Musings of a South African Bookworm

I have had a good run of books lately, which is a little surprising as sometimes, I just can’t get into a book or a book is readable, but nothing fantastic, but recently read three books which I have thoroughly enjoyed.

The Housekeeper and the professor – Yoko Ogawa

This is a lovely book, it is an easy read though full of mathematical equations which I have to admit to having gone slightly over my head.  A maths professor with a short term memory of only 80 minutes. A young housekeeper and her ten year old son. And the blossoming friendship between the three. The peculiarities of having to reintroduce themselves each morning, the maths riddles based on her shoe size or her birthday, and the numbers, which forges a bond which is more mysterious than imaginary numbers but runs deeper than memory.

A beautiful story!

Farenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury

Wow, this is a phenomenal book! It has been on  my list of books to read for about 2 years, and by chance I found it in a bookshop which was having a clear out sale and bought it for R10! A very well worth R10 spend! A dystopian novel about how in a distant future, books are burnt and life is lived via 4 walls of television. It is a scary look at a technical age where books have no place, and life has no place in life. I recommend any one to read this, who has any sort of love for books. Truly, I could not put it down.

A life in pieces – Richard K Baer

Oh my goodness, this was a harrowing read. It was incredible, amazing, fascinating and horrific. A true story about a woman with 17 multiple personalities due to severe trauma and abuse as a child. And I swear, every mother should read this book, just to make sure that they are aware of what is out there, so we don’t get complacent. So we make sure that we keep an eye out for changes in personalities. I really was horrified by what happened to this woman as a child, that people could actually be as monstrous as they were. Awful, but in the end , amazing how even though she has different personalities, she is still wanting to heal herself and this book takes us through what happened, over ten years! Truly incredible. ( I stayed up until 12.30am one night because I was absolutely fascinated…)

Have you read any of these? Did you enjoy them?