Devouring Books: Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto

"In the uncertain ebb and flow of time and emotions, much of one's life history is etched in the senses. And things of no particular importance, or irreplaceable things, can suddenly resurface in a cafe one winter night."

I put Kitchen on my birthday list almost on a whim- I wanted to read more Japanese authors because hellooooo, Murakami! and also because in Tolstoy and the Purple Chair, Nina Sankovitch waxed lyrical about Moonlight Shadow, the second story in this really teeny book. I think I'd also seen another of Yoshimoto's books reviewed somewhere in the blogosphere, and I super vaguely remember it being a nice review, and so yeah. I took a shot in the dark with Kitchen.

And oh my gosh. I was kind of blown away, because everything about it- and I mean EVERYTHING- was kind of all the things I love from a book- really lovely writing (even in translation, which kind of seems rare) melancholy and sadness, and, you know, Japanese food. I love it so much that I almost don't even want to talk about the ways I love it for fear of putting you off of it because you are not me, so instead I'll talk about the stories? Yes, let's do that.

So. Kitchen is split into three parts, the first being Kitchen, and the second the aforementioned Moonlight Shadow. They both deal with death and grief and just the not-knowing that comes with the death of someone who was your everything. This doesn't mean that the characters just sit around and cry a lot, though, but more that they're people who are lost and looking for something to replace what they've lost, even if they don't know what that is. And I realise that sounds like a downer but these are things we're all going to have to face in life, and who wants to go into that unprepared by literature?! Not me.

Kitchen, then, follows Mikage Sakurai as she tries to deal with the death of her Grandmother, her last living relative. As she goes through this, she is invited by almost a total stranger (Yuichi) to move into his house with him and his trans mother Eriko which she does and I've just realised I can tell you almost nothing else because spoilers. But let's just say there are some shared dreams going on (of COURSE) and apart from being about grief, it's also just about a young woman trying to learn how to live, as well as live with the new fact that she's responsible only to herself now that she doesn't have any family. Apart from her new strange family.

Anyway. It's really good even if I suck at ever explaining anything properly, and I actually think I liked the second half better than the first because Mikage gets to help Yuichi just as he helped her and it's all very wonderful and oh yeah, did I mention how good the writing is? I mean, I think we all know how much I love some Murakami, but I think that purely in writing terms (on a words level) Yoshimoto has it. Or possibly just has better translators, but I don't think that's what it is. 

Moonlight Shadow, though. Now that was amazing. Firstly it feels like more of a complete story than Kitchen (not that incomplete stories are bad, necessarily! And I still really like Kitchen. But this one, maaaan...) and it's just so sad, and so almost mystical and weird and just excellent all round, really. It's the story of Satsuki, (another) young woman whose boyfriend has just died in a car accident, in which his brother's girlfriend was also killed. Satsuki and said brother Hiiragi have struck up a friendship because it seems like they're the only two people who knows how it feels to have suffered such a loss, and THEN these awesome and eerie things happen and oh my gosh you really have to read it so we can discuss it properly because ugh, I loved it.

And I really hate to keep going on about Murakami because I don't want to be like 'Japanese authors! They're all the same!' But Moonlight Shadow definitely felt Murakami-esque in its strangeness (and, you know, sadness) although now that I think of it, it was written before basically any of his major works, so yeah. That's interesting. But anyway, that definitely made me like it better, that it was weird in a sort of familiar way, and it was really just amazing and I want to tell you WHY but also I don't want to and oh, the conflict.

Just read this book, ok? And then be prepared to want to read ALL THE YOSHIMOTO because I'm already onto my second book and there really aren't that many and some aren't even translated so I'm obviously going to have to learn Japanese. Dammit.

Sunday Sundries- I'll talk to you later, if my legs don't fall off

Happy Sunday, internet people! When you read this (I am writing it on Saturday because preparedness!), I'll probably be walking a 5k (or, realistically, I will have walked a 5k) about which I'm more nervous than I really should be, because walking! I do that all the time! Or at least, you know, a lot. But anyway, I am. But I'll be fine/I was fine/everything is fine. (You can still sponsor me HERE if you so wish!)

But enough chatter about things that haven't even happened yet, but will probably have happened by the time you read this and OW MY HEAD HURTS. Let's talk about my week! It was really good until Friday when I was all gross and ill but still worked from home because I am a WARRIOR. But let's pretend that never happened and talk about LES MIS instead! So I went to see Les Mis on Tuesday, got what I'm sure was ANNOYINGLY excited on twitter and oh my gosh you guys, it was so awesome.

