can't live without convenience stores. We even have four inside the apartment complex, two of them with ATM machine, where I can buy bread, fresh fruits, and sometimes hot snacks in about five minutes walk. Very convenient indeed!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Read for:

Japanese Literature Challenge #18

hosted by Dolce Bellezza

The Bird Found the Body (2023) by Bailey Booth

🦜 As I love birds, naturally I was drawn to read a cozy mystery where the bird has significant role in the investigation. Moreover, I have read Bailey Booth's cat-themed novella a few years ago. It was okay, a promising debut, at least. And I was curious whether her writing would be improved in this new series. Well, it is not, significantly. I found it just another okay, but a very cute story if you are a bird lover.

🦜 Keela arrived at a tropical island of Half Moon Cross with her cockatiel, Chicken. She was summoned by her Aunt Astrid, to take over her business, a bird-pirate-themed tour company called Parrots of the Caribbean. However, just on her first day of leading a tour, Chicken, her cockatiel - dressed in cute pirate costume, no less - led the group into finding a dead body. It belonged to a former employee of Parrots of the Caribbean too. It was a terrible way to start a new job. Worse still, the police suspected Aunt Astrid to have committed the murder, since the deceased had been seen quarreling with her before she left the company. Keela couldn't let that happen. First of all, Aunt Astrid is a kind, compassionate person, and secondly, if her aunt went to prison, what would happen to Parrots of the Caribbean, and where she would stay, considering that she has just left her former painful life behind?

🦜 But who had the motive and opportunity to murder Vanessa, the former employee? Keela is a newcomer, and she needs more time to know everyone. Especially Ruby, the scarlet macaw belongs to Aunt Astrid, who is the mascot of Parrots of the Caribbean. It is more attached to another employee, whose ambition makes him one of Keela's suspects. The other is the owner of Parrots of Caribbean's competitor. But not only them, Keela even, at one point, had a little apprehension whether her new friend - also employee to the company - might have done it. The same applies to a handsome bartender and ex-police who has a crush on her. 

🦜 All in all, it's a cozy mystery which is too cozy for my taste. The premise is cute and refreshing - the birds, the sanctuary, even the pirates-themed tour, but I couldn't get my myself absorbed into the mystery. It's entertaining enough, but not a cozy mystery series I'm going to follow closely.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Greenglass House (2014) by Kate Milford

❄ It's few days before Christmas, and twelve year old Milo had expected a quiet holiday with his parents (foster parents, since he was adopted) at their inn, the Greenglass House. But to his great dismay, one guest arrived, then another, then another, until there are five guests staying in the house, plus the cooks who are helping. Christmas holiday is practically ruined. Or so thought Milo, before he found a strange map, and a girl his age, the cook's daughter Meddy, who invites him in a role play game.

❄ Greenglass House is not a regular inn. It had belonged to a famous smuggler, and to that day, smugglers are among the inn's frequent guests. The building itself is a unique one. Five stories high, with colorful glass windows, and located on top of a steep hill. To reach it from the bottom, the guests must use a rail car. I have been to Paris in the 2000, and I imagined this rail car is like more rustic model of funicular I took to reach Sacré Coeur in Montmartre.

❄ Milo found an usual map, like a navigator's one but with strange pictures, on the snowy ground, that one of the guests must have dropped. But whose is it? And what is the map about? It was to solve this mystery that Milo and Meddie started the game in the first place. Then some guests belongings begin missing, and one of them is seen entered another's room suspiciously. Is there a thief in the house? They also notice that the guests seem secretive; their reasons of coming to Greenglass House aren't for holiday, but for their own, which are related to the house's history. What's happening? Who's the thief, and what's the motive?

❄ This story has everything you'd want to read during the season - adventures, mystery, snowy nights, smugglers, big house with attic full of interesting stuffs, and a tiny touch of gothic (which I won't reveal so as not to spoil the story). And last but not least... the surprise. It is so unexpected, yet I should have known from the first - the clues are there from the start. Anyway, this is the only Christmas-themed story I'd read this year, and I'm glad I had. It's satisfying, heartwarming, and full of fun. I loved how Milford delving into a mildly serious issue of  Milo's insecure related to his being orphan. It added a bit of depth into the already satisfying read. This will also be my last reviewed book of this year.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats (2002) by Jan-Philipp Sendker

Book Beginnings on Fridays (hosted by Rose City Reader)

The old man's eyes struck me first. They rested deep in their sockets, and he seemed unable to take them off me. Granted, everyone in the teahouse was starring at me more or less unabashedly, but he was the most brazen. As if I were some exotic creature he'd never seen before.

