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Hello! My vacation started one day earlier than planned due to a surprise campus closure so I have been off since Thursday. Sigh. Which was great because I had to spend half of the day getting a new phone. I work in IT but when it comes to your own phone, you like things a certain way and I needed to spend time on the process which I just did not feel like doing on my vacation. But, I had no choice and finally got it taken care of. I ended up with a Moto X, in case you were wondering.

Small World

It was nice to have that extra day because the very next day, we headed to Disneyland! Disneyland at Christmas is just the most magical thing ever. The lights, the sounds, the food and smells. I love it. The weather was mild and the crowds weren’t bad. We waited fifteen minutes for most rides and that’s amazing since most rides average an hour or more at this time of year. It was an amazing day, but after nearly fourteen hours, The Teen fell ill. He could not wait another second to begin the trip home so we left and he’s been down for two days now with a horrible cough.

Tonight, we are doing our annual Christmas light tour with friends but I don’t think The Teen will be able to make it. He’s still asleep but we’ll see how he is feeling. I am making cookies for the trip and then somewhere along the way we hit the coffee shop for holiday drinks. We drive around, look at the neighborhood lights and listen to holiday tunes. It’s fun. We have been doing it for over fifteen years if you can believe it.

Tomorrow we are hitting the Christmas Eve service (a day early) and then we’ll spend Christmas Eve with my in-laws. Christmas day, we have reservations for Christmas dinner. This restaurant is on an air field so you get to watch the planes take off. It’s fun. The kids love it, as do I. No cooking and no cleaning! My present to myself.

What am I reading?

Not a thing at the moment. I might just call it a year with this last book I read.

What am I cooking?

Just cookies today. I am making Snickerdoodles, gigantic Ginger cookies and Coconut Macaroons dipped in dark chocolate. The Snickerdoodle recipe is new but the other two are the BEST cookie recipes ever. They come out just like the picture and everyone always asks for them. Try them!

What am I watching?

We watched Christmas with the Kranks last night, along with the I Love Lucy Christmas Special that aired on CBS last Friday. It was a little strange and creepy to see Lucy in color. I still need to see Frosty, A Family Stone and a host of other shows/movies but I’m getting there.

What are you doing today? What do you have planned next week?

Sputnik Sweetheart
By Haruki Murakami
(Vintage Books, Paperback, 9780099448471, 2006, 224pp.)

The Short of It:

In true Murakami fashion, all of the elements are here. A love triangle, a mysterious protagonist known only as K, a beautiful setting and buckets of ennui.

The Rest of It:

It’s no secret how much I love Murakami but this book seemed the most balanced to me. The characters are strange and deep, in the way they usually are but not overly so and the conflict presented, happens to be something any reader can relate to.

Sumire, is this deep, untouchable writer-type who has the talent to write, but can’t seem to effectively gather her thoughts into anything more than just a few words on a page. She’s frustrated and shares her angst with her male friend, known only as K. He sees her potential but at the same time is blinded by his passion for her. Sumire is not interested in K as a lover. Instead, she meets an older woman by the name of Miu, and falls in love with her. Miu shares a very special friendship with Sumire, but does not want to be her lover. This rejection, throws Sumire into a deep well of despair and when Sumire goes missing while vacationing with Miu in Greece, Miu calls K to help find her.

So. Much. Angst. Oh, how I love angst!

These characters are torn between love and passion. They love each other and have passion for one another but the feeling is not mutual. As hard as this is for K, his concern over Sumire outweighs his frustration over the situation. He drops everything to find Sumire and in the process, realizes that some alternate universe exists and that the world as he knows it, will never be the same.

The beauty of this book is the writing itself. It’s delicate. Like taking tiny, measured tastes of a delicious pastry. So many people ask me which Murakami to read first. I am always torn because it really depends on your mood at the time, your tolerance for ennui and angst, etc. But this one would be great for anyone wanting to give Murakami a try. His books can be sexually explicit, but this was tame in comparison and the tone, mild.

Out of all of his books, this is one of my faves. I read this with a couple of other readers for #readingsputnik and it was just what I needed to jolt me out of the reading rut I was in.

Source: Purchased
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