Category Archives: Japan/Japanese Literature

Looking Back at 2019

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Looking back at 2019, I am happy with my reading year. In addition to my usual reading,  I took on a number of challenges and enjoyed the books I read for each one. I love the journey of each challenge and the exposure to new authors, genres, and ideas that really expand my world.

Turning seventy years old felt like a big milestone and I wanted to celebrate it in some special way. So I put together a self-challenge called “EMBRACING SEVENTY.”  I created a 1949 list of books and movies– anything to do with 70. It turned out to be a fun research project. Here are the books I read, and the one movie from 1949 that my husband and I watched:

”WANDERLUST” was another self-challenge I put together this year in an effort to read more international literature. I read both children and adult books and liked the glimpses into other cultures. I will continue this challenge in 2020 and beyond.

For a second year in a row, I signed up for Adam’s 2019 OFFICIAL TBR challenge. Last year I read 4 books for his challenge, and this year I did the same. That’s 8 books that have been sitting on my bookshelf for far too long, so I’m happy to have been motivated to finally read them. Thank you, Adam, for hosting this challenge. I’ll miss it! Here’s my list of books read in 2019:

Dolce Bellezza’s JAPANESE LITERATURE Challenge always calls to me, and in 2019 I read one book and watched three Japanese films. Meredith always puts together a really classy challenge! My 2019 books and movies:

Films:

I had good intentions when I signed up for Rachel’s (@hibernatorslibrary) A YEAR of SHAKESPEARE Challenge this year. I was going to read three Shakespeare plays, but I ended up only reading one (which I enjoyed very much!). But I also read a lot of different books about that play, so it really was an immersive experience, and a lot of fun. Here’s what I read for this challenge:

A Shakespeare Comedy : The Winter’s Tale

READERS IMBIBING PERIL- XIV was a great challenge this fall! It’s one of my favorite challenges each year, and I enjoy it more and more each year!  I love mysteries and suspense novels, good book series and good TV mystery series, so I had lots of fun reading and watching movies!

PERIL the FIRST:

  1. The Lost One, by Mary Stewart
  2. The Little Sister, by Raymond Chandler
  3. Christmas in Absaroka County, by Craig Johnson
  4. Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte
  5. The Religious Body, by Catherine Aird
  6. An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good, by Helene Tursten
  7. The Case of the Famished Parson, by George Bellairs
  8. Rose Cottage, by Mary Stewart
  9. The House on the Strand, by Daphne du Maurier
  10. Trouble in Nuala, by Harriet Steel
  11. Whiteout, by Ken Follett

PERIL on the SCREEN:

  1. 4:50 From Paddington
  2. Murder at the Gallop
  3. The Mirror Crack’d
  4. Murder Most Foul 

I joined THE CLASSICS CLUB in March of 2017 and agreed to read 50 Books in 5 Years. This is a great challenge, so well organized and with fun activities. I’ve always loved reading classics so it’s a perfect fit for me. As of right now, I’ve read 28 of my 50 books list. This year I read these classics:

Having time to read is such a precious luxury for me and this year has been full of reading joy. And now I’m looking forward to my 2020 reading.

For all my reading friends, may 2020 be a year of joyful reading for you, too!

Wanderlust

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When I was 17 years old, I spent a year in Argentina as an exchange student, and after that experience I always considered myself a “Citizen of the World,” not just a citizen of my own country. But I’ll admit it:  I’m more of an armchair traveler than a real traveler, although I would love to visit many different far off places!  Books have always encouraged and mostly satisfied my wanderlust, so I will continue to read books from other countries and cultures.

There are many booklists online about books from countries around the world, and many blogging friends have put together challenges to encourage a broader range of reading. I love putting together lists, so I thought I would build this post with a list of the countries of the world so that when I read a book from or about that country, I can log it here. It’s the journey that calls to me, not the finish line.