💓 Julia Win came to Burma to seek answer. Answer to her father's mysterious disappearance four years ago from New York, and from her and her mother's life. One day his father Tin Win left abroad, but never returned. They found out that he went to Burma, instead of the country he intended to. But there his traces disappeared. Four years later Julia read a love letter to her father written by a Burmese woman called Mi Mi. Who is Mi Mi? And why had her father never spoken about the first twenty years of his life in Burma to anybody, not even his wife? Julia decided to go to Kalaw, Burma, to get to the truth.

💓 In Kalaw, she was met by a strange old man called U Ba. That's the encounter in the opening line. He told her a wonderful story of her father - the first twenty years of his life he never told anyone before, including his relationship with Mi Mi. And what a story that is!

💓 The story U Ba told Julia was, for Westerner even at that time (1960s), extraordinary. Superstition and astrologer were two dominant things in Burmese people in every step of their lives, typical of South East Asian country whose people were poor and low educated. Tin Win was born on the "wrong day", and so their parents expected only bad things to him and themselves. Every calamity was blamed on Tin Win; and he grew up as a sensitive, affectionate, intelligent boy, capable of great love, but never been loved.

Friday 56 Quote (hosted by Heads Full of Books):

Tin Win's life had not spanned twenty-one days when, at least from his mother's perspective, its whole course had been decided. Lived. Forfeited.

💓 When his mother, who was his only family left, abandoned him, it was too much for Tin Win. I literally wept with him. How could a mother do that to her only child? No matter how stupid or superstitious one is, surely a mother should have had an instinct to protect her child! But she left and never returned, so Tin Win was brought up by a very kind neighbor, a woman called Suu Kyi, as her own son. Then, another calamity came, little Tin Win got a rare cataract on both eyes and gone blind.

💓 A wise monk at the monastery taught Tin Win that human being is capable of perceiving things much better and sharper when he use all his other senses besides the eyesight. And Tin Win began to be aware of even the most imperceptible sounds around him; the flutter of a butterfly's wings, the rustle of certain leaves (every tree made different sound), and even... the heartbeats of people around him. Particularly, that of a girl of his age, named Mi Mi.

💓 Mi Mi is crippled, she couldn't walk due to her stiff legs (polio?), so she crawled on all four to get anywhere. The most undignified way a human being could imagine to move, but surprisingly, Mi Mi always moved very gracefully. She was always patient and never complained of her condition. Soon Tin Win and Mi Mi became inseparable. Everyday, year after year, Tin Win was seen carrying Mi Mi on his back, while the girl is guiding him, becoming his eyes, during their excursions. And just as they are dreaming of marriage, and what they will do to build a future, a summon from a rich uncle in New York came - Tin Win must go away from everything he loved in the world - his Kalaw, his home, and his love, Mi Mi. And that's how he later met Julia's mother. What happened then? Had he ever met Mi Mi again? And will Julia reunite with his father in Burma? Does he live with Mi Mi? You must read this amazing story to find the answer.

💓 Suffice to say, this is a magnificent book. It's been quite a long time since I last read a book that has left deep Impression in me long after I finished it. And I have no doubt this would be my most favorite book of the year. I can't find appropriate words to describe it - it's a humbling experience to read this book. It's tender, deep, touching, and written so beautifully it made me want to cry. I admire the kind of love between Tin Win and Mi Mi. It's not a passionate one that leaves you wretched when you're separated, nor is it a selfish one that you have to have the other for yourselves no matter what. No, it's much deeper and beyond all that; no pain, no jealousy, just contentment that you have loved and been loved, and no matter how far away you are from each other, that love is always in you, no one or nothing can take it away from you.

