Hitorikiri no Book Club: Briar Rose

This post began with a question from B:
"Do you ever do anything fun?"

Despite the fact that I enjoy cooking, playing the piano, and organizing my things with a slightly manic air, those are still things I have to do.

So in between bouts of paying bills, answering emails, making lesson plans, and furiously studying kanji, I decided to read a book. Thus began the Hitorikiri no Book Club!

"Hitorikiri" is a compound word. "Hitori" literally means "one person", or "alone." "Kiri" comes from the verb "to cut". Therefore, "hitorikiri" means something like "completely alone". However! When I started learning Japanese many years ago, my self-appointed "nickname" was Kiri, so it can also be read as "Kiri, alone", for some straight up nerdiness. (Hitorikiri is also much more fun to say!)

I love reading, but have not had great experiences with book clubs, as I rarely ever want to read what anyone else does. I like old, boring books full of history and deep thought. (I also like campy murder mysteries and Japanese comics. Shhh.)

My first book is Briar Rose, by Jane Yolen. I picked it at random from the library for a number of reasons: one, I love fairy tales, Sleeping beauty being one of my favorites; two, I really like Jane Yolen; and three, it's actually historical fiction and not fantasy.

Without ruining the story, it has much to do with the Holocaust and ancestry, and so it was full of history and deep thought, but never boring! Dark and quite adult for a book in the YA section, but I have the feeling it would do well in an English class. Althought there's a lot there, reading it for itself and not on a quest for Themes and Symbolism was much nicer.

And there you have it! (Sarah, if you see this, read this book.) Despite being picky and not having much time, I do take book suggestions, if there are any!

For now, going back to my regular schedule of "fun", I'll be cleaning the kitchen.

A hui hou!

Blowin' in the wind

Aloha!

I got a shiny new phone! I'm blogging from it right now, because immediately after getting it set up my laptop keys started malfunctioning. Among others, the 'b' key, which means any sort of blogging activity has become a huge hassle. Luckily my work computer is fine, and it's not too much of a setback.

We had our first potential hurricane this week. We actually had two! Hurricanes Madeline and Lester came breezing through, flooding Hilo and then turning aside. While I'm happy that nothing bad happened, I can't help being a little annoyed to having prepared and waited anxiously for several days for not even a bit of rain to beat the extra humidity.

It has been very windy, though! Growing up in a valley, I am used to high winds, and it was a welcome change.

My house is midway up a hill, with the bus stop I take to work at the top of the hill. Getting off after work, I can see the ocean, Pearl Harbor, Aloha Stadium, Kapolei, and fabulous views of the airport and Target. It's started getting dark earlier (and I work later), so the view of the lights can be pretty spectacular. (If there's football games, however, it's blinding.) This past week as I was walking home, the wind was coming from the mauka side. As such, I could hear the wind blowing down the mountains before it got to me.

Today it's back to beautiful clear blue skies in paradise. I suppose I'll just have to suck it up.

Happy Labor Day weekend!