I will read as many books in translation as possible. There are also many books for young people that provide wonderful stories and information about other cultures/countries, so I look forward to reading some of those, as well.  Since I’m starting in 2019, I will include books I’ve already read this year that qualify for this self-challenge and will provide links to my reviews.

It is important to me, as a “citizen of the world,” that I broaden my reading journey even more during this time of increasing nationalism. I truly believe the motto of the American Field Service (now known as AFS Intercultural Programs):

“Walk Together, Talk Together, 
O ye peoples of the Earth,
For then, and only then,
Shall ye have peace.”

46/196 books read.
Red = click to read my review
Blue = Read but not reviewed

  1. AFGHANISTAN:  Nasreen’s Secret School, by Jeanette Winter
  2. ALBANIA
  3. ALGERIA
  4. ANDORRA
  5. ANGOLA
  6. ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA: A Small Place, by Jamaica Kincaid
  7. ARGENTINA:  Argentinian Adventures: A Planthunter in Argentina, by John Lonsdale
  8. ARMENIA
  9. AUSTRALIA
  10. AUSTRIA:  Letters to a Young Poet, by Rainer Maria Rilke
  11. AZERBAIJAN
  12. THE BAHAMAS
  13. BAHRAIN: Round the Bend, by Nevil Shute
  14. BANGLADESH
  15. BARBADOS
  16. BELARUS
  17. BELGIUM:  A Dog of Flanders, by Ouida
  18. BELIZE
  19. BENIN: Idia of the Benin Kingdom, by Ekiuwa Aire
  20. BHUTAN
  21. BOLIVIA
  22. BOSNIA and HERZEGOVINA
  23. BOTSWANA
  24. BRAZIL:  Manuscript Found in Accra, by Paulo Coehlo
  25. BRUNEI
  26. BULGARIA
  27. BURKINA FASO
  28. BURUNDI
  29. CABO VERDE
  30. CAMBODIA:  The Elephant’s New Shoe, by Laurel Neme
  31. CAMEROON
  32. CANADA:  The Landscapes of Anne of Green Gables, by Catherine Reid
  33. CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
  34. CHAD
  35. CHILE
  36. CHINA: Bronze and Sunflower, by Cao Wenxuan
  37. COLOMBIA:  Waiting for the Biblioburro, by Monica Brown
  38. COMOROS
  39. CONGO, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF
  40. CONGO, REPUBLIC OF THE
  41. COSTA RICA
  42. COTE D’IVOIRE
  43. CROATIA
  44. CUBA:  Island Treasures: Growing Up in Cuba, by Alma Flor Ada
  45. CYPRUS
  46. CZECH REPUBLIC
  47. DENMARK
  48. DJIBOUTI
  49. DOMINICA
  50. DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
  51. EAST TIMOR (TIMOR-LESTE)
  52. ECUADOR
  53. EGYPT
  54. EL SALVADOR
  55. EQUATORIAL GUINEA
  56. ERITREA
  57. ESTONIA
  58. ESWATINI
  59. ETHIOPIA
  60. FIJI
  61. FINLAND
  62. FRANCE:  Travels With a Donkey in the Cévennes, by Robert Louis Stevenson
  63. GABON
  64. THE GAMBIA
  65. GEORGIA
  66. GERMANY:  The Solitary Summer, by Elizabeth von Arnim
  67. GHANA:  Emmanuel’s Dream, The True Story of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah, by Laurie Ann Thompson
  68. GREECE:  The Moonspinners, by Mary Stewart
  69. GRENADA
  70. GUATEMALA
  71. GUINEA
  72. GUINEA-BISSAU
  73. GUYANA
  74. HAITI
  75. HONDURUS
  76. HUNGARY
  77. ICELAND:  The Little Book of the Icelanders: 50 Miniature Essays on the Quirks and Foibles of the Icelandic People, by Alda Sigmundsdottir
  78. INDIA:  A Tiger for Malgudi, by R. K. Narayan
  79. INDONESIA:  The Twenty-One Balloons, by William Pene Du Bois
  80. IRAN
  81. IRAQ:  The Librarian of Basra, by Jeanette Winter
