Welcome to Litsy!

This is the first book that actually felt like it helped me, as I‘m grieving the sudden loss of my mom. There‘s an overwhelming sense of place as a character, which is beautiful, but more effective for me is the way the author moves through grieving and loss and the thoughts you circle through. So grateful to have found this book.

Have any of you read this? I don‘t like that it starts with a suicide, but I have a fondness for #japanese literature, and I have major #coverlove for this.

This one is bittersweet, and perfectly captures the phases of emotion and change we go through when life - both the good and bad bits - happens. Yoshimoto does a wonderful job of weaving place, memory and grief together in this novel, and it speaks to the many ways in which place defines who we are and how we change and evolve. Perfect if you‘re looking for something quiet, a bit melancholic and cozy.

Another hold released from the library! I loved Yoshimoto‘s book Kitchen, and think I‘ll enjoy this as well. Her writing is slow and simple and beautiful. Also picked up this new cozy throw today because everyone needs a good cozy throw! ☺️

Totally missed this book when it came out. Making up for it now.

Such an irresistible blurb (edited to fit):

In Moshi Moshi, Yoshie‘s much-loved musician father has died in a suicide pact with an unknown woman. It is only when Yoshie and her mother move to Shimokitazawa that they can finally start to put their painful past behind them. However, Yoshie is haunted by nightmares in which her father is looking for the phone he left behind on the day he died, or on which she is trying―unsuccessfully―to call him.

So this book requires a little patience at times. The pace is intentionally slow. It‘s a glimpse of a season of grieving and most of the action is emotional. But it‘s beautiful. Masterful. If you decide to read it keep in mind that it‘s been translated from Japanese.

There is a sick child slumbering under the blanket on the sofa, and another one sleeping upstairs. There are Duplos all over the house, laundry to be done, dinner prep etc. But a two-kid-napping day is too rare so it‘s 📖 and 🍵 time for me.

“Since arriving at this town, I was becoming more and more honest, open, and grounded. At first, I‘d come through like a tourist, but now, I could feel every one of my footsteps leaving a mark on the ground here, and sense how they added up over time.” ❤️❤️

I may have stopped by both libraries & the thrift store this morning & I may have ended up with a small pile of books. 😬The bottom 6 are checkouts-4 cookbooks/2 fiction & the top 3 cost me $3 total. I've been wanting to read the Husseini & it was part of a BOGO for $2 with the Pittard. Pacific Palate (yes, it's a cookbook, whoops!) 🤗is local recipes/ingredients & in perfect condition for $1. With my green juice, let's call it #selfcaresaturday💚

Cherry blossom season outside and in my book.
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So very slow & repetitive. Almost meditative, which isn't my thing right now. Loved the idea of the story, but not the execution. There were some beautiful phrases so not a pan. #ReadHarder2017 #SpiritualJourney #LitsyAtoZ

I was quite enjoying this story of a young woman and her widowed mother putting themselves back together after their father/husband died in a tragic and rather scandalous way, especially the setting, Shimokitazawa, very near where I live in Tokyo. But I bailed at the 50% mark because of the truly awful writing. I assume the translation is largely to blame here, but the prose was making me sick to my stomach.

New book alert! New to me, not to the world ?
Isn't this cover beautiful? ???

Also, this will be the "M" for my #LitsyAtoZ challenge!

That is so cool! This antique furniture shop is a 10-minute walk from my place. Aside from bookstores, it's my all-time favorite shop in the whole world! And like this lady, I do enjoy watching the strapping young guys on staff working on the furniture in full view of passersby, outside. http://www.antique-yamamoto.co.jp/en_shop.html

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Shimokitazawa is a magic place, about a 20-minute walk from where I live in central Tokyo. These are the introductory paragraphs to the novel; I'll be delighted if this neighborhood figures largely in the story! ❤❤

I am on a book-bailing and book-trashing marathon! Let's give this one a try, shall we?

The main character's father died in a sensational way. This book is about her coming to terms with that in a very quiet and meditative way. There were some beautiful thoughts and sentences. I'm glad that I read it, but it is not quite a pick for me as I always felt removed from the main character even though the narrative is rooted in her inner thoughts and emotional journey. At only 200 pages it still felt like a slow read.

She knows where she wants to be, and no stinking book is going to get in her way.

What a wonderful way to describe some really good food! 😂

Just starting this book that I picked up at the library the other day mostly because the cover is so wonderful (and I did like the other Yoshimoto book that I read). After scanning through some Goodreads reviews it looks like people mostly either love it or hate it. The first few pages are good and dat cover tho!

Stopped in at the library on the way home from work to look for supplies for the coming storm. 🤓 Grabbed this off the new arrivals shelf.

Meh. There were some beautiful passages, but the dialogue was clunky and unrealistic, and there was alot of telling instead of showing. Maybe it's a difference between Japanese and American cultures, maybe the translation was done poorly, or maybe it wasn't edited as much as it needed to be (which may account for the spelling & grammar errors), but this got boring around page 100 (which, in a 200 page book makes it seem pointless to DNF).

Her new novel sounds intriguing!

https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2017/01/01/banana-yoshimoto-marries-...

I got this book as a gift from my wife and son. Can't wait to read it, but I have to wait until Christmas Eve. #BooksFromLiberty