Monday, November 22, 2010

Another day, another book

I stopped by the library on my way home today to pick up the December book selection for the Book Buddies, my online book club.  The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogama (2009) looks like one I'll enjoy, and I was please to discover it's a relatively small paperback book.  Easy to hold while reading in bed, for one thing.
He is a brilliant math Professor with a peculiar problem -- ever since a traumatic head injury, he has lived with only eighty minutes of short-term memory.  She is an astute young Housekeeper, with a ten-year-old son, who is hired to care for him.  And every morning, the Professor and the Housekeeper are introduced to each other anew.
Now this is REALLY living in the present!  Eva of A Striped Armchair recently wrote a very interesting post listing books about neuroscience and neurological illnesses.  Yesterday, one of the many comments referred to The Housekeeper and the Professor:
"I’ve heard that in The Housekeeper and the Professor and Rebecca West’s Return of the Soldier feature amnesia or memory problems as well, haven’t read them yet though."
What perfect timing, picking up that book the very next day.  I'm halfway through with Hummingbirds by Joshua Gaylord (2003), so I'll probably finish it before starting this one.

I wonder if anyone (else) has ever done two Library Loot posts in one week (here's my first one).  Library Loot is a weekly meme co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library.  Marg has the Mister Linky this week, if you'd like to share the loot you brought home.

On another note:
My brother Jim (reading the bulletin on the front row of this June photo) had a heart attack on Friday, November 19.  When I visited him in the cardiac intensive care unit today, he was waiting to be transferred to a room.  Jim, who had a liver transplant two years ago, will be having bypass surgery in about six weeks, according to his doctors.

3 comments:

raidergirl3 said...

I loved The Housekeeper and the Professor! So much. It's just so lovely. And the math doesn't hurt either, since I love math. But don't let it deter you if you don't like it as much.

Best wishes for your brother.

Helen's Book Blog said...

I am so sorry to hear about your brother's heart attack. We've just learned my grandmother has congestive heart failure (is that the correct term?). My thoughts are with you.

I look forward to hearing what you think of the Housekeeper and the Professor. Only a few students have read it, but they liked it. I keep forgetting we have it!

Bonnie Jacobs said...

I have loved numbers since I sat in my mother's lap, asking her to read the numbers at the bottom of the page along with the words. Thanks for your wishes, Raidergirl.

Thanks, Helen. Yes, I had bypass surgery last year after being diagnosed with congestive heart failure -- my lungs were filling with fluid because my heart wasn't able to pump it out. Now I can breathe deeply again.