The Housekeeper and the Professor in Around the World in 80 Books

Jun 30, 2016 Rachel N. rated it really liked it

Shelves: friendship, read-in-2016, family, japan, baseball, math

A housekeeper begins working for a former mathematics professor who due to ana ccident can only remember the past 80 minutes. The two of them plus the housekeepers son, nicknamed Root, eventually form a friendship. A sweet story of friendship and family. There is a lot of math in the book which bogged the story down a bit in places for me. Otherwise I enjoyed the story and the characters.

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Jan 06, 2015 Sera rated it really liked it

Shelves: literary-fiction, audio, library

I really enjoyed this book on audio, because it is one of those simple, quiet tales about how we establish relationships of tremendous value in the unlikeliest of places. The Professor is an older man who loses his short-term memory every 80 minutes. The Housekeeper is a single mom, raising a son. The Professor studied mathematics, and much of the book centers around numbers, how some are unique and others special. It is these numbers that initially binds the Professor and the housekeeper, and l ...more

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Jul 14, 2021 Anna rated it really liked it

If someone had told me that I would ever enjoy a book which features both maths and baseball I would have laughed. However, whilst a reasonable portion of this novel is about just that, I was utterly enchanted by it.

For my full review please visit my blog at:https://leftontheshelfbookblog.blogsp... ...more

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Sep 01, 2018 Karen rated it really liked it

Shelves: travel-the-world

Wonderful story

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Dec 11, 2017 Verity rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, memory-loss

This is a lovely piece that keeps you engaged and hard to put down for want of knowing will things turn out alright. It didn't hurt that this story held a lot of parallel interests to my family's interests: baseball, math and the effects of memory loss in a loved one. Great read for traveling. ...more

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Feb 13, 2016 Andy Plonka rated it it was amazing

How disparate peoples lives can become entwined and enrich each others is aptly illustrated in this little tome.

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Feb 24, 2012 Shannon Wallner rated it liked it

A sweet gem of a book with lots of layers under the simple story. Only sad it was such a quick read.

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Jan 14, 2010 Laura (booksnob) rated it really liked it

Shelves: book-club, literature, 2010

A lovely little book about a mathematics professor, his housekeeper and her son nicknamed Root. This is a beautiful gently flowing book that glides you along and arouses your interest in the power of relationships, family, primes, factors, and all sorts of curious equations. It is a book that gets the reader to think outside of the box. I would highly recommend it.

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Dec 25, 2021 Saima rated it liked it

Shelves: library-book, 2021

Tenderly account of how circumstances bring together a child-like man, a housekeeper and her son to form an almost family. The character of the professor is brilliantly written, one I will remember vividly.

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