Cinq semaines en ballon-Jules Verne

Maigret et la Jeune Morte-Georges Simenon

The books from our library at school are to be borrowed for 2 weeks as there might be others who are waiting to read next, and to encourage students to read within a certain period of time. The first time I borrowed, it took me 2 weeks just as the students (what a shame as a teacher!) however once the French reading habit has started, it took a week to finish. The final goal is to read within a day!!

どちらかが彼女を殺した～東野圭吾

After reading the other novel :「私が彼女を殺した」with 3 suspects, this one was comparatively less difficult to find the clue to find the one.

L'Heure du Crime-R. Renaud

My everyday trip back and forth to Yokohama gave me some time for reading and since I became a French teacher I might as well as start reading some novels in French, starting off by level one...

私が彼を殺した～東野圭吾

The last time I read a novel ny Higashino Keigo was exactly 10 years ago when I only could stand dynamic stories with constant scenary changes. Higashno's book is a typical one that even a bibliophobe like me can read with no hesitation.

This time, a really good friend of mine lent me this book to test my IQ (what a horrible monster he is!) and the result was...

佐藤可士和の超整理術～佐藤可士和

Mottainai! ～もったいない

I am proud being Japanese who understand naturally the concept of not wasting things. After reading several times I sent it to my little sister with her birthday present.
★★★★★

仕事ができる人はなぜ筋トレをするのか (幻冬舎新書) (新書)～山本ケイイチ

It was intersting to focus on the common concept of training business skills and building muscles. However I was rather inpressed by the fact that aerobic excercise may cause a bad effect for your skin! It is because of the radical (active) oxygen produced by the excercise. Also it was said that body building would not fit for women. So, what should I do next??

Google経済学～柴山政行

The statements were explained with analogies and Q & A in each chapter which were concise and to the point. Could not understand all (such as funds management) however could empathise with the usability of Google which I use everyday!

脳にいいことだけをやりなさい！～マーシー・シャイモフ

All the care you need for your brain, is positive thinking. As said in many books we only use 2 or 3 % of brain in our life. Some methods of using the rest of it.

Most of the author's advise was something I try to do in my everyday life:

Don't forget to thank people, my actual life, and the way it is.
Clear off anything that is negative.
Feel love in mind toward yourself and others.
Say a loving word to people who you love.
Forgive people.
Laugh.
etc...

And here is the list of things I am really trying to do, but with some difficulty...

Eat healthy for your brain << though I'm addicted to sweets...
Sleep at 10pm!!

These seem very ambigue and lameness, however they are proved scientifically in the book. I wanted to know a lot more about how to produce the effective chemical substances necessary for brain from food.

20代のいま、やっておくべきお金のこと～中村芳子

I didn't agree with all the statements, but as a beginner of managing money, some advise were useful:

1/ A housewife don't need to take out a death insurance (because there is no financial problem after her death who doesn't have an income) .
2/ Saving a cup of coffee per day for 3 years can offer you a holiday abroad.
3/ Paying any comission is useless. Try never to pay them... which happens to me when I forget returning DVD at a rental shop on time the penalty fee is charged.

Throughout the book I could glimpse somewhat the author's religious moral ideas which was not infamiliar but seemed too much to mention in this book. However the author might have considered the low mentality of young people in their 20s and decided to mention what is right and what is wrong.

面倒くさがりやのあなたがうまくいく55の法則～本田直之

one of the best books I've read recently. A lazy person is nobody but me and the author's advise penetrated directly in my mind. I've copied every 55 methods in my notebook in order to reach one method per day.
For example, here are some of them:

If you are lazy then, ...

1. ... don't be late. It bothers if y ou have to apologize as you arrive, and you and your partner will be spending the rest of the day feeling uncosy.
2. ... book everything you need. Without a goal you'll be lost when you arrive at your destination.
3. ... search from end to end before you try. For example if you lack of information about a restaurant where you want to offer your partner a good hospitality but the service is bad then it will bother both of you.
4. ... read deeply a manual book when you buy a new electric equipment.
5. ... buy a new PC every 4 months. PC's capacity is filled easily and can slow down your work.

etc. ...

