Welcome to Litsy!

This is the second book of Kawakami's I've read after Heaven, & like the previous one it's existential & profound despite it's calm, stoical surface. In describing in wrenching detail the loneliness of a woman in her thirties, Kawakami resists all kinds of easy moralising. She avoids performing a standard psychological deep-dive. We know the protagonist is living through forms of trauma because of her circumscribed life, but not much more.

Just got back from Chicago, and I‘m ready to settle down with a book and a nightcap. Feeling extra tired tonight 🥱

Happily making my way through my current read, but also excited to read these new books I picked up today. 🤗

‘My heart was burdened by unbearable darkness”
Fuyuko Irie is 34, unattached and living a very solitary life. She‘s content with her lonely existence until a vivacious coworker wakes her up to new possibilities. There‘s layers of sadness here but this wasn‘t a depressing read. I enjoyed my time in Japan with Fuyuko. #BorrowNotBuy #Scribd

#FoodAndLit #DoubleSpin

I‘m really liking this strange little book #DoubleSpin #FoodAndLit #Japan
I feel like I‘m getting a good sense of Japanese culture

Fuyuko hardly speaks or connects with other people. She starts drinking after years of abstinence, yet living her life in a disciplined way, each day repeating the one before. I didn‘t understand her at all, kept asking myself why she did (or mostly didn‘t do) the things she did. Yet she made a fascinating character and I loved the Japanese context and Kawakami‘s writing style.

(Pic: Chioggia, Italy)

#WeeklyForecast 30/22

Back from vacation, I need to continue our #NYRBbookclub choice. I am also eager to read the Kawakami so I can read her Chandelier afterwards. I also want to read The Little Snake, a sweet gift from @squirrelbrain
But before all of this I have to finish my current book: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow.

A really fascinating book about a woman living and working alone in Tokyo, about isolation, meaningful connections, and misunderstandings. I found the MC frustrating at times as I think I was meant to - her journey to self-discovery was slow and painful at times. Ultimately, it‘s a lovely book though. Melancholy and lonely.

A fantastic freebie from Independent Bookstore Day. Kawakami writes with soul about loneliness and modern life.

Our MC goes to a posh department store everyday. She wanders the halls buying things devoid of meaning for her, not caring how much she spends. As we follow her around the store, her emptiness begins to have meaning to the the reader. I sympathized and even pitied her in the end.

I‘ll get this on to you next week @BarbaraBB 😘

A character-study novel about isolation, anxiety, human connection, and modern womanhood. Poetic prose, some lovely passages with dreamlike atmosphere, and with a general sense of melancholy. At times I was frustrated with the protagonist for her passiveness; but as I meandered along with her, I was drawn into her aloneness world, felt sad for her. I didn‘t like this as much as B&E and Heaven, but this is an important, contemplative read.

Why does the night have to be so beautiful?
#firstlinefridays
@ShyBookOwl

I liked this, but I didn't love it like I hoped I would (and kind of expected to, based on her other books). The main character frustrated me. I didn't dislike her, but it's hard for to relate to someone so incapable of talking about things.

I love character studies, and I love the arc Kawakami wrote for Fuyoko. The translated dialogue was spot on, too. It‘s a book where the stars align.

Fuyoko is a quiet freelance proofreader, who retreats into her shell at the smallest disturbance. Enter her boss, who is one of the brashest, most outspoken Japanese characters I‘ve read. She really throws Fuyoko for a loop. Fuyoko befriends a mysterious man and decides maybe she wants more from him.

Current reads. I'm feeling a little scattered at the moment, so I'm not very far into any of these. But I like everything I've read so far!

Her writing/the translation is killing me. I mean that top quote just gutted me. Her characters are so sharp! Kawakami is definitely a favorite now.

I love the way Kawakami writes the raw, often painful experiences of her characters in such a quiet way. She is so matter of fact in her descriptions that it makes it a more emotional experience for me to read her work than I think it would be if her style were more dramatic. I loved this story and Fuyoko in her loneliness and struggle to connect with other people.

Got some great #BookMail from Europa today!! Both of these are May releases.