Two of my favorite quotes:

"And so there must be in life something like a catastrophic turning point, when the world as we know it ceases to exist. A moment that transforms us into a different person from one heartbeat to the next. And if these turning points are real, are we aware of them as they happen, or do we recognize the discontinuity only much later, in hindsight?"

"Do we leave the dead behind or do we take them with us? I think we take them with us. They accompany us. They remain with us, if in another form. We have to learn to live with them and their deaths."

Rating: 💓💓💓💓💓

The Golden Mole: and Other Vanishing Treasure (2022) by Katherine Rundell #NonFicNov24

🦒 In The Golden Mole, Katherine Rundell introduces us to some of the world's most exotic creatures which are also endangered. Among these animals, some are no strangers to us, like the crows, wolves, bear, or elephant. We often hear or watch about hare, giraffe, or hedgehog, though we might not see them physically. But how many of us are familiar with wombat, lemur, narwhal, or pangolin? This book talks about all of them, and several others.

🦀 However, this is not some kind of encyclopedia about exotic animals, it's much more interesting. Rundell slips stories, myths, or anecdotes related to each animal, sometimes even concerning prominent historical personages whose stories had been linked to certain animal. The most fantastic is that of Coconut Hermit Crab. You must have been familiar with Amelia Earhart's story of disappearance over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to circumnavigate the world in 1937. One of the many theories believed that some Coconut Hermit Crabs must have eaten Amelia Earhart's body. She was probably stranded on Nikumaroro island, known as home of these crabs. Some human bones were found there many years later, but they're lost on the way to investigation, so we still don't know the truth. But it's an interesting fact nevertheless.

🐨 Another interesting story is involving Wombat. The creature - some says it's a mixture of capybara, koala, and bear cub - was a favorite pet of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the poet. He had sketched Mrs. Morris (Rossetti's model and muse) taking a wombat on a leash, both with halos over their heads. A wombat had also been gifted to Napoleon's wife, Josephine, by a ship's captain. Speaking of gifted exotic animals, do you know that Cleopatra had once gifted a giraffe to Julius Caesar who then brought it to Ancient Rome?

🐻 A funny anecdote came from the inimitable Lord Byron concerning bear. He used to keep a tamed Bear while studying at University of Cambridge, as dogs were forbidden. When he was asked what they should do with it, his answer was, "It should sit for fellowship" 🤣

🦔 But two animals resonated more to me personally than others. The first is Hedgehog. Whenever I hear the word 'hedgehog', an image from my first picture book, which my mother introduced to me when I was very little, comes immediately to mind. It's a hedgehog with an apple stuck on his spikes, stealing it from two animals who picked it from the tree (the apple falls right to its spikes). That image stuck with me, that I always assume hedgehog eats fruits. But this book taught me that it's just a myth, its diet actually consists of insects and worms. Another animal from my childhood picture books about flora and fauna (my parents bought me a lot of these), is Pangolin (Trenggiling in Indonesian). Its name came from a Malay word 'panggiling' which means roller, from the way it rolls its body while in danger. Their scales were used for Chinese medicine.

🕊 Some more interesting bits from this book:

• The unihemispheric sleep in swifts (birds), they are able to shut up half of the brain at a time, while floating in the air inside the clouds. Amazing, right?
• The reclusive creature of Lemur who's able of changing eye color, is another wonder. One of the species is even superstitiously believed to be able to prophecy death.
• I didn't remember this, but the Seal has capacity of learning language. Ahab in Moby Dick recognized the seals' voices.
• The Narwhal's tusk were once mistakenly thought as unicorn's horn. Queen Elizabeth I was presented at least two narwhals by some voyagers.
• The Crows are the Einstein among birds. On an experiment, they punish some boys who're wicked to them, but were known in real life to have rewarded those who fed them.

🐘 Elephants are actually afraid of bees, they sting elephants' soft tissues inside their trunks. Elephants are gentle and caring creatures. When finding bones of dead friend, they will salute it by lightly touching their bones. An elephant returning to its group would get a ceremonial embraces by intertwining their trunks. Seahorse is the only creature that it is the male who gets pregnant (a fact I learned from TV series F.R.I.E.N.D.S, when Ross wants to calm the pregnant Rachel down by pointing this fact out. What about the Golden Mole, who lent its name to the title? As a species, it's nearer to elephant than ordinary mole. It is the most mysterious animal from all that is discussed in this book. We know almost nothing about it, other than its iridescent quality, from which we called it 'golden' mole.