I was practically jittering with excitement all daaay like a child, and even though I KNEW it was going to be good, I thought I was kind of... Not immune to the awesomeness of it, but just that it was well known enough to me that I wouldn't FREAK OUT at its awesomeness? Anyway- that was NOT the case. It's kind of magnificent on the stage, and even though it's obviously on a smaller scale than the movie it makes up for it with really clever stagecraft and also INCREDIBLE singing. Like, seriously. Also, side note: I totally wanted to be snobby about all the people who were probably there to see it because of the movie, but hey THAT IS ME, and I think I am now cured of being a snob about how people get into things. Like, as long as you get to the purest and excellentest form eventually, then that's all that matters.

Now that we've got that sorted... I also went to see the new Star Trek film on Thursday (because my friend Becci made me... OR because I agreed to go in lieu of us seeing something awesome and indie-ish sometime) and it was actually... OK? I should add that this is basically the first Star Trek ANYTHING I've ever seen (although it was surprising how much of it felt familiar and I guess that's how much of a big pop culture thing it is?) so I don't know if it's actually good compared to anything else, but it did sort of make me want to go home and watch Star Trek and I've genuinely never had that urge before so yeah! Weird.

In Things-I-Haven't-Watched News, we had TWO family birthdays this week (I refer to the 11 days from 20th May-1st June as 'my busy period' because THREE CAKES, guys. That is a lot of cakes.) with my Grandad's on Monday and my Mum's yesterday (or today... Yes I'm writing this instead of seeing her AT THIS SECOND. Shut up, I got her a really nice present!) which really just means muchos family time which is awesome.

I feel sort of uncomfortable using a Nazi to express my excitement. Just like I used to feel uncomfortable sort of fancying Christoph Waltz until I saw Django Unchained. Hmm...

So yeah. Overall, actually a pretty good week, apart from the one day of feeling really gross. Now to go and eat cake and generally birthday frolic as soon as my mum comes back from Tesco (GENUINELY where she has gone on her birthday. I honestly don't know what to do with her.) Annnd that is what I did yesterday! (Presumably). Have a wonderful Sunday, everyone!

Devouring Books: My Fat, Mad Teenage Diary by Rae Earl

"In other words, he is a bastard shag-about who wants to sleep around. I told her this, but she doesn't want to hear it. He, according to her, is a bad boy- which, according to me, means he is a twat."

I wouldn't have heard of My Fat, Mad Teenage Diary if it hadn't been for the Channel 4 series of nearly the same name (My Mad Fat Diary) which was really and truly excellent. Honestly- the cast, the situations, the way it could take me from tears to laughter and back again in about 5 minutes... I just loved it so much. Before I read the book, though, I knew it was going to be quite different- it's set in the late eighties rather than the mid-nineties (so, you know, the music is different), and, you know, real life just isn't ever going to be as neat, or crossing storylines-y, or just as good as the TV show was.

Because I just want to get that out of the way really quickly- the book isn't as good as the TV show. I know, I know, SACRILEGE, but the thing is, it is literally a teenage girl's diary, which I say not as an insult, but more as a compliment to the programme, which was able to go to much greater depths than this book because it's outside looking into a character rather than being someone looking out on, and reporting on what she sees in the world. Then again, maybe I'm just not so much a fan of reading diaries, because they have a fairly limited scope and stuff. Who knows.

Now. I really did want to get that comparison out of the way (for the maybe 3 people who have seen My Mad Fat Diary!) because I genuinely really did like this book. There were times when I could have seriously been reading my own diary, because SO many of the feelings and thoughts are ones that I've had myself because I have been a teenager too! It's terrible! The hormones and the self-hatred and the feeling totally alone and me-against-the-world-ish- I've been there, and with bells on! As, you know, have we all. But this book wouldn't be at all fun if it was just doom and gloom and depression, and it really isn't- you can tell when Rae's had a bad day because she starts reflecting on all the things that are wrong with her life, but mostly (and I think this is something we all try to do) she looks on the bright side of things and ends up being hilarious.

Sample bit about her mum:

"SHE still comes in when I'm in the bath and asks me if I have washed properly. Especially (and she always whispers this) 'my credentials'. She means my bits. JUST SAY IT WOMAN!! She can't even call sanitary towels sanitary towels. She calls them BUNNIES!! It's like the 1950s in this house."

