I only finished one book in the first half of the month, so this will be short. (I’d expect a bunch for the end of February.)

The Emissary, by Yōko Tawada (Translated by Margaret Mitsutani)

Set in Tokyo at some point in the middle-distance future, the rather loose story focuses on Yoshiro, a spry centenarian and former novelist, and the delicate great-grandson, Mumei, he is raising on his own. A great catastrophe — a radioactive one we are meant to understand — occurred a generation ago or so, causing Japan to close up its physical and metaphoric borders and create a dystopian, isolationist society in which foreign words — and concepts — are forbidden and the elderly do not seem to die (they now have three categories for senior citizens that include “young elderly,” which starts when you reach your 80s) or really even especially weaken (Yoshiro jogs daily, for instance, and his daughter works in an orchard picking oranges). Children, on the other hand, are so weak and constantly ill that they have difficulty eating, that doctors secret away their official medical reports and that parents are told to stop taking their children’s temperatures because they are always running fevers and it just depresses everyone. Mumei, despite all the suffering he seems to undergo simply by existing, is a rather philosophical child, with deep thoughts and a placid demeanor.

Most of the story is told from Yoshiro’s perspective, focusing on how life has changed and how much he worries about his great-grandson. A few chapters are told from his estranged wife’s perspective, when she comes for a rare visit from her school for children whose parents have moved elsewhere in Japan to work. A couple more are told from Mumei’s teacher’s point of view, as he considers language, the globe, and how the fragile children in his class interact with each other. And most of the final chapters in the book are from a teenaged Mumei’s perspective, as he navigates life from his wheelchair and prepares for an adventure. Each of these four characters will consider the importance of an emissary in one way or another.

You may remember that I partially picked up this slim novella because it had won the National Book Award for Translated Literature and also because its blurb suggested it was going to be a lot of fun. It’s possible I missed something, but I did not find the book “delightful, irrepressibly funny,” or “playfully joyous,” and it was really hard to separate the reality from that overbilling. I will say that the author and her translator clearly love and respect language greatly, as it’s a recurring theme in the work and that she has a reasonable concern for what the globe will look like in a few decades, regardless of whether there’s a nuclear meltdown, given the disaster-level scenario climate change is likely to wreak. So, a fair assessment of The Emissary is that it gives you a lot to think about, particularly given its length, but none of it is playful or fun.

Pages: 138. Library copy.

Tomorrow would be my guess, but maybe Monday if the sun doesn’t come out until then…

I’m not sure why I’m excited by a long weekend, since right now every day is a weekend for me, but still I am. Over the next three days I’m hoping to:

• Go see Jasper Fforde, who is promoting his new book locally on Monday. One of my gifts yesterday was a gift card to that bookstore, so I will be getting a book signed, too.
• Catch up with some former coworkers for drinks on Sunday when they come to town.
• Hit the farmers market. I’ve had several salads this week, so I need some more greens.
• Put our new mattress pad on the bed.
• Write about books here.
• Bake a cake. My birthday baking got bumped by more social activities, so I decided to postpone it until either Sunday or Monday, when Rudi will be back to help me eat it.
• Phone my brother on Sunday to celebrate his birthday and a friend whose call I missed yesterday.
• Head up to one of the city’s indie bookstores that is celebrating its grand re-opening tomorrow after changing hands.
• Clean out the fridge.
• Dig out the bread maker. I’ve been buying bread, but I have the means, time, and ingredients to make it myself, so I really should.
• Complete a couple books. Akata Witch will likely get wrapped up, as may The Woman Who Smashed Codes.
• Finish knitting the sixth strip on my shawl and figure out if I’m doing a seventh one or not.
• Watch some dvds. I picked up Top Hat, The Thomas Crown Affair, and The Awful Truth at the library this afternoon.

How about you? What’s on your to-do (or to-not-do) list this weekend?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Today was a lovely birthday. Thank you to everyone who weighed in on how I should spend it and who wished me well! I spent the afternoon at the Library of Congress, walked several miles outside in pleasant weather, and ate a lot of delicious food. I heard from lots of loved ones and received some pretty spectacular gifts, including books and jewelry and clothing and music and food!

2. I needed a new driver’s license and the updated homeland security rules meant I had to go into the DMV in person to get one this time. I was in and out in less than an hour and had a pleasant chat with the woman helping me. I know lots of people have a tough time with their DMV, but I always find them expedient and courteous.

3. We headed to the movies on Tuesday and caught The Lego Movie 2, which was sweet.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?

Technically, it’s already my birthday, but no one else is up to know, so I’ve marked it with a midnight snack, some Netflix (the new She-Ra and the first Galentine’s Day episode from Parks & Recreation), and some knitting while listening to my audiobook of the moment, The Woman Who Smashed Codes, about Elizabeth Smith Friedman, who was the chief codebreaker in America in the U.S. leading up to and during World War II and who was then forgotten for more than half a century while her husband’s success (also as a renowned codebreaker) was lauded.

The shawl continues. It is optimistic, but not overly so, to think it could be done by next week, but six years of languishing on the needles certainly would not inspire anyone to place money on its completion. Certainly these three books will likely be done by then. Akata Witch is set in Nigeria and its young albino protagonist has recently discovered that she has magical powers. Insomnia is a series of musings about being awake overnight and touching on how while the condition is equated with a lack of sleep, it can also be full of creativity and thought and should perhaps be more celebrated than it is (but, also, she’s really tired). And Gmorning, Gnight! is a selection of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s pithy Twitter salutations illustrated by Johnny Sun. Much like short stories, I don’t have a lot of patience for either of these slender books when read at length, but enjoy them greatly when read for 10 pages or so at a time.

I have a bunch of other books I’d like to get to soon, including Angie Thomas’ sophomore novel, On the Come Up, and am looking forward to procuring Jasper Fforde’s new novel, Early Riser, at his booksigning on Monday. But in the meantime, these three books and my audiobook will do just fine.

Head over to As Kat Knits to see what other people are reading and crafting.

My birthday is Thursday and I’m somewhat at a loss for how to mark the day. Rudi won’t be home until 5 or so, which means I have most of the daytime hours to amuse myself before he comes home to join me for pizza and ice cream and cake. Because I’m currently at home all day, simply not being at work is not really as special as it would normally be.

Ideally, I’d find something low-key, but not humdrum, to do with my day…

I could visit a bookstore.

I could wander around town collecting all the freebies I’ve been emailed about from various restaurants.

I could go to a museum — either a free one or one that costs money — or a historic site — Frederick Douglass’ house or the Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument are both high on my list of local sites I’ve never visited.

I could visit the Library of Congress, where they currently have a baseball exhibit.

I could go to the zoo or the Botanic Garden. (It’s supposed to be in the mid-50’s and dry, so the former isn’t a problem.)

I could spend time outside with a book or my knitting.

I could catch a film that Rudi doesn’t want to see (he wants to see all of them, though, so that’s probably not a great plan…)

I could see if you have any suggestions I haven’t thought of…

How would you spend your birthday?