⭐ All in all, it's a wonderful book about nature and its wonder, told in an interesting and sometimes funny way that will interest non-biologists reader like me.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Read for:

Nonfiction November 2024 #NonFicNov24

hosted by Liz, Frances, Heather, Rebekah, and Deb

A Christmas Murder (2024) by Mary Grand

🎄 I don't usually read something Christmassy in October, but this seemed like a decent cozy mystery, and I ran out of good audiobook, so I dug in. And I'm not disappointed, it is a wonderful murder mystery, which can actually happen anytime during any season. It's not really Christmassy, I think, just a midnight mass, Christmas meals, and some gifts.

🎄 Susan was asked for helping as a host at the Bishopstone Manor hotel by the owner, an Indian woman called Meera. Their upcoming family guests are prominent figures, and this gig is very important for the newly re-opened establishment. Duncan Fern, a newspaper mogul, is now bringing his extended family for annual Christmas holiday. His second wife Kirsten, his famous crime writer son Bryson, his sensitive daughter Hailey are there. Also coming are Bryson's food critics Victoria, Hayley's fitness enthusiast boyfriend Lewis, and the last one is Duncan's second man Antoine.

🎄 Between making sure that their bedrooms are cozy enough at night, and in charge of the music during dinner, Susan has first hand opportunity to get to know (rather too intimately) the family members. How Duncan is mean to his family, using threats against them, for example. He is the victim, by the way, which I knew right from the first. He died of poisoning from his own medication. Susan woke at night witnessing one of them sneaking outside the manor, and into Duncan's room. Her job enables her to snooping around their belongings, leading to finding clues after clues of the murder. Contrary to police's opinion, it was, indeed, murder, because Susan was twice attacked by one of them. It only shows that she is onto the right track. But who is the killer? Everyone had the motive, and seemingly opportunity to commit the murder.

🎄 This is actually quite a proper murder mystery, instead of a sloppy cozy mystery I thought it would be; a psychological soft thriller if you like. Everybody had secret and dark past, and not until near the end did I guess the murderer. Susan cleverly deduced how the crime was done, but not the why or the real motive (cause everyone had prospect), and certainly not the who.

🎄 Like in usual cozy mystery, there is the love prospect for the heroine, and a bit of struggle in her personal life (her ex husband). But I loved that these aspects were just a small background of the main stage, which was the crime mystery. I loved this one, and would like to read more from Mary Grand.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Mr. Niyogi's Last Audit (2024) by S.N. Rao #Netgalley

Thanks to Copperplate and NetGalley for providing me review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Book Beginnings on Fridays (hosted by Rose City Reader):

I was feeling cold, so I opened my eyes to find myself in a cold room. It was unfamiliar room, and I could not recollect how I got here. The room was dimly lit. I did not know what time it was; the curtains were open, and it was dark outside. I needed to pee. I took a deep breath, turned onto my left side and pushed myself into a sitting position. My arms trembled with the effort, and I felt a pain in my left shoulder.

👴🏼In his 77 years of age, Mr. Vikram Niyogi is struggling with Parkinson's - the same disease my late father had had in the last years of his life (he passed away last year). That was the main reason I picked up this novel in the first place, a story I could surely well relate. Moreover, my father was also an accountant like Mr. Niyogi, before retirement. And it is a way, I hoped, to better understand the extend of what my father must have had through - something I hadn't fully appreciated at that time, as those were quite distressing times for me and my mother.

👴🏼 Mr. Niyogi is a retired accountant for an airline company of Bengaluru branch, India. He had been an invaluable member of the enterprise before retirement. Now that Parkinson's is eating away his movement as well as his dignity - causing him more dependent on his wife, daughter, and a caretaker - he felt more desperate to be useful in life. But what can he possibly do, when, even for basic activities like eating, walking, and peeing he can't do without help?

