After rounds of suggestions and voting, The Housekeeper and the Professor has been selected as the Langley Read for the 2013-2014 school year.

The book, originally written in Japanese in 2003 by renowned Japanese novelist Yōko Ogawa, revolves around a young housekeeper and her son who live with a retired university professor who is a former mathematician and suffers from a condition where his brain erases his memories every 80 minutes.

Due to his memory loss, every morning the Professor and the Housekeeper are introduced to each other anew.

Some Langley students have already reacted to the Langley Read Committee’s choice. Sophomore Arianna Afsari said that “Although it [the book] seems like a pretty math-oriented book, I’m interested to see how the relationship will grow between the characters of the story.”

“I think that this choice for the Langley Read is great because the plot line between the two characters shows an intricate relationship that we often don’t get to read in books for school. I think that it would be a unique and fun read,” said sophomore Julia Isacson.

“There is typically a divide in students that prefer math or reading, but this book sounds like it might bridge that gap. It sounds like an interesting plot, but I’m not too optimistic it will connect with the Langley High School students as A Fault in Our Stars did last summer; I’m not too sure if we are correct demographic for this kind of story. I’m only judging a book by its synopsis, so my opinion might change,” said Ali Akbar.

Members of the Langley Community were encouraged to make suggestions for potential Langley Read candidates.

The Langley Read Committee narrowed down the community’s 250 suggestions to eight and set up an online voting system.

Out of the eight books, Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell, Lost City of Z by David Grann, The New Kids: Big Dreams and Brave Journeys at a High School for Immigrant Teens by Brooke Hauser, The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore, Until Tuesday by Luis Carlos Montalvan, Zeitoun by Dave Eggers, and The Cardturner by Louis Sachar, The Housekeeper and the Professor elicited the most votes.

Last year’s Langley Read, The Faults in Our Stars by John Green got mixed reviews from the Langley community.

All students, including rising freshmen, are required to read the Langley Read and teachers also read the book along with their students.

Click here to read the New York Times Book Review’s review of The Housekeeper and the Professor.