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Sunday Matters

I got into my car the other day and the temperature was 105. I am ready for cooler temps and fall reading. Are you? I don’t really read according to the season. We all love summer reading but the books that I chose to read this past summer were not beach reads really. But hey, I actually read ALL the books on my summer list! That hasn’t happened in years.

For fall, I do love the R.I.P reading challenge which normally begins Sept 1st. I have yet to see a kick off post. That challenge involves reading spooky books until Halloween. Books, movies, TV, it all counts. It just puts you in the mood for the season. I am just now looking at my shelves to see what I want to reed this fall. I’ll share as soon as I know.

Right Now:

Coffee, breakfast, student ministry.

This Week:

My week is pretty much wide open. Work stuff, of course but only one personal commitment.

I am going to start tackling the clutter in my house. Anyone want to join me? I am going to de-clutter a drawer a day for the next couple of weeks. I de-clutter daily, there is so much junk mail and now with the election coming, all sorts of throw-aways. But the drawers, they are a catch-all for the weirdest things.

Last week I mentioned hitting a restaurant called the Pie ‘N Burger, here are photos from our meal. It’s a tiny little diner in Pasadena. The food was good. It’s cash only. That was a little bit of a surprise.

Hamburgers! Pies

Reading:

I am almost finished with Joyce Maynard’s latest, How the Light Gets In. It’s a follow-up to Count the Ways. It’s pretty good. A little sad in places.

My next read was supposed to be All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker but I didn’t have it on my Kindle when I thought I did. It’s on there now and will be next.

Watching:

I have been watching bits and pieces of the DNC. Some of the speeches have been wonderful. Hillary’s for one. Wow. Michelle’s was also awesome. So hopeful and encouraging.

Grateful for:

My flexible work schedule. Still working three days on campus, and two remotely. Just signed a new tele-commuting agreement for the year so my schedule will remain the same for the rest of this academic year.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend. Get outside if it’s not too hot where you are.

The City and Its Uncertain Walls
By Haruki Murakami
Knopf, 9780593801970, November 19, 2024, 464pp.

The Short of It:

Dreamlike. Ethereal.

The Rest of It:

Murakami’s books are always thought-provoking and often serve as a palate cleanser for me because they are so different from most books. The City and Its Uncertain Walls is no different in that regard.

This is a story involving two worlds. One is seemingly reality, the other a simpler existence behind a large wall. In this other world people must give up their shadows to exist there, unicorns roam free only to die from the harsh elements. Dreams are read by a Dream Reader.

This is an odd story. There is a quest to find truth, and also a love story split between two worlds. Lovers of libraries will find comfort in these pages because this town, enclosed by a wall centers around a library, a very special one.

Murakami fans might recognize this story as it began as a short story but there are many references to previous books. Mentions of a “well” a la The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, and The Strange Library. Murakami is known to include these essentials in his stories:

Cats (there are a few mentions of cats, none talking though)
Ears (Murakami has a thing for ears. He describes them just so)
Women’s fashion. Attention to what women wear.
Lonely, everyman type of character
Mysterious worlds

The one thing that stood out to me is the mention of the pandemic. Many of my favorite novelists, Stephen King included have included the pandemic in their storytelling. I mean, it was such a critical point in our lives, how can you not? But this mention of it was interesting because the wall that surrounds this town, forces them into isolation, much the same way that the pandemic did. It DID seem very surreal, those pandemic years.

I was talking to another blogger about this book. Nadia, and I love Murakami but at 16 chapters in, I reached out to her. This one seemed a little different and it was taking me a while to get into it. Initially, the alternating chapters were challenging because I wasn’t able to discern who was speaking. The two main characters are nameless and since the story bounces between two worlds, I felt that it was a little hard to get to know them. Eventually, I did but it wasn’t until about chapter 36 or so.

Murakami fans wait so long for new books because the translation process usually takes two plus years, so when a book drops, we jump on it! I was lucky enough to snag a review copy but this book releases on November 19th.

My fave Murakami book to date is Kafka on the Shore but by the time I got to the last page of this one, I was smitten and already missing that strange world.

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

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