2025 & 2026 Reading Challenge discussion

This thread is to discuss The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yōko Ogawa.

Pages: 180 pages

Length: 1 month (October)

Participants: Lorraine, Valerie, Patricia

Everyone reads at their own pace during a Buddy Read. Because participants can be at different parts of the book at different times, it is extremely important to mark spoilers so that the book is not ruined for someone who is not as far along as others!!!

Mark spoilers by placing {spoiler} before the text and {/spoiler} after the text but use the < and > instead of the { and }.

Here are some questions to help get the conversation started! Feel free to look up discussion questions specific to this book or come up with your own. Just make sure any questions that contain spoilers are under spoiler tags.
Discussion questions are not required but may be a fun way to talk about the book and get to know each other!

Prior to starting:
What prompted you to join this buddy read?
Have you read this author before? What do you think of their other books?

Mid-read:
What character or ideas do you relate to the most and why?
Do you have any favorite quotes or scenes?

After reading:
What was enjoyable or not-so-enjoyable about this book?
Did this book change your perception about anything, either within the book (character development) or in real life?

I read this book in 2023 and found it completely charming and moving. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did! My review if you're interested.

I should get my copy in about two weeks!

Ok just let me know and I’ll join you. It’s a short book so easy to fit in. Hope you are enjoying your trip.

Hello Valerie. I got the book this morning. I will probably start this weekend. This is my first book from this author but I have a few others from her on my TBR list. Let’s see if I will like this one.

Planning to start this tomorrow.

Loved this book both times I read it, so am looking forward to this.

I really like this book. I’ll say more when I get back home next week.

I’ve read the first 5 chapters and it’s certainly an interesting and moving story. The relationship between the three characters is something so special and amazing given the professor’s (view spoiler)[ limited memory. I’m intrigued to know what is behind the trauma which he feels towards any possible distress in a child - there must be something in his past to account for this. His present life seems simultaneously to be so mentally rich yet so frustratingly limited. His keeping of notes is particularly poignant- my mother did the same in the early stages of dementia and we found them all in her handbag (hide spoiler)]. I’ve always enjoyed mathematics so I can mainly get my head around that aspect but baseball is a complete mystery to me! Not a clue what’s going on there.

Valerie wrote: "I’ve read the first 5 chapters and it’s certainly an interesting and moving story. The relationship between the three characters is something so special and amazing given the professor’s [spoilers ..."

Same--I love the math but am not a big fan of baseball.

Finished. This was a really touching and, in the end, quite enigmatic read (view spoiler)[ we never actually find out why the professor cared so much for children or what exactly his relationship was with the widow - we can only speculate. (hide spoiler)]. Apart from the beauty of mathematics (and the for me incomprehensible study of baseball), this is a book about a friendship which defies the odds between very different people who work their way to a deep understanding despite immense barriers. A very original, thought provoking, and moving story.

Valerie wrote: "Finished. This was a really touching and, in the end, quite enigmatic read [spoilers removed]. Apart from the beauty of mathematics (and the for me incomprehensible study of baseball), this is a bo..."
I'm glad you enjoyed it so much.

Even though I was quite good at math in high school (my father even hoped I’d become a mathematician…), I never had any real interest in science—whether it was math, physics, chemistry, or anything of the sort. So it definitely wasn’t the mathematics that drew me to this story. What fascinated me was how the author used math to build a connection between the Professor and the Housekeeper. I also found it interesting that I became so attached to the characters, even though the Professor and the Housekeeper are always referred to by their roles rather than their names.

After reading a book that dealt with genocide, it felt soothing to immerse myself in a story about friendship and human kindness—about people genuinely caring for one another. I think that’s what I loved most about this book: the tenderness and compassion that run through it.