👴🏼 The answer came in two ways. His former company faced a serious money embezzlement, and only a senior accountant like Mr. Niyogi could trace it. Then his daughter Archana has a friend, whose son was hopelessly stranded on a small island in Maldives with 200 other miners, when their employer went bankrupt, with no one able to help as most institutions are focusing in recovery after Covid-19. It should not be of Mr. Niyogi's concern, however he starts hearing the stranded young man's voice, urging him to send for help. But what can he do? Maybe if he helps Saran airlines in his last audit for them, they in turn might be persuaded to send boats for the stranded miners. But that would be an impossible task for Mr. Niyogi - or is it?

👴🏼 I applauded S.N Rao for the writing. Either he has been dealing with Parkinson's patient before, or he has done a thorough research; painful dealing with Parkinson's disease were captured vividly throughout the story and become one of the strong points of this book. Mr. Niyogi's meal, for instance, was pictured in minutest detail from preparing the liquified food to the injection to his feeding tube. Or the procedure of various treatments given to Mr. Niyogi to ease his rigid muscles, were described in chronological detail that I felt like being trained as a nurse. It might bored some of you who dislikes medical or uncomfortable scenes in a book, but it's interesting if you want to know more about Parkinson's disease, and felt relatable for you who have dealt with it.

Quoted for Friday56 hosted by Head Full of Books :

I was nervous. Ever since I got Parkinson's, I hadn't been confident or sure of myself. I was not sure how I would do here, but I decided to give it a try nonetheless.

👴🏼 Most of Mr. Niyogi's symptoms were also experienced by my father. Once he came back from a grocery store (he went alone as he could still walk at that time) with treacle of blood flowing from his eyebrow, without remembering what had happened. I think he had experienced a combination of one-second blackout and muscle-freeze. Luckily it happened right in front of the store's glass door, so his forehead bumped the door instead of completely falling over. We never let him go alone after that incident.

👴🏼 Hallucination had also happened once to my father, he saw flowers everywhere, on the wall, on the bed, on the floor. He's really freaked out that he's going crazy, but luckily it never happened again. Mr. Niyogi's hearing the minor's voice is hallucination, by the way, if you've been wondering. My father also had throat muscle rigidity that his diet was limited to only very soft porridge and steamed egg custard (chawanmushi) or soft tofu during his last year. Thank God, except during his last days in the ICU, he never needed feeding tube. I can't imagine the trouble and cost we'd have to bear if it happened.

👴🏼 All in all, it is an intriguing novella about struggles and resilience, sacrifices and humanity, with an elaborate theme of Parkinson's disease. The writing style is a bit too formal to be an entertaining novel, but other than that it has quite a perfect balance on all sides.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/2


** Mr. Niyogi's Last Audit has been published in August 15th, 2024 **

Snow (2020) by John Banville #JohnBanville2024 #20booksofsummer24

❄ Snow is the second book of St. John Strafford series, a crime fiction sets in the 1950s Ireland by the inimitable John Banville. I have read the first book, The Secret Guests, earlier this year for Reading Ireland Month 2024, which was slightly disappointing. So, I approached this second book with not a little apprehension. But I've determined to read at least three books for Cathy's #JohnBanville2024 reading event, so... here it is.

❄ A parish priest was found murdered at Ballyglass House, a house of the aristocratic family of Osborne, in Wexford county. St. John Strafford was summoned to investigate. He found out that the priest was stabbed behind his neck at night during his stay at the house. Not only that, his genitals were then castrated. Catholic Church ruled Ireland with iron fists in the 1950s, and you can imagine what will happen when the news of brutal murder of a priest at a Protestant family house reaches the public. This makes Strafford's investigation more difficult than it is. Not that it's relatively easy so far.

❄ The crime had happened when the house was snowbound. No forced entrance was found either, meaning that the crime was most likely be done by insider. But which one? Colonel Osborne? His insomniac frail wife who'd found the body? The idle son or the spoiled attention-seeker daughter, maybe? Or even the coquettish maid? Strafford's interviews were fruitless, he didn't have any lead for some time. When it began to be rather boring, the next chapter brought a startling revelation about the late priest. Well, actually it's not very surprising, a priest, mutilated on his genital organ, is quite suggestive on what kind of priest he might have been, isn't it? The revelation is for our- readers'-benefit, though. Strafford kept struggling until near the end.

