Published on : 2018 (translation) || Format : print || Location : Japan One line review : Keiko would rather behave exactly as others expect her to so she doesn't disappoint "society", and so she works at the same convenience store without changing anything about her life, but very soon the same society expects her to "upgrade" (change career and find a husband), except there is no manual on how to do these. ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ When something was strange, everyone thought they had the right to come stomping in all over your life to figure out why. I found that arrogant and infuriating, not to mention a pain in the neck. Sometimes I even wanted to hit them with a shovel to shut them up, like I did that time in elementary school. But I recalled how upset my sister had been when I’d casually mentioned this to her before and kept my mouth shut. Thoughts : When I started reading Convenience Store Woman , I had no idea what to expect. The synopsis does not give a
Early Sunday morning, or as early as we could manage after a full day of driving on Saturday, the husband and I woke up to snow falling in Niagara. My phone's weather app had promised a day of sunshine and some clouds, but there wasn't any mention of any kind of precipitation. Somehow, we dragged ourselves out of the hotel into our car to see the Niagara falls from the Canadian side (photos coming later) and then cross over to the US.
Even though we woke up to 20 F degree weather, we reached home nine hours later to 62 F degree weather. The sun has been out ever since and I (someone who generally abhors summer) am super excited to see no more snow or fleece jackets. Two weeks in Canada was amazing but the weather wasn't the best. Toronto wasn't too cold, Quebec city could have easily left some frostbitten toes or fingers, while Niagara was more of a middle ground. I plan to post some highlights of my trip later this week (once I fully recover from the nasty cold I picked up at Quebec), and in the meantime, mention the books I purchased at Toronto's many amazing bookstores.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I went to a total of 8 bookstores in Toronto, and bought books at 6 of them. The only reason I walked out empty-handed from the other two stores was because one was more of an art store than a bookstore while the second store had more strange or theory books plus the books cost way more than I was willing to spend. Once we reached home, the husband stacked all the books up for me and did a count as well to book-shame me. (He knows well that book-shaming doesn't work on me at all.) Honestly though, when I found that I had purchased 25 books, I did feel a bit sheepish. Who buys that many books in a week? At least, I am done for the next two years, as far as book shopping is considered.
Books I bought because "I've been meaning to read them forever" (or maybe not for that long)
The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall
Small Island by Andrea Levy
Tiny Sunbirds, Far Away by Christie Watson
The Walking Dead, Vol 21 by Robert Kirkman
The Accident by Ismail Kadare
The Walking Dead, Vol 22 by Robert Kirkman
Books I bought because I want to read this author but know nothing about his/her works
The Joke by Milan Kundera
The Black Album by Hanif Kureishi
July's People by Nadine Gordimer
Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby
A Map of Glass by Jane Urquhart
Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco
I'll Steal You Away by Niccolò Ammaniti
Books for the husband
Pattern Recognition by William Gibson
Shadow of the Hegemon by Orson Card
Gandhi by Kazuki Ebine
Phoenicia's Worlds by Ben Jeapes
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (not pictured)
Books I bought just because
NW by Zadie Smith
I Do Not Come to You by Chance by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani
Yalo by Elias Khoury
A Woman in Jerusalem by Abraham B. Yehoshua
Happiness, like Water by Chinelo Okparanta
Even though we woke up to 20 F degree weather, we reached home nine hours later to 62 F degree weather. The sun has been out ever since and I (someone who generally abhors summer) am super excited to see no more snow or fleece jackets. Two weeks in Canada was amazing but the weather wasn't the best. Toronto wasn't too cold, Quebec city could have easily left some frostbitten toes or fingers, while Niagara was more of a middle ground. I plan to post some highlights of my trip later this week (once I fully recover from the nasty cold I picked up at Quebec), and in the meantime, mention the books I purchased at Toronto's many amazing bookstores.
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| The entire stack |
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I went to a total of 8 bookstores in Toronto, and bought books at 6 of them. The only reason I walked out empty-handed from the other two stores was because one was more of an art store than a bookstore while the second store had more strange or theory books plus the books cost way more than I was willing to spend. Once we reached home, the husband stacked all the books up for me and did a count as well to book-shame me. (He knows well that book-shaming doesn't work on me at all.) Honestly though, when I found that I had purchased 25 books, I did feel a bit sheepish. Who buys that many books in a week? At least, I am done for the next two years, as far as book shopping is considered.
Books I bought because "I've been meaning to read them forever" (or maybe not for that long)The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall
Small Island by Andrea Levy
Tiny Sunbirds, Far Away by Christie Watson
The Walking Dead, Vol 21 by Robert Kirkman
The Accident by Ismail Kadare
The Walking Dead, Vol 22 by Robert Kirkman
Books I bought because I want to read this author but know nothing about his/her worksThe Joke by Milan Kundera
The Black Album by Hanif Kureishi
July's People by Nadine Gordimer
Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby
A Map of Glass by Jane Urquhart
Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco
I'll Steal You Away by Niccolò Ammaniti
Books I bought because I had vaguely heard something good about these titles (though now remember nothing about them)
People Park by Pasha Malla
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Books for the husbandPattern Recognition by William Gibson
Shadow of the Hegemon by Orson Card
Gandhi by Kazuki Ebine
Phoenicia's Worlds by Ben Jeapes
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (not pictured)
Books I bought just because
NW by Zadie Smith
I Do Not Come to You by Chance by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani
Yalo by Elias Khoury
A Woman in Jerusalem by Abraham B. Yehoshua
Happiness, like Water by Chinelo Okparanta
Comments
Nice haul! And hope you feel better soon.
I try not to read the TWD comics when the show is running. But now that the finale is over, I can't wait to get back to the books. Some really nasty stuff had just happened - something I hope never comes to TV or maybe comes after many seasons.
blog. Phew, so I am not going crazy, yet. I wonder too how the audio is.
Maybe too technical to listen to? Maybe not..