Welcome to Litsy!

@JacqMac what a lovely #littlechristmasswap to unwrap after my first day back to school. I LOVE shortbread and I will definitely be breaking my sugar fast to consume them! The kitty bookhugger is adorable. The tea sounds divine and the book has been on my tbr list forever. Thanks so much for such a thoughtful swap package.
Thanks for organizing such a fun swap @bookish_wookish !

I‘m late to this one but here I go.

Starting today!❤️❤️❤️ so

Life is nothing but a game of luck and chance. A moving generational saga weaving Korean and Japanese cultures, touching upon themes of love, loss, colonialism, colonial hangovers, change, identity, war, and so much else. Beautifully written with memorable characters. Leaves much to think about at the end. Great narration on Audible.

Likely an #unpopularopinion but while I liked & appreciated much about this story of a Korean family‘s life in Japan, I didn‘t love it. I suspect that has something to do with the scope & breadth of the story which follows four generations—the sheer number of characters means that many often get surface treatment, motivations sometimes remain elusive, & it‘s easy to feel disconnected from them. Not bad, but I was hoping for more emotional depth.

This has been on my TBR list FOREVER (apologies to my mother who recommended it years ago) and tonight‘s the night. We‘re finishing up our fantastic Norwegian adventure and tonight we have some down time so it‘s me, Oslo, and the tagged book.

Oof. Do you think they‘ll rescind my MLIS?

Home is a name, a word, it is a strong one; stronger than magician ever spoke, or spirit answered to, in strongest conjuration.

—Charles Dickens

I didn't know that Japan controlled Korea for 35 years and the ramifications for the Koreans living inside and outside of Japan of which still exist.

I knew very little about the history and relationship between these two countries and I learnt so much reading this and it's tie in with Germany and WW2 really expanded what knowledge I did have.

Within these pages we travel from Korea to Japan through four generations of the same family.

I stayed up past my bedtime to finish and I have to teach today #ineverlearn but it‘s just so good and I had to see it end. Sometimes it felt like it did weird jumps in time, and sometimes I thought bad things would happen and they didn‘t and sometimes awful things happened and I‘d think “what the hell was that for?” But overall I really liked it

Breakfast in bed on Easter Sunday

This is the second time Iv picked this one up and tried and failed 😣 to engage , it‘s not for me I‘m afraid, I thought the island of sea women was a far superior story and far more informative about Korean history and far more engaging , I made it to chapter 7 this time but now know it‘s off to the charity shop !

I am loving this book. These are my special reading snacks

AT LAST, something I joyfully look forward to reading and finding Korean food/snacks to pair with it #foodandlit2024

I love the author‘s focus on her minor characters most, which gives this Korean family‘s saga (from the early 1900s Japanese colonial period of a once undivided Korea to modern day Osaka/Tokyo/Yokohama) a broad, sweeping quality, but the side-stories dead-end, which is frustrating. I appreciate this peek into the Korean-Japanese experience and how the tides of one woman‘s shame, her survival, discrimination, and globalization mold a family.

Almost the end of March but never too late for #koreanmarch🇰🇷 I remember picking this book just after its release but halfway through I got busy with work and stopped reading. I remember the story being absolutely amazing and I was so invested in the plot and the characters especially Sunja. Waiting to finish this book now alternating with the audiobook so that I can start watching the drama starring Lee Min Ho!

The story followed a Korean family, starting in Korea and ending in Japan. Covering a time period of 4 generations, there are a lot of hard topics, but it didn‘t feel like any were focused on too much as it was about the family during those times.

I don‘t really know how to describe it better… but I enjoyed it 😂

#FoodAndLit

Loved the early years .

Hoonie is born in the late 1800s with a cleft palate and twisted foot but he‘s very strong, a hard worker, and loyal to his wife Yangjin. Their only surviving child is Sunja, and this book mainly tells her life story, her mother Yangjin‘s story, and Sunja‘s children and grandchildren through the late 1980s. Pachinko, a game of chance, makes this poor family eventually very wealthy. I like family histories but this one didn‘t work well me. ⬇️

I wrapped up this audiobook tonight with my little reading buddy. #SouthKorea #foodandlit @Catsandbooks

I‘ve read five books so far and am on my sixth book for #NewZealand for #foodandlit. So I‘m ready to get a head start for next month, #SouthKorea, starting with the tagged audiobook. @Catsandbooks

A multi-generational story of a Korean family trying to locate home in foreign lands. What really is home after all? The writing is easy, honest, authentic. At times I felt I was reading history rather than fiction. The characters felt genuine, their sufferings felt genuine, their dreams were genuine too. Definitely a long read but worth it.

I texted author Lisa See for advice on finding a book to read for #SouthKorea for #foodandlit because I ❤️ her book Island of Sea Women set in Korea. She answered and suggested the tagged book, which has been on my tbr list. So…there you go. I‘ve been following See on instagram for a long time now and she‘s liked my comments before. So I thought, heck, what if she answers? Nice, right?