I found this especially hilarious for some reason, and a lot of the book is like this- it's just that I'm pretty sure that Rae doesn't know how funny she is, and so it makes it heartbreaking when she focuses on her 'faults' (too fat, a bit mad etc etc) kind of all the time, and doesn't realise that she has all these excellent qualities that make the other things not really matter at all. Fortunately, there is a foreword to the book that kind of makes everything better- Rae is all grown up, and has perspective, and she's ok. Which is really really pleasing, and kind of makes you feel ok for sharing in some of her worst moments- because she's over them, so you don't need to worry about them either.

"I'm sharing it because these days it makes me laugh- and because I still see fat girls everywhere labelled as 'bubbly with a nice personality'. And I suppose I want to tell them (and everyone else) that in the end it's all OK. You can be fat and nuts and a virgin when you are 17- and things can still turn out OK."

 So yeah, this book has all the things- it's funny, it's sad, it's real AND true, and most of all, Rae just seems like the best kind of person, with the added benefit of being someone real. I feel like it's absolutely perfect for teenage girls to read, but maybe it's just funnier when you're past that stage of life and you can look back on it and go 'yeah, that really was shit.' Solidarity, guys. That's what it's all about.

Devouring Books: Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

"He tried to remember how this happened- how she went from someone he'd never met to the only one who mattered."

I finished Eleanor and Park abouuut a month ago now, and I finished it on the day I started it (it was a 24 hour readathon day, admittedly, but I feel like I wouldn't have been able to spread it out much further if it hadn't been). Ever since then, I've had a weird review paralysis about it, which I put down to two things:

1. I really and truly liked it an incredible amount, and it's always so difficult to know how to go into that without just spouting out loads of things I liked about it and potentially spoilering the shit out of it, or just quoting LOADS of the sweetest lines (because there are A LOT), and
2. I made the mistake of reading some reviews on Goodreads because I didn't know how to approach my own, and just read loads of people going 'so it's better than blah blah YA book, but it still does blah blah THIS thing that's in a lot of YA books' and I sort of panicked and went 'I don't know what you're talking about, stop saying things!' And this is why I'm never reading reviews on Goodreads AGAIN.

So yeah. I don't read a lot of YA, but I do and will pretty much always read anything Rainbow Rowell writes because she's kind of magic. Attachments was SPECTACULAR, and Eleanor and Park was no different- the characters feel so real and also wonderful (but not PERFECT, because that would be dull), the relationship between Eleanor and Park, which the book pretty much hangs on, feels, if not real (no boy ever shared his comics with ME on the school bus [I never took the school bus...]) so so sweet and lovely and imperfectly perfect that I just wanted to keep reading about it all night long.

Which, I pretty much did! And then I ran out of pages and I was sad and THAT is how I ended the 24 hour readalong because I couldn't even face reading something else after that. And I don't know if this means I should read more YA, or if it just reconfirms that I LOVE RAINBOW ROWELL, but either way, I was very strongly infatuated with this book for a quite a few hours. And I guess I kind of still am a bit now.

And now! To cover up the fact that this has barely been a review at all, I'm just going to talk about A Thing that I really really enjoyed from Eleanor and Park. Because, you see, while I'm really fond of Park,  I was kind of in love with Eleanor- she's the kind of person who sticks out, and instead of trying to blend in, she kind of embraces the fact that she doesn't. Which doesn't mean that she WANTS to stick out, but since she does, she doesn't spend her time just trying to fit in, she just goes with it. This is basically all I need to like a character, and just a person in life, generally.

There's this one point in the book where Park's mother (who is a hairdresser and general beauty-person)  is desperate to give Eleanor a makeover, and Eleanor is pretty reticent about it. And during this, Park's mother asks her why she doesn't wear makeup, and Eleanor thinks (but doesn't say, because she's not an idiot) 'Because makeup is a lie.' And I was like... Wow. And this isn't even how I feel about makeup, really (I mostly feel like 'I am much too lazy for this shit') but it's absolutely something that NOBODY says, ever, and I'm like 'YESSSSSSS, women don't have to wear makeup, whose idea was that and LOOK at this character who thinks differently and YESSSSSSSS!' some more. And THEN Park figures out that he likes wearing eyeliner, and I'm like 'LET'S SUBVERT TRADITIONAL GENDER ROLES, YESSSSSSSS RAINBOW!!'

So there's that. And it's fab. And then there are all the other things that are awesome about it that I DON'T want to tell you about because discovering things for yourself! It's fun! But if you want to read about characters who don't quite fit in and who like things that are awesome-but-not-necessarily-mainstream, and who aren't grossly teenagery, then you should definitely read this. And if you don't like any of these things then you should still read it, because there's something for everyone to love. If they're awesome.

Sunday Sundries- It's a four day weekennnnnnnd!