❄ All in all, it's a gloomy read for me. The snow took almost a center part of the story. It's as if there are two villains here, the murderer and the snow. I think the mystery itself could have been a nice one; murder in a country house, snowbound house, body found in the library - very Agatha Christie-ish. However, it lacks one important element - the detective figure.

❄ St. John Strafford is the most distracted, unfocused detective figure I've ever come upon. He doesn't fit anywhere, physically not very fit, and his mind strays to his own family or hometown much too often while performing his duty. Not even Banville's beautiful eloquent prose could help raise this book to my taste. I'm afraid this is the last straw, I will not continue this series after all. Maybe another Banville's non-mystery for next read? Let's see...

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Read for:

A Year with John Banville #JohnBanville2024

hosted by Kim @ Reading Matters & Cathy @ 746 Books

20 Books of Summer 2024
hosted by Cathy @ 746 Books

Book Tour: Murder at Cleve College by Merryn Allingham (Flora Steele Mystery #9)

It’s my stop today on Murder at Cleve College by Merryn Allingham Books on Tour. Many thanks to Sarah Hardy of Bookouture for the invite, and for NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this delightful book.

📚 About the book

Bookshop owner Flora Steele and writer Jack Carrington fell in love solving mysteries. Now they’re taking their first steps as husband and wife… straight into their most perplexing case yet.

Sussex, 1958: A radiant Flora is being twirled across the dancefloor by her dashing new husband, Jack. It’s the perfect wedding in Abbeymead, until a mysterious stranger is found dead just outside the village.

But when Flora finds an envelope tucked into the man’s silver cigarette case, the address is key to discovering the poor chap’s name – Russell Farr. He isn’t known to any of the villagers, so at first all signs point to a tragic accident. That is, until they discover Farr previously worked at the esteemed Cleve College, where Jack is now a writer-in-residence.

The college has made Jack feel uneasy ever since he learned his predecessor drowned in its lake, and now it appears a second suspicious death is connected to it. But who would want two mild-mannered academics dead?

Could it be Jocelyn, the ambitious young teacher with her sights set on the top? Joe, the sly porter living beyond his means? Or perhaps Maurice, the college dean who seems far more interested in power than educating students?

Just when it looks like no amount of studying will crack this case, a chance encounter brings Flora closer to the truth. But when Jack goes missing, it seems someone is determined to teach them both a lesson.

Can Flora and Jack outwit the killer before they graduate to becoming the next victims? Or will their first case as husband and wife be their last?

An absolutely page-turning cosy mystery, packed with unforgettable characters and sensational twists! Perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, Faith Martin and Joy Ellis.

📚 My thoughts

💙 Flora Steele and Jack Carrington are involved in another murder case, only days before their wedding! Murder at Cleve College begins where we left off the end of previous book: The Library Murders. The preparation of their wedding is on the way, and everyone is on their edges. During the wedding rehearsal at the church, Jack saw a man - a stranger - hesitantly loitering about, but he thought nothing of it. There are more important stuffs on hand than a confused stranger. Few days later Jack and Flora found a corpse of the same man in the ditch, just days before the wedding!

💙 Jack begins his new career at Cleve College not without a little apprehension. Not about his students, but things that had been happening there. First of all, Joe the porter seems to always spying on him. Then, the fellow whom Jack is replacing turned out to be drown in the lake near the college last year. Everything Flora and Jack find out ever since they found the corpse, seems to be related to either Cleve College or an orphanage, now closed, whose headmaster had fallen from its balcony and died years ago. Are they - the accidents - mere accidents? Are Flora and Jack's suspicion baseless?

💙 I loved everything about this book! To me Murder at Cleve College is the best from the series so far. I was hooked even from the first paragraph! The prologue is my favorite, it instantly brought you straight to the moment before a murder took place. After that it's switched to Flora and Jack, to Abbeymead, to everyday life. But only a fleeting moment later, another murder case faced the newlywed couple. I love this structure. Many cozy mysteries these days get to be too cozy, they seem to focus more on the sleuth's personal life than to the murder investigation.

