There probably isn’t a perfect book. For me, however, The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa comes pretty darn close. It was certainly the best book I have read this year and definitely a top 20 lifetime read. It’s a short novel about exactly what the title describes and I read it last night with time to spare. None of the characters are named except the housekeeper’s son whose nickname is Root (like square). The Housekeeper comes to work for the math Professor who has already gone through nine other housekeepers. He was in a car accident in 1975 and only has 80-minute chunks of short-term memory. I can’t even adequately describe this wonderful story and how much I loved it. If I gave more than five stars, this book would get them!