Well hello there friends, and welcome to my good mood! Said good mood is mostly down to the fact that IT IS SUNNY TODAY

And IT'S NOT EVEN THE MIDDLE OF MY FOUR DAY WEEKEND

And today I have had CAKE and also READ IN THE GARDEN

It's a good time all round, is what I'm saying! And my understanding is that tomorrow is ALSO a public holiday in America? I like that, gives some nice cross-Atlantic synchronicity (and I think we all know that I like to pretend to be American. It's a thing.)

Anyway, this week just gone! It started off horribly with this big gross headache that kiiind of didn't go away until Thursday, or at least lingered at points up until Thursday. I had to have the day off work on Monday and everything, but I soldiered on for the rest of the week (awww, how brave am I? Hardly at all.) Nothing hugely groundbreaking happened, BUT I did go with a couple of my friends to watch live TV being filmed, which was REALLY EXCITING! I've been to see a few pre-recorded shows being filmed before, which was fun but kind of takes forever, whereas with this, it was, obviously, just like it is on the telly!

And also a light blew up juuuust above where I was sitting, but I was FINE and so was everyone else, so nobody panic! I don't know if you've ever been to see TV being filmed before, but they have kind of a warm-up person to chat to the audience and in this case get us ready for, like, applauding correctly and stuff (No retakes! Live TV!) and in one of the ad breaks the guy was like 'you're so lucky this wasn't a pre-recorded show because everything would have had to stop for HOURS while they were sorting the light out', and then David Mitchell was all like 'yep, we'll just continue to put your lives at risk instead' in a hilarious and sarcastic way and, oh yeah, I LOVE HIM.

So anyway, that was pretty much the highlight of the week! I'm willing to bet my anecdote just thrilled you there.

And yes, now I have this 4 day weekend thing! Yesterday I maaay have done a tiny bit of book shopping (BAD LAURA) and also made a cake for my Grandad's birthday (which is tomorrow, but we had the cake today-don't ask) and today has mostly just been a festival of eating and reading and laziness, and long may it continue, I say! Tomorrow I don't have many plans- I'm going to see my Grandad so we can give him presents, and I might be going shopping a bit, but also I'd like to catch up on some bloggerising, but MOST IMPORTANTLY I'm going to see Les Mis on Tuesday and I couldn't be more excited!

And by party, I obviously mean cry my eyes out to song, but we all have fun in our own ways, amiright?!

Quick note: Next Sunday is when I'm doing the Race For Life (still haven't seen a conceivable way to get out of it [I'm kidding. Mostly.]) SO *gentle nudge* if you wanted to sponsor me, you can totally still do that! I wouldn't mind, you know. Whatever. Ahem. And I think I've said this already, but if you have then THANK YOU so much! You're the loveliest, all of you.

OK! I think I'm out of here. I'll be off to soak up some more sunshine, or possibly to write some more blog posts (Ha!) and then watch the new (!) Arrested Development episodes! (I feel totally... Cheaty being excited by the fact that there are new episodes, because I literally finished the third series YESTERDAY, but still I am excited. Just try and stop me!!) So yeah. That's what I'll be doing! You?

"'Stuff like that always sounds cooler than it really was... I've been trying to tell you that for years.'"

My understanding about this readalong group (other than our innate awesomeness) is that everyone hates the bit where they go camping in the woods for almost no reason. I might be wrong about this (SOMEONE might like it) but that's the impression I get, AND SO I am going to defend the camping with all my arguing skills and also, hopefully, wit.

But first, I think it's important to talk about what happens in the Ministry because oh HELLO one of my favourite set-pieces in Harry Potter! I mean, what DON'T I love about it? There's the nostalgia element (puking pastilles from OotP, Polyjuice Potion from CoS), the flushing themselves into the Ministry (I laugh at the bits ten year olds laugh at, obviously) Harry being a big scary man, the getting one up on Umbridge (who of course- OF COURSE- had the locket. Because why wouldn't she?) and just the general excitement of it all. Scenes in the Ministry=Pretty much the best.

While we're on the subject of Umbridge, who I believe has made her final appearance now (?) and that's ok, I just... What is WRONG with that woman? I feel like her character type is almost the one that scares me the most, because all that motivates her, and all she wants, is power of any type, at any cost. She doesn't care who the ultimate authority is, as long as SHE'S in a position of power over a lot of people. She's basically like a Commandant of a Concentration Camp who, after all this is over, would say 'but I was just doing my job!' and probably believe it, too. I just... UGH. UGH.