And here are the advise that seemed important and necessary for me:

1. Listen to others instead of talking. Listening can bring you benefit, while by talking you can lose something.
2. Don't insist on give-and-take stance. You'd be blind of what you really need in long-term, it takes away a room in your heart and destroy trust from others. To build trust, just contribute to the situation you need to solve or even to the others.

I'll try to keep them in mind each day but what I need badly now is to give up chocolate drinks at Starbucks everyday while reading...

17歳のための世界と日本の見方～松岡正剛

Written by a professor in a class-giving style. Very interesting and easy to understand the way our human society started and how it developped.

9.11の謎～成沢宗男

I remembered my French friend insisted on this fact too. He was disappointed that all his friends in France just dismissed him with a laugh. Whether true or not this book has a proof for each statement and would defy your common wisdom.

職場をダメにするモンスター～ピーター・モリス

This books presents how to manage with your frustrating co-workers or your arrogant boss, by analyzing their types. Fortunately my work environment is just so perfect ;-))

New Style Manga Cafe

To be honest, I don't feel confortable being in Manga Kissa, a place you can read as many Manga books in a louge space - typical not only for Otaku or NEAT, but for anyone who wants to kill time until your next plans. It's not that I'm being posh but just that I couldn't be brave enough to break in the atmosphere where Otaku guys concentating in there stories. I'd rather go to bookstores and 'stand-read (Tachi-Yomi)' without buying them, which is not an elegant thing to do anyway.

Except for today, that I really had to find a place where I could use internet after work (you see, the company's filtering system is so secured you can't use web mails from work), as I had to hand in my translated documents. Helas, I found THE place to spend hours and hours and was just few minuts away from where I work!

A nice and clean Manga Cafe where ladies can go by themselves.

Aprecio.

The fee was not bad with Internet service, free Manga reading as well as magazines included. Also with flow drink and.... softcream! For a sweet tooth like me, it caught my heart. I made myself a nice cup of Affogato to sip while translating.

Again to be honest, a place I don't want to recommend.

Skinny Bitch

When having my hair cut, my stylist asked me suddenly,
'Do you like meat?'
so I replied 'Yes I'm a meat lover'.

I got home to start reading the book I just got yesterday and found out how horrible the animals are treated in farms.

My first move to go vegan... by the way, how did the stylist find out I loved meat? my chubby face?

Books on Learning English

I found this book in my bookshelf so decided to start learning from today. According to Google Japan's vice-president, Mr. Murakami, the ideal way to learn English is to finish an English book per day.

By the way it took me an hour to remember all the vocabs in the first 50 pages... Now i shall have to find how to speed up... The next book i'm seeking for is this ↓

オーガニックコスメのある生活

ドイツ式オーガニックコスメのある生活
真の美肌力を生み出すオーガニックビューティーの秘密

緒方ヴェストベルグ美樹著

Since when I was a child my parents used to order Organic Vegetables and now I myself order them each week. Using organic products keeps me energetic and peaceful. However it is not easy to buy only the organic products considering cost and selection of goods so I stay flexible and don't insist too much on them.

During a party, a friend told that she was longing to live in Germany where the lifestyle and education are advanced. I was intersted in the examples and took this book in a store.

It was very intersting to know how the auther, who had been transferred to Frankfurt after having lived in Tokyo like many other people living in modern cities, was attracted by organic cosmetics. She told in her book that when she first met WELEDA hand cream and applied on her hand, her tears suddenly fell naturally, which she explained later in the chapter that they were provoked in necessity by the natual power of organic plants condensed in the cream.

I went home and decided at first to get rid of the chemical products as many as I could. And for the shampoos I didn't want to waste, they were classified to be used as linen soap etc.

The chapter explaing the close relation between human and plants was also impressive. That explained why camomile tea was taken for stomach ache.

It is now logical that we feel refreshed and relaxing only by walking in the trees and admire the plants and flowers just as I did this afternoon... We can't live without plants!

戦略思考トレーニング―考える力が飛躍的にアップする! ～西村 克己

Quiz-like questions that you solve yourself as part of training. After thinking carefully they are basic and simple, but which you might not realize in everyday life. They are sometimes easy that you can feel confident that your strategic thinking is alive.

★★★★★