  82. IRELAND:  A Week in Winter, by Maeve Binchy
  83. ISRAEL
  84. ITALY:  Marcovaldo, or The Seasons in the City, by Italo Calvino
  85. JAMAICA
  86. JAPAN:  Sweet Bean Paste, by Durian Sukegawa
  87. JORDAN
  88. KAZAKHSTAN
  89. KENYA:  Facing The Lion: Growing Up Maasai on the African Savanna, by Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton
  90. KIRIBATI
  91. KOREA, NORTH:  North Korea Journal, by Michael Palin
  92. KOREA, SOUTH:  Crying in H Mart, by Michelle Zauner
  93. KOSOVO
  94. KUWAIT
  95. KYRGYSTAN
  96. LAOS:  Mali Under the Night Sky: A Lao Story of Home, by Youme Landowne
  97. LATVIA
  98. LEBANON:  The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran
  99. LESOTHO
  100. LIBERIA
  101. LIBYA
  102. LIECHTENSTEIN
  103. LITHUANIA
  104. LUXEMBOURG
  105. MADAGASCAR:  The Aye-Aye and I, by Gerald Durrell
  106. MALAWI
  107. MALAYSIA
  108. MALDIVES
  109. MALI
  110. MALTA
  111. MARSHALL ISLANDS
  112. MAURITANIA:  Deep in the Sahara, by Kelly Cunnane and illustrated by Hoda Hadadi 
  113. MAURITIUS 
  114. MEXICO
  115. MICRONESIA, FEDERATED STATES of
  116. MOLDOVA
  117. MONACO
  118. MONGOLIA
  119. MONTENEGRO
  120. MOROCCO:  Mrs. Pollifax and the Whirling Dervish, by Dorothy Gilman
  121. MOZAMBIQUE
  122. MYANMAR (Burma)
  123. NAMIBIA
  124. NAURU
  125. NEPAL
  126. NETHERLANDS:  The Upstairs Room, by Johanna Reiss
  127. NEW ZEALAND
  128. NICARAGUA
  129. NIGER
  130. NIGERIA
  131. NORTH MACEDONIA
  132. NORWAY:  Snow Treasure, by Marie McSwigan
  133. OMAN
  134. PAKISTAN:  Malala’s Magic Pencil, by Malala Yousafzai
  135. PALAU
  136. PANAMA
  137. PAPUA NEW GUINEA    
  138. PARAGUAY:  Ada’s Violin: The Story of the Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay, by Susan Hood
  139. PERU
  140. PHILIPPINES
  141. POLAND
  142. PORTUGAL
  143. QATAR
  144. ROMANIA
  145. RUSSIA:  A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles
  146. RWANDA
  147. SAINT KITTS and NEVIS 
  148. SAINT LUCIA
  149. SAINT VINCENT and THE GRENADINES 
  150. SAMOA
  151. SAN MARINO
  152. SAO TOME and PRINCIPE
  153. SAUDI ARABIA
  154. SENEGAL
  155. SERBIA
  156. SEYCHELLES
  157. SIERRA LEONE
  158. SINGAPORE
  159. SLOVAKIA
  160. SLOVENIA
  161. SOLOMON ISLANDS
  162. SOMALIA
  163. SOUTH AFRICA
  164. SPAIN
  165. SRI LANKA: Trouble in Nuala, by Harriet Steel
  166. SUDAN
  167. SUDAN, SOUTH:  A Long Walk to Water, by Linda Sue Park
  168. SURINAME
  169. SWEDEN:  An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good, by Helene Tursten
  170. SWITZERLAND:  Heidi, by Johanna Spyri
  171. SYRIA: Stepping Stones: A Refugee Family’s Journey, by Margriet Ruur and illustrated by Nazir Ali Badr
  172. TAIWAN
  173. TAJIKISTAN
  174. TANZANIA:  Death in Zanzibar, by M. M. Kaye
  175. THAILAND
  176. TOGO
  177. TONGA
  178. TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
  179. TUNISIA
  180. TURKEY
  181. TURKMENISTAN
  182. TUVALU
  183. UGANDA
  184. UKRAINE
  185. UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
  186. UNITED KINGDOM:  Cider With Rosie, by Laurie Lee
  187. UNITED STATES:  The Country of the Pointed Firs, by Sarah Orne Jewett
  188. URUGUAY
  189. UZBEKISTAN
  190. VANUATU
  191. VATICAN CITY
  192. VENEZUELA
  193. VIETNAM:  Water Buffalo Days – Growing Up in Vietnam, by Huynh Quang Nhuong
  194. YEMEN
  195. ZAMBIA
  196. ZIMBABWE