💙 After the first murder, slowly but steadily, Flora and Jack found new facts - bits and pieces - that brought them closer to the truth, the secret dark past. It's an entertaining story packed with action, surprise, and twist, but with a charming touch of the 1950 vibes of English small village of Abbeymead. A delightful read from start to finish.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2


📚 Author Bio

Merryn taught university literature for many years, and it took a while to pluck up the courage to begin writing herself. Bringing the past to life is a passion and her historical fiction includes Regency romances, wartime sagas and timeslip novels, all of which have a mystery at their heart. As the books have grown darker, it was only a matter of time before she plunged into crime with a cosy crime series set in rural Sussex against the fascinating backdrop of the 1950s.

Merryn lives in a beautiful old town in Sussex with her husband. When she’s not writing, she tries to keep fit with adult ballet classes and plenty of walking.

Website: https://merrynallingham.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MerrynWrites
Twitter: https://twitter.com/merrynwrites

Sign up to be the first to hear about new releases from Merryn Allingham here:  https://www.bookouture.com/merryn-allingham


📚 Buying links

Amazon: https://geni.us/B0CW1J7W8Jsocial

You can sign up for all the best Bookouture deals you'll love at: http://ow.ly/Fkiz30lnzdo


Be sure to check out other stops on the tour to see what others thought. Happy reading!

The Rest of Their Lives (2016) by Jean-Paul Didierlaurent #ParisInJuly2024 #20booksofsummer24

💜 Embalmer. How many people could boast that as a profession? Or, how many author out there ever thought of writing about it? Jean-Paul Didierlaurent made a good decision to pick an Embalmer as maun character of this wonderful book of his.

💜 Though Ambroise Lanier is the son of a noble laureate in medicine, he chose a usually frowned-upon career: embalmer. I feel that he might wanted to pursue it in the first place as rebellious act against his arrogant and self-centered father who strongly opposed it. But regardless of his initial purpose, Ambroise quite enjoys his works.

💜 Talking about frowned-upon jobs, Manelle's home-helping services for elderly people is equally inglorious choice of career. Emptying chamber pots and cleaning houses - especially to suspicious old men - are definitely not everyone's dream of profession. However, like Ambroise, Manelle enjoys her meaningful job.

💜 It's not strange that both Ambroise and Manelle stays single until now. For Ambroise, particularly, it's not easy to attract a girl with his kind of job. But their lives are about to change completely, thanks to one of Manelle's sweetest patients. The octogenarian Monsieur Samuel Dinsky has had throbbing headaches recently, and after the MRI result revealed he had a brain tumor, with only three months to live, he made a drastic decision. It involves a journey to Switzerland, accompanied by Manelle and Ambroise - the first, friendly; the latter, professionally. Whose life would completely change, do you think? The octogenarian's? The youngsters? Or both?

💜 You know how French novels are often quirky? This one's quirkiness is in the profession of embalmer. It's not just the main character's job, Didierlaurent goes all in about Ambroise day to day job; the meticulous details of the step by step of embalming process, as well as what he deals with - his colleagues, the deceased's relatives, etc. It goes the same with Manelle's jobs. You might say this is a story of embalmers and home-helpers, and you're not entirely wrong. It is more that that, though. This is also a story about life and death, fear and hope. Ambroise and Manelle, each has a wholesome job, because they provide comforts for those who need it most: elderly people who need a dignified life, and family of the deceased who need to preserve the memory of their beloved.

💜 I might unwittingly describe this as a gloomy story - blame that to my current mood; this reminded me of my deceased father - but it's actually a charming, funny, sweet, hopeful, and heartwarming. I loved all the main characters, including Beth, Ambroise's grandmother. It's a story that reminds you that life... is always worth living! 💜

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Read for:

Paris in July 2024

hosted by Emma @ Words and Peace

20 Books of Summer 2024 
hosted by Cathy @ 746 Books

Vintage 1954 (2018) by Antoine Laurain #ParisinJuly2024

🍾 The year 1954, wine and UFO. These are three elements that Antoine Laurain had woven into a fantastic time-travelling story set in Paris.

