Small books to read when when the reading slump hits! 📚

December 05, 2021 by Cate Crafter in Books

I often find myself struggling to pick up a book. I work full time, and I love movies (and TV shows tbh) a bit too much!

This year I've not read as much as I usually do, part of that is because I'm not a student anymore and I don't have to read 1 million books to pass an exam, and it's also because I'm a slow reader and I get tired of reading long books.

So in an effort to re-ignite the reading spark, I've started reading short books and here I will share some old faves and some recent discoveries and also somehow talk about movies again...FFS.

February Books

March 02, 2021 by Cate Crafter in Books, Sága Book Club

Intimations by Zadie Smith

Written during the first days of the Pandemic this collection of essays covers random thoughts and feelings Smith had at the time and she also reflects on the Murder of George Floyd. I’ve never actually read any of Smith’s fiction so I thought I would start with her essays and I liked her writing style so I will be checking out her fiction in the future.

Oedipus Rex by Sophocles

I listened to an audio adaptation on Audible that you can download for free as part of your audible subscription. I think everyone knows Oedipus Rex to some extent, perhaps because of Freud’s controversial Oedipus Complex theory more than anything else which is interesting in itself, how something becomes part of a collective cultural memory. I didn’t realise that the play takes place during a pandemic so that was interesting. I used to read Greek plays in the school library during lunch break (I can’t remember which ones tbh) but this was my first encounter with Sophocles and I must say that I did enjoy the audio adaptation as really for me plays become so much more accessible when dramatised either on stage or by audio.

The Hound of the Baskerville’s by Arthur Conan Doyle

Here ends my reading of the Sherlock Holmes books. For some reason I just don’t get on with them, I find them rather bland and boring if I’m perfectly honest. I just don’t get what all the fuss is about. Is Sherlock Holmes and an interesting character? Sure, but that’s about all that Doyle has going here. The mystery in Baskerville’s wasn’t even that interesting and the vibe wasn’t as spooky as I had hoped, which is the only reason why I picked up another Holmes story, the hope of Gothic elements. The cover is pretty though…

Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami - Sága Book Club Pick

What a heartwarming novel. I absolutely adored this book and I am so happy that I finally read it. Kawakami’s story of two people, a teacher and his former student re-connecting after many years is just the kind of book I needed right now. The writing is uncluttered and is essentially an episodic slice-of-life narrative which is clearly a result of how it was published in Japan as it was originally serialized from July 1999 to December 2000, before becoming a novel.

One of my favourite things about Strange Weather in Tokyo is how the seasons drift by and that this subtly drives the narrative. We follow the characters as they encounter each other sporadically and it is dependant on the seasons as to where they will meet and what they will eat. This tradition of seasonal eating is a very Japanese practice, there is even a word 旬 ‘Shun’, which refers to when ingredients are at their most optimal for eating. While the principal characters engage in eating Shun foods and drinking copious amounts of beer and sake together (sounds like quite the ideal ritual…am I right?) they form an attachment, that soon blossoms into love.

“I felt a sudden rush of warmth in my body, and felt the tears well up once again. But I didn't cry. It's always better to drink than to cry.”

The novel is told in first-person from the point of view of Tsukiko, a nearly 40-year-old former student of Sensai who is himself some 30 years her senior. She is shy and doubtful and I found her character really quite relatable, as I am those things myself. I also think that love is born out of quality time shared and that it almost creeps up on you, just like it did to these characters. I won’t spoil the ending but it was both expected and unexpected, perhaps a better way to put it is that I saw it coming but I didn’t think it would be executed in the way that it was. I think Strange Weather in Tokyo has certainly become a new favourite and I’m sure I’ll revisit it many times in the future.

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Book Club: Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami

February 06, 2021 by Cate Crafter in Books

The next stop on our world tour of literature is Japan. I am a massive fan of Japanese fiction; I think that much is pretty obvious if you look at my bookshelf or my Goodreads.

When picking what to read, I was so tempted to choose Murakami, but perhaps he is too obvious, so even though he is my favourite author and I am dying to read more from him, we won’t be reading one of his books. Instead, I have chosen to go with Hiromi Kawakami’s Strange Weather in Tokyo.

Read my review of last month’s Book Club book, The Prose Edda.

Strange Weather in Tokyo follows Tsukiko as she reconnects with her former high school teacher after a chance meeting at a bar one night.

They meet and share meals and drinks over the coming months and it’s soon apparent that these two people may just be falling in love with each other.

The reason why I chose Kawakami’s Strange Weather in Tokyo as the next Sága Book Club book is that I have read a couple of her books and short stories before. Some I have really enjoyed (The Nakano Thrift Shop) and others not so much (Record of a Night Too Brief) and I have been meaning to read her most famous book for a few years now.