Ugetsu

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Last night, my husband and I watched the old Japanese film, Ugetsu, a film based on two stories from the book, Tales of Moonlight and Rain, by Ueda Akinari, which I read many years ago. The film was directed by the great filmmaker, Kenji Mizoguchi, and released in 1953. It is a classic of Japanese film and a beautifully filmed, ethereal and haunting story.

from The Criterion Collection:

By the time he made Ugetsu, Kenji Mizoguchi was already an elder statesman of Japanese cinema, fiercely revered by Akira Kurosawa and other directors of a younger generation. And with this exquisite ghost story, a fatalistic wartime tragedy derived from stories by Akinari Ueda and Guy de Maupassant, he created a touchstone of his art, his long takes and sweeping camera guiding the viewer through a delirious narrative about two villagers whose pursuit of fame and fortune leads them far astray from their loyal wives. Moving between the terrestrial and the otherworldly, Ugetsu reveals essential truths about the ravages of war, the plight of women, and the pride of men.

summary of the story from Roger Ebert:

Two brothers, one consumed by greed, the other by envy. In a time when the land is savaged by marauding armies, they risk their families and their lives to pursue their obsessions. Kenji Mizoguchi’s “Ugetsu” (1953) tells their stories in one of the greatest of all films — one which, along with Kurosawa’s “Rashomon,” helped introduce Japanese cinema to Western audiences. The heroes are rough-hewn and consumed by ambition, but the film style is elegant and mysterious, and somehow we know before we are told that this is a ghost story.

We were captivated by the story and enveloped by the visual beauty of this film. It is a film experience I highly recommend.  It is available for purchase or rental from Amazon Prime, but we streamed it free-of-charge from Kanopy, the movies available for streaming through our local library system.

 

 

I watched this film as part of the Japanese Literature 12 Challenge hosted by Meredith at Dolce Bellezza.

Ikiru

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“Ikiru,” in Japanese, means a number of different things:

  1. to live; to exist
  2. to make a living; to subsist
  3. to be in effect; to be in use; to function
  4. to come to life; to be enlivened
  5. to be safe (in baseball, go, etc.)

The film IKIRU, directed by Akira Kurosawa and released in 1952, is a classic of Japanese film. It is a heartwarming and heart wrenching story of a bureaucrat in Tokyo, a man whose days are always the same, full of endless piles of paper essentially “signifying nothing.”  He finds out one day that he has terminal cancer and less than a year to live. His world is instantly upended, and over the next few months, he goes through all the stages of grief — denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance — and finally finds a way to do something meaningful with the time he has remaining in his life.

It’s a very moving story, and expresses all the different meanings of the word “Ikiru,” especially the fourth definition, to learn to live!  I’ve watched it numerous times over the years, and it is one of my favorite movies. I highly recommend it.


I watched this film as part of the Japanese Literature 12 Challenge, hosted by Meredith at Dolce Bellezza.

Sweet Bean Paste

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People’s lives never stay the same colour forever. There are times when the colour of life changes completely.

