Welcome to Litsy!

1. Tagged! It was the selection from my cousin for last year's annual autumn book swap.
2. I got new bedding on Monday.
3. No specific plans
4. 11
5. Will do!
@howjessreads #friyayintro

1. The tagged book is a whimsical Japanese novel about a man whose life is enriched by an old lady who helps him out in his food stall. I loved it.

2. Flying, I think.

3. Gemini

4. Dressing up vintage-style for Gloucester Goes Retro tomorrow, no idea after that!!

5. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

#FriyayIntro @howjessreads

Sweet bean paste is #biginjapan it's a popular sweet treat used to top and fill a wide variety of Japanese confections. And the book of the same name is a charming and simple story, about social acceptance and discrimination relating to a medical condition and the purpose and meaning of life.

#wanderingjune @Cinfhen @BarbaraBB

March was a great month for reading! These were some of my faves. And here are the stats:

10 new-to-me authors
12 female authors
7 authors of color
2 romance novels
3 nonfiction
2 comics
2 audiobooks
10 ebooks
7 print books
6 speculative fiction
2 poetry
3 YA

19 books in total

I blame @RealLifeReading ! Saw this on Goodreads as an update from Sharlene, ordered it from the library and it came in fast. I have A LOT of books going right now and did not need another one but I took a look last night, thinking I'd read a quick chapter...and here I am almost 50 pages in. 😉

I was really quite inspired by this book about a dorayaki seller and tried making my own dorayaki. Although I only had tinned bean paste, it turned out great!
I wrote about the book and the dorayaki making on the blog
https://reallifereading.com/2019/03/23/reading-sweet-bean-paste-and-making-doray...

An odd couple of kind of story - ex-con working at a dorayaki shop to pay his debts and a elderly woman with gnarled hands who asks him for a job, offering to teach him her recipe for sweet bean paste. A sweet and simple story about prejudice (the owner is alarmed about the woman‘s hands - is it an illness?), loneliness and friendship.

Felt a little better today (terrible cold yesterday had me flat out) so I made tomato soup and quesadilla. This sweet Japanese book is just the right kind of lightness that I needed in a book and it makes me long for a dorayaki or red bean pancake. We usually buy the factory-made ones from the Japanese supermarket but when I was growing up in Singapore we‘d often buy freshly made ones (more often taiyaki the fish shaped ones) & those are the best

I really enjoyed this book. It sent me to Google multiple times. First of all to find out what sweet bean paste is. It's what I like to call a quiet read. There's not a lot of action, but the pages carry you on like a soft breeze.

My cousin lives in Japan and we do an annual Autumn book swap. This was her selection this year. She always makes great choices. I've not heard of a single one of the books she's sent before but I've loved them.

1. Monsters Inc
2. Yes, but I chose not to :)
3. I can't think of one.
4. Recover from a biopsy, work
5. ♥️😘

Reading this for bookclub in Yokohama. I enjoy Japanese sweets and reading this has enabled me (through the magic of google images) to match eaten sweets with their names.

Adding books to my virtual TBR list on Libby this AM and wondering, what attracts people to a certain book?

For me, this quirky sounding book I hadn‘t heard of - a guy w a criminal record who drinks too much meets an obachan who makes dorayaki. Also, I like translated books, I‘m intrigued by the writer‘s name (Durian!), and it has to do with food and Japan.
Have you read this? Would you? What attracts you to picking up an unknown book?

A near-perfect book w/c is the closest I've read reminiscent of Banana Yoshimoto. A dash of magic realism but very much grounded on reality: a particular disease & period in Japan. It's about an ex-convict whiling away his life in a confectionery to pay off his debts & a 70yr-old woman w/ gnarled hands. Their stories are told gently through the lens of existentialism; about loneliness & death, and how one survives, even if one already refuses to.

Excited for this little book! Saw it by its lonesome in a bookstore and the premise intrigued me. Here's to more Asian books!

A very beautiful story about an ex convict who runs a dorayaki shop, an old woman who was infected by Hansens disease and a school student. A lovely blend of life, friendship, dorayaki and cherry blossoms. A very moving tale with a beautiful message and even beautiful characters. It's a perfect book to read between complex books and it's a short read. I love short Japanese stories that are beautifully written such as this one.

Such a sweet and charming tale about a young man and the friendship he builds with an older woman.. Sentaro is working at a dorayaki (Japanese pastry) shop to pay off a debt when Tokue, a 76 year old woman with gnarled hands, comes in looking for work. Neither feels that they can reveal their past, but as their relationship grows, they share difficult memories with each other and Sentaro learns so much from Tokue' s wisdom.

Lovely story about what gives life meaning but in a way that is actually meaningful. Focus on dorayaki and leprosy camps in Japan, all interesting stuff I used to know nothing about. Comes out in English translation November 14, and I see the film is in Netflix!

Headed to the mountains for some silence. Can‘t help but think of THE STRANGER IN THE WOODS and how that silence is so enriching! #bookmail