🍾 1954 was historically the year of UFO sightings wave in France. Almost every day there were news of strange phenomenon in their newspapers. In this particular story, a winegrower called Pierre Chaveau was walking across a vineyard in Beaujolais when he experienced a UFO sighting. Fast forward to 1978. The old Pierre Chaveau was having a family dinner at home. He unwittingly drank a vintage wine produced from the very place and time of his UFO sighting - Beaujolais, 1954. His dog also tasted the wine that night. The following morning he left the house for a walk with his dog, and mysteriously disappeared.

🍾 Fast forward again to 2017 in an apartment building in Paris. Monsieur Hubert Larnaudie, the property owner/manager; Julien and Magalie, residents; and an American Airbnb tenant Bob, founnd themselves in an awkward moment one day, which would cement their friendship. To celebrate a triumph over a previous apartment struggle, Hubert opened a bottle of vintage wine he found on his cellar, and shared it with his new friends. The wine was 1954 Beaujolais! The next morning, the four friends discovered themselves transported back in time, to the Paris of 1954.

🍾 What follows are highly entertaining piece in three stages. The shocking moment when they realized their predicaments are quite hilarious. Their euro coins received with suspicion, public transportation changed to vintage systems. They were naturally shocked at first, but then came the determination to seek a way to return to 2017. But in the process, they also had a lot of fun while exploring the 1954 of Paris. There's Les Halles, which was still existed, where they could explore the Belly of Paris in Zola's universe. And there's the personages they encountered - and for some, hung up with - Salvador Dalí, Jean Gabin, Édith Piaf. That was a glorious time for our four friends.

🍾 But the main business remained. They must go back to their own time. Could they do it properly? What surprises awaited them? And if they do come back, what will happen then? Two things for sure, their perspectives of life changed for good, and in the end they have forged a friendship that would last a lifetime.

🍾 Laurain did it again! This is a wholesome read, very entertaining, fast-paced, and memorable. The atmospheric of 1954 Paris is the main highlight for me.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

Read for:

Paris in July 2024

hosted by Emma @ Words and Peace

The Girl Who Reads on the Métro (2017) by Christine Féret-Fleury #ParisInJuly2024 #20booksofsummer24

💛 Juliette doesn't love her 9-5 job at the real estate agent, but she loves her metro journey to the office every day. Juliette lives a melancholic life as an ordinary young woman, a life ruled by monotony, devoid of either purpose or passion. Her sole entertainment are two things: books and imagination.

💛 Besides her love for reading, she loves to imagine the lives of her fellow metro passengers, through books they read every day. There's a woman who always cries when she gets to page 247 of the same book she always read on the Metro. Then, an ornithologist who loves reading book about insects, and a lady with her cook book. Juliette's imagination brings colors to her otherwise bleak existence.

💛 Her life changes when Juliette passes a different road to office, and notices a curious little bookstore with a book wedged on its gate. Intuitively she enters the tranquil courtyard which feels like another world from the hustle bustle of Paris. There she becomes acquainted to Soliman, the bookshop owner, and his daughter Zaide, and without realizes what's happening, Juliette agrees to be a passeur.

💛 Soliman's bookshop isn't an ordinary one. He hired passeurs who match books with people they see - books that they would need or books that match their personalities. The kind of occupation that suits Juliette perfectly and correlated to what she's been doing lately on the Metro. But her biggest life change didn't happen until Soliman asked her to move into his house to take care of little Zaide while he's away.

💛 This is the kind of book without much of a plot. Its strength lays on the beautiful writing and its deep understanding of human struggles and the power of books to heal or guide human lives. I would love it better if it tells us more about the bookshop and the passeur concept. Are the secondhand books passed on to people freely, or should they pay for them? Because Juliette only passes them on to people, there are never any transaction. And if they are free, then how the bookshop keep itself running? If the books are sold from the shop, but some of it are passed on to readers, there are no hints of business along the story. These aspects made the story less relatable to me, though I love the bookshop itself - the tranquil hushed-up atmosphere which seemed to transport me to a secret alley in Paris which is hidden from tourists.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Read for:

Paris in July 2024

hosted by Emma @ Words and Peace

20 Books of Summer 2024
hosted by Cathy @ 746 Books