Sweet Bean Paste, by Durian Sukegawa, is a story of friendship and renewal.  It is set in modern-day Japan, and focuses on some cultural changes that are just happening within the last twenty-five years or so.

from the publisher, Oneworld:

Sentaro has failed. He has a criminal record, drinks too much, and his dream of becoming a writer is just a distant memory. With only the blossoming of the cherry trees to mark the passing of time, he spends his days in a tiny confectionery shop selling dorayaki, a type of pancake filled with sweet bean paste.

But everything is about to change.

Into his life comes Tokue, an elderly woman with disfigured hands and a troubled past. Tokue makes the best sweet bean paste Sentaro has ever tasted. She begins to teach him her craft, but as their friendship flourishes, social pressures become impossible to escape and Tokue’s dark secret is revealed.

Sentaro begins to learn from Tokue how to make the wonderful sweet bean paste, and he learns so much more than that from her! She has a wonderful outlook on life, but is mysterious about her past.

It turns out that Tokue had leprosy as a child. She had been cured more than 40 years ago, but because of the cultural stigma and harsh laws against lepers, she lived all her life in a sanitarium, isolated from the rest of society. In 1996, Japan changed the laws about lepers, and she was given her “freedom” from the confines of the leper community. Sadly, there was no family left and no place for her out in the world, so she and many of the other residents simply stayed at the sanitarium.

In a culture that defines a person’s success as what one can contribute to society, she and the other former lepers were denied that personal identity and meaning. But Tokue was able to find an elemental freedom in her imposed isolation from society, and found deep personal meaning in the language of nature. She taught Sentaro that life is so much more than what society dictates, and that every single thing that lives on earth contributes in their own way.

One thing I can do in Tenshoen is sniff the wind and listen to the murmur of the trees. I pay attention to the language of things in this world that don’t use words. That’s what I call Listening, and I’ve been doing it for sixty years now.

It’s my belief that everything in this world has its own language. We have the ability to open up our ears and minds to anything and everything. That could be someone walking down the street, or it could be the sunshine or the wind.

Anyone is capable of making a positive contribution to the world through simple observation, irrespective of circumstance. This is the idea that Tokue expresses when she writes in her letter, ‘We were born in order to see and listen to the world.’ It’s a powerful notion, with the potential to subtly reshape our view of everything.

from Booklist:

‘Although Tokue’s past is a reflection of a dark chapter of Japanese history, her wisdom, patience, and kindness shape this touching and occasionally wistful novel. Through Tokue’s story, Sukegawa eloquently explores the seeds of biases and challenges us to truly listen to the natural world and the messages it artfully hides.’

This was really a lovely, positive book to read. There is also a movie that was made of the book, and it stayed very true to the story. It is available on DVD as “Sweet Bean,” and was beautifully filmed.


This book was on my list of choices for the Japanese Literature Challenge.

Japanese Literature Challenge 12

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Another reading challenge for 2019 has caught my eye. Meredith (@Dolce Bellezza) is hosting her 12th  Japanese LIterature Challenge this year. I’ve participated in her challenges numerous times before and enjoyed each of them. I already have some Japanese literature on my Classics Club list, and two new books on my Kindle that would qualify for this challenge, so I decided to join…again.

This time, I am also going to add a few films to watch. Long ago, when my kids were little, I took a continuing education class at the University. It was called the “Art of Japanese Film” and I absolutely loved the class! And then, a few years ago, my husband and I bought a boxed set of DVDs of movies by the brilliant Japanese filmmaker, Akira Kurosawa, so Hubby and I are going to have our own Japanese Film Festival during this Challenge.

Books to Read:

  1. The Book of Tea, Kazuko Okakura
  2. Kokoro, Natsume Soseki
  3. Absolutely on Music, Haruki Murakami
  4. Sweet Bean Paste, Durian Sukegawa

Films of Akira Kurosawa to Watch:

  1. Stray Dog
  2. Ikiru
  3. Seven Samurai
  4. The Hidden Fortress
  5. Yojimbo

Other Japanese Films to Watch:

  1. Miss Hokusai  (we watched it on January 2, 2019)  This is a film based on the life of the daughter of the great painter, Hokusai. It was adapted from a Manga series written and illustrated by Hinako Sugiura.  It was directed by Keiichi Hara, and won numerous awards.
  2. Ugetsu (based on the book, Tales of Moonlight and Rain, by Akinari Udea)
  3. Spirited Away
  4. Our Little Sister
  5. My Neighbor Totoro

Click on the titles below to read my reviews of books I read for Dolce Bellezza’s previous Japanese LIterature Challenges.

