Welcome to Litsy!

I love these chap books. So much temptation...

https://www.strangers.press/product-page/kanata-full-set
#Japan #InTranslation #StrangersPress

Hey, did you know that Mike Brink is really, really smart? His traumatic brain injury makes him a puzzle savant and really, really smart.

Don‘t worry. If you haven‘t picked up that Mike is brilliant by the first chapter, the next hour and a half makes sure to inform you at least 15 more times.

When we got to the point of repeating almost an entire conversation is when I decided to bail.

Day 26 #Red

#HauntedShelf #ScavengerHunt #GrimReaders

Scavenger hunt
#eyes #screamteam #hauntedshelf

4 Stars • A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro follows Etsuko, a Japanese widow in England, reflecting on her past in post-war Nagasaki after her daughter Keiko‘s suicide. Through unreliable memories, she recalls her friendship with Sachiko and her troubled daughter Mariko, mirroring her own struggles with motherhood and loss. The novel explores trauma, guilt, and cultural displacement in a subtle, fragmented narrative.

This has Before The Coffee Gets Cold vibes, and I was finding it mildly enjoyable, and then the third of the three chapters came along and hit me in the feels.

I just stumbled across the tagged story collection while at the library. What great blurbs! Have you read this @barbarabb Seems up your alley, I think that it might appeal to you too @sarahbarnes

Pensive and atmospheric, Kawabata‘s last novel, left unfinished when he died. We never hear from the young woman brought to an asylum by her mother and fiancé in an attempt to cure her “body blindness,” her inability to see her lover in times of excitement. Communication through the pealing of bells. Father‘s life lost in a riding accident on a cliff. All very dramatic, almost Gothic. Trauma, memory, couples, bodies, guilt. Trans. 2017

While the book has its fair share of issues—particularly around sexism—it might be somewhat forgivable given its 1970s–80s Japan setting. The story unfolds through multiple POVs, all tied to a seemingly random murder in an unfinished building in Osaka, involving the victim‘s son and the suspect‘s daughter.