HAJET Book Club: Ender’s Game 1 ☆☆☆☆
On a sunny Sunday in spring, a dozen book clubbers assembled under (one of) Rough Rare’s retro roofs. With the Ball Room and Royal Room both occupied by newlyweds, the centre of the Supper Room (2F) became our discussion space for a couple hours.
The classic 1980s sci-fi story, Ender’s Game was the pick. Here’s first year Osaka JET, Mandy Wong giving her thoughts.
This round of the Book Club was held at a three story cafe with a chill vibe tucked away in a ritzy and quiet part of Kobe. This cafe had enough room for the Book Club, the regulars, the wedding parties upstairs and more. On the menu: Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card and a plethora of delectable desserts, drinks and food.
Between bites of cake, salad, and hamburger steak (yes, I got the hamburger lunch set) came book suggestions, thoughts on Ender’s Game, and a consensus that it was overall a good read. Everyone differed on whether or not they’d want to read the series and there was some debate about the ending, but the book received a 3-4 star rating from this round of book club attendees. Post discussion, a game of smart phone charades broke out to the amusement of the café  guests surrounding us, but thankfully the café’s atmosphere lent itself well to the shenanigans and made for a nice conclusion to the insightful discussions and tasty food and drink with smiles and laughter.
Between deep discussions and silly charades we voted on the next book. Self confessed bookworm, Jillian McKenzie, a first year JET from Nishinomiya, tells us why she recommended it.
Question: who’s the bestselling Japanese writer who has managed to do the impossible and become successful worldwide? Why Haruki Murakami of course!
If you haven’t had the chance to experience his particular brand of surrealism for yourself, the next Book Club is your big opportunity. We’ll be reading 1Q84, Murakami’s ode to Orwell’s 1984.Â
It all starts with a woman taking a taxi on her way to an illegal assignment…where it goes from there? I don’t know yet, but I’m looking forward to finding out.
I’m excited to revisit 1984 then delve into another of Murakami’s many worlds.
For more info about the Hyogo AJET Book Club please see the Hyogo AJET website, add us on goodreads and keep an eye out for Facebook events.
See you in June!
Cherie Pham
Book: 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
Venue: Kobe (TBC)
Date: Sunday 8th June 2014
Time: 2pm-4pm