One more thing…

My husband’s grandmother was a “picture bride” brought from Japan to Hawaii in the early 1900s as a bride for one of the Japanese plantation workers. If you are interested in that fascinating part of history, you can read my review of the book, Picture Bride, by Yoshiko Ushida.  If you can find it, there is a beautiful little film called “Picture Bride,” that is well worth seeing.  There are many stories of the 20,000 or so women who were the picture brides. They didn’t know their husbands-to-be before they were brought to Hawaii, and some to California. Each was chosen as a bride by their photo.

My husband’s grandmother and aunt are in this photo of plantation workers in Hawaii.

A Bridge for Passing

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100807_pearl_buck_blog

How quickly, in one instant, years of happy life become only memories!

A Bridge for Passing, by Pearl S. Buck, was an interesting  end for my 2014 reading year. Buck is a favorite author of mine, and I read her books slowly, absorbing her words and wisdom, enjoying the beauty of her prose.

TheBigWaveI hadn’t heard of this book before, but when I saw the description of it, I knew it was my next read by her. One of my all time favorites of her books is The Big Wave, a story about life and death and what it means to be Japanese. I loved sharing it with my 6th grade students when I was teaching and we were studying the Pacific Rim countries. The discussions were so powerful. A Bridge for Passing is a memoir of the time when Buck was in Japan for the filming of The Big Wave. She had written the screenplay. During that time, she received word of the death of her husband, Richard Walsh. Her experiences in Japan at such a sad and difficult time provided solace and perspective, and became a “bridge” into her new life alone without her beloved husband. What an interesting experience to read this poignant book about grief and renewal, with its fascinating connection to another book I love!

ABRIDGEFORPASSING

The Housekeeper and the Professor

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Housekeeper

In The Housekeeper and the Professor, by Yoko Ogawa, a gifted mathematics professor suffered brain damage in an accident that left him with only 80 minutes of working short-term memory. He had been cared for over the years since the accident by housekeepers who ran his household and watched over him. They came and were replaced frequently.

The new housekeeper, however, is different from the others who had looked after the professor before her. A very caring and intuitive person, she (and her young son) become close to him, and their kindness and caring ways bring out the best in all of them. They become a kind of family, sharing a love of mathematics and of baseball, and taking care of each other. But each day, when the housekeeper returns, the professor doesn’t remember the events and interactions of the day before.

It’s a fascinating kind of story. It didn’t have big action or lots of drama, but it stays with you long after you finish the book. I loved the relationships, the math that was explained by this gifted teacher, and the baseball. I read it for Dolce Bellezza‘s Japanese Literature Challenge 8, and it was a lovely choice. I look forward to reading more of Yoko Ogawa’s work.

yoko_ogawa

Japanese Literature Challenge

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Woman Waiting For The Moon to Rise

The lovely Meredith, at Dolce Bellezza, has announced her Japanese Literature Challenge, her 8th time hosting this lovely challenge. I have enjoyed all the books I’ve read for her past challenges and so I am going to enjoy participating in this one once again this summer. My goal is to read at least one book, knowing that my biggest challenge is to actually finish these Challenges I take on. But I will choose from some very interesting books that I already have, or have been interested in reading some day, and, so perhaps I will be able to finish more than one! Here’s my collection of possibilities:

  1. The Housekeeper and the Professor, by Yoko Ogawa
  2. Country Teacher, by Katai Tayama
  3. Tales from the Bamboo Grove, by Yoko Kawashima Watkins
  4. The Oxford Book of Japanese Short Stories, edited by Theodore W. Goossen