ALSO before we get to the camping (sorry...) I just want to talk about Dumbles and Harry for a sec. Because, even though I'm still not sure what good finding out all this stuff about Dumbledore does Harry/us, I feel like Harry makes a really good point when he finds out that Dumbles lived in Godric's Hollow too. I mean... Why didn't Dumbledore ever tell Harry that? Couldn't he have arranged for them to go there and see the monument to his parents and just to heal, a little bit? I get that it would be difficult for Dumbledore to go there because of all the Bad Things, but... I feel like Harry needed that kind of thing, or at least that he needs it now as something to hold onto about Dumbles. Instead, it really does feel like he sort of just used Harry for his own gain (and that of the Wizarding World, obviously, but still) and never really did anything just for Harry.

I'm hoping other things are going to happen that I don't remember about Dumbledore, because I hate thinking this way about him.

So, the camping! I can't say that it's my absolute favourite part of all the books, and it makes me slightly grouchy when THEY are grouchy, but the thing is... I feel like, firstly, it was an inevitable consequence of all three of them being in close quarters without a set goal, because my GOD, people do get sick of each other quickly enough. And yeah, they've been together at school for years, but in that situation, there's routine, and there's enough food, and there are other people around so they don't get as sick of each other. And the not having enough food leading to arguing thing? TOTALLY happens. It's just like real life, people!

And then, of course, Ron leaves.

Ron leaves because he's the least prepared for such an expedition (one where he might have to deprive himself of a meal, say) and because, I don't know, JK likes him the least? But the thing is- I LIKE that Ron leaves, because when he's gone, things don't feel right at all- Harry and Hermione are both miserable, nothing improves, A SNAKE IS HIDING INSIDE A DEAD PERSON (seriously- ew) and when he came back I was really really ridiculously happy? Which is really the reason for all bad things happening in books, so that when the bad time is over, things seem kind of excellent.

It doesn't hurt that Ron's return involves saving Harry's life, destroying a Horcrux (just fyi, the thing the Horcrux says about Ron being the least loved because his mother wanted a daughter has stuck with me as a massive Thing That Is True, which I know it isn't- other than, I'd imagine, that Molly did just keep going until she had a girl. But anyway.) And THEN you also have the thing where you realised that Dumbles must have known all along that Ron would probably leave, and then regret it and want to go back, and THAT'S why he left him the Deluminator. (Or is it? I'm not being cryptic, I just honestly don't know. AS ALWAYS).

I don't really have any extra things to say in bullet points today, but I do just want to talk about this one thing that really annoyed me. Here: "[Harry] was staggered now to think of his own presumption in accepting his friends' offers to accompany him on this meandering, pointless journey." I see you all nodding at the meandering, pointless journey part (but what if the journey itself is the point? What then?!) but HOW MANY times did he tell them not to come? And how many times did they insist? Exactly! Stop blaming yourself all the damn time, Harry. Jesus.

Speaking of which... Death count time!
Death Count: 4- Gregorovitch, Bathilda Bagshot, Harry's wand (RIP), The Third Part of Voldy's Soul.
Death Count Overall: 8 (9 if you include George's ear. Which apparently we are.)

No one really likes CS Lewis, right? Right.

Hey internet folks and folkettes! It occurs to me that I have neither 1) done a Sunday Sundries post, or 2) wrapped up Bout of Books (spoiler: my Saturday stats are pretty much it. I'm fine with it.) but THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT.

So basically, Alice of the Reading Rambo has written an awesome thing about George Eliot and the-order-in-which-you-should-read-her-stuff, and it is awesome (I mentioned that, right?) and it is a finalist in A Thing on Book Riot and it is not winning.

I know. It's just ridiculous. Instead some lady who wrote about CS Lewis in a much less entertaining (and actually, much less EVERYTHING) is winning, and THIS CANNOT STAND. Not only because George Eliot is clearly better than CS Lewis (She's a lady! And... didn't basically just steal The Bible to write books, as far as I'm aware, I AM LOOKING AT YOU, ASLAN!) but also, ALICE is clearly better than CS Lewis lady (who I'm sure is fine, but, you know, she's not my internet friend.)

So basically, this is me canvassing for votes. PLEASE GO AND DO IT. All you have to do is go here, and click on the little facebook 'like' at the top of the post and then Alice will win and BRING PRIDE to the group of awesome people (within which, of course, I include all of you.) Also, for the sake of... Something, I will link you to the CS Lewis post (DO NOT LIKE IT) just so you can see that it's clearly not as good. It just isn't guys, I'm completely serious about that.

So yeah. Go! Support good writing, and also the kind of person who would lovingly host a Harry Potter Readalong for 6 months. Oh yes.