Ahh... it's the new year... a whole season dedicated to me making promises to myself to eat better and exercise more and then eat my sorrows away indoors because it's (literally) -36 degrees outside. I don't know how I feel about this whole Polar Vortex thing, but I know for sure that it's definitely cramping my style. With the new year comes the realization that I really only have about 6 more months of school before it's time for me to pack up my bags and literally move my life across the country so that I can be a big kid and pretend to have one of those... what are they called again... oh yeah, careers.
Anywho. The best thing about winter break though is that there is a set amount of time put aside for me to read and listen to music and catch up on magazines and basically do all those "normal people things" that I never actually have time to do. I read a lot during this break because I had lots of downtime between airports and layovers and generally pretending that I'm retired (my favorite thing to do on my vacations) by pretending that I have an unlimited amount of time to do leisurely activities. I read Dan Brown's new book, a Jack Reacher novel, the new Superfreakonomics and this book called 1Q84. I gotta say, 1Q84 really blew me away.
I didn't know really what to expect, but this is, from now on, going to be the bar by which I'm going to measure all other authors, but specifically Japanese authors against. There are a lot of Asian influences in the book, top being the fascination with the concept of time (What is time? Does time flow linearly? What if it didn't? Does time mean different things to different people?) and the idea of fate or destiny. SPOILER ALERT In the story, a serial killer, Aoname, reeling after the loss of a good friend finds a new friend with which to have orgies with strangers. Meanwhile, Tengo, a budding author decides to ghost-rewrite the story of a young, 17 year old girl and submit it for a writing contest, which they win. The young 17 year old girl, Fuka-Eri, is the product of a cult lifestyle and may not be fully human. The cult tries to kill Aoname after they find out she has killed their leader because he is a raging pedophile. Aoname becomes pregnant with Tengo's child even though they've never met. Yup, this story gets strange, but it's a great read to get weird with. Seamless story-telling and a haunting story leaves you asking fundamental stories about what you, the reader, believes. Is there such a thing as fate? Do the ends justify the means? Does true love exist? What is true love, anyway?
Highly recommend. It's kind of an epic read, so make sure to set aside the time, but it's well worth it. I can say that this book has changed the way I think!
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