And here are my reviews of books I’ve finished for her previous challenges:

  1. The Big Wave, by Pearl S. Buck
  2. Thousand Cranes, by Yasunari Kawabata
  3. The Bells of Nagasaki, by Takashi Nagai
  4. After the Quake, by Haruki Murakami
  5. Twenty-Four Eyes, by Sakae Tsuboi
  6. Tales of Moonlight and Rain, by Akinari Ueda
  7. Knit Kimono, by Vicki Square
  8. The Revenge of the Forty-Seven Samuari, by Erik Christian Haugaard
  9. Kira-Kira, by Cynthia Kadohata
  10. Summer of the Big Bachi, by Naomi Hirahara
  11. Kusamakura, by Natsume Soseki

 

THANKS, Meredith, for organizing another enjoyable challenge and sharing your love of Japanese literature with us!

On Tea

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I am currently reading Kusamakura, by Natsume Soseki, for Dolce Bellezza’s Japanese Literature Challenge. It’s an enjoyable read, an unusual and beautifully written book, with not a lot of plot but an abundance of description for thought. There are passages in it that paint beautiful pictures in my mind (the main character is an artist and a poet), and there are parts that make me laugh as the author has fun with us. While drinking tea, the main character had these thoughts:

A connoisseur with time on his hands will elegantly taste this rich, delicately sweet liquid, ripened in the precise temperature of the hot water, by letting it run one drop at a time onto the tip of the tongue. Most people believe that tea is to be drunk, but that is a mistake. If you drop it gently onto the tongue and let the pure liquid dissipate in your mouth, almost none of it remains for you to swallow. Rather, the exquisite fragrance travels down to permeate the regions of the stomach.

And then, a few lines later, he says:

Tea is, in fact, a marvelous drink. To those who spurn it on the grounds of insomnia, I say that it’s better to be deprived of sleep than of tea.

Taking on a Challenge

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Returning to my reading and my blogging after an extended period of time away is quite a challenge in itself, but I’ve decided that I’d also like to take on an official “challenge.”  I’ve enjoyed numerous challenges over the years, and one of my favorites has been Dolce Bellezza’s Japanese Literature Challenge.  Her 6th round is underway, and since I’ve really enjoyed the reading I’ve done for her earlier challenges, I’ve decided to give this one a try.  Although I’m a much slower reader these days, partly due to the fact that our school year doesn’t end until June 26th (!), I am setting a goal of reading the following two books which are calling to me.

Kusamakura, by Soseki Natsume

The Housekeeper and the Professor, by Yoko Ogawa

Thinking in Themes

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Oh dear…there are times when I realize how deeply ingrained “Teacher Thinking” is in my brain. When my own children were little, every once in awhile they would say to me, “Mom, you’re acting like a teacher again.”  This morning I ran into a blatant example of my teacher thinking…

I went to my bookshelves to search for a good read for Dolce Bellezza‘s Japanese Literature Challenge #6.  I enjoy Meredith’s challenges, and thought this would be a good way to gentle myself back into challenges mode after my long hiatus from blogging. I was surprised to find, on different bookshelves, the following books. I realized that I think (without intending to do so) in themed connections!

Theme #1: Professors!

Theme#2: Summer!

Parker Palmer, in his book The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher’s Mind, describes the art of teaching this way:

Good teachers possess a capacity for connectedness. They are able to weave a complex web of connections among themselves, their subjects, and their students so that students can learn to weave a world for themselves.

As surprising as it was to find all these books on my shelves, I realize that I have always thought this way… If I look back at my childhood reading, I find similar patterns. Since I am a 4th generation school teacher, I can only conclude that there must be a gene in the family for that “capacity for connectedness”. One of my college professors, who knew my family well, joked that it was a “mutant gene.”  I’ll bet that many of my book blogging friends, teacher friends, and librarian friends all have this same way of thinking!