I think I might like the tv show better than the book, just because I feel we get more time with the characters. The book was good but I felt unsatisfied with the ending, it felt a bit abrupt.

Today I had the pleasure of joining a South Korean book club that my Canadian-Korean friend invited me to attend. They zoomed at 5am to accommodate the time change for myself and my friend (we live in Alberta). I am so grateful to these Korean women who gave me a whole new perspective on this beautiful book.

I liked this, but not sure I felt it lived up to the hype. Started out strong, but I felt it got progressively weaker as it progressed and was maybe longer than it needed to be. I‘ve started watching the series adaptation (with subtitles) and have been enjoying it so far.

Amazing book from the beginning until the end.
80 years of a Japanese family where the women are strong in a masculine world.
During this 80 years, a lot of things happen , civil war, love, tears, no food.. however, how these women family survive to all of it, with their sons love in their middle

#firstlinefridays

I rolled over last month‘s #doublespin to my September TBR, but I should have put it back on the shelf last month. From the little I‘ve managed to read I believe all the praise, but this is a case of #rightbookwrongtime. For months now I haven‘t been able to concentrate on this type of quiet narrative with lots of characters, but it‘s waiting in my audible library and I plan to come back to it someday when I can keep the cast straight in my mind.

#ImmigrantMC ❤️ #BookBinge 📚❤️📚

#BookNerd 🤓💙📚

Great read. Warmly written but tackling big issues of race and class…but on the end a story about family and the ripple effects of our choices over generations.

#MayMontage #Generational This has been on my shelf for a while but I‘m really looking forward to finding time for it in the next few months! I keep hearing such great things! @Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

“Living everyday in the presence of those who refuse to acknowledge your humanity takes great courage.”

Well all of you who were saying #finankitten was sitting on this book to spare my feelings were absolutely correct😭 I generally have a hard time with multigenerational stories because I like sticking with one character‘s perspective but this one had such an ease of transferring the main story lines from one generation to the next. Absolutely heart wrenching and a must read. Stunning writing!

In other news Pachinko is loved not only by myself but by #finankitten as well🥰 this is not staged he just likes sitting on books 😆 my kind of cat❤️

Started this book this weekend after finishing The Last Graduate and boy is it a hefty read so far😅 beautifully written though. It‘s been on my TBR for years and I‘m finally getting around to it🤍 Coffee added for extra support☕️

Sadly I am bailing on this one. I really was enjoying the history of 20th century Korea through one family‘s viewpoint. However, I just can‘t read anymore of the dialog about women. Just not for me. DNF
#Roll100 one done!

😀About 4 generations of stories, starting with a teen daughter in 1900s. It starts from the journey of Korea to Japan in the coloniazation of the japanese emperor. If you like books that are non fiction, this book can be good to read. A theme in this story is sacifice for that the families are sacificing something so their children can live a normal way of life.

What a book! Enjoyed it so much, power read the last 200 pages as couldn't put it down.

19-26 Nov 22 (audiobook)
This novel depicts the lives of several generations of a Korean family living in Japan. It shows the systemic racism and discrimination they suffer and the difficulties faced by displaced people everywhere. Japan does not come off well, but I expect the same would be seen in many parts of the world.
I knew little about pachinko or Korea, except they had a thriving film industry when I was more informed about such things.

Here we go for the holidays:
https://lithub.com/the-13-best-literary-adaptations-of-2022/

A 20th century, multi-generational saga of a Korean family in Japan. Fascinating info about discrimination, WWII and aftermath, and the different ways members of one family got along (or didn‘t) amongst themselves and amongst the Japanese. https://cannonballread.com/2022/10/pachinko-elcicco/

What an epic story! This beautiful novel spans multiple generations and brought to life so many memorable characters. I loved it! I‘ve owned it in hardback forever but finally listened on #audio and it was lovely. Deeply thoughtful, honest, and with gorgeous prose, I‘ll be thinking of this one for a long time! #chunkster #BookspinBingo

Next up . . . 99p bargain and I've heard good things

“He understood why his customers wanted to play something that looked fixed but left room for randomness and hope.”

Finished this book, filled with the relentless human spirit navigating the sufferings of a hard life, yet always having a heart filled with hope that‘s tied to loving family above all else. Tough to read at times, but completely worth it!

Todays listen 🎧

I scored a hardcover copy of Pachinko at the friends of the library store this weekend for $1. All this time I‘ve been going and I never noticed this cute bench. To my credit, someone is always sitting on it 😬.

Truly sad and devastating historical family saga about four generations of a Korean family in Japan. The book is fine. I learned new things about the dynamic between Koreans & Japanese, their culture, cuisine, language.