Welcome to Litsy!

A comfort read, for sure. Each chapter works as its own story, so it was easy to pick up, read a story, and come back later when I wanted to spend more time with Nagare, Koishi, and the various customers of the diner/detective agency (and Drowsy the cat!). It really hit on how food is tied to our memories and how comforting that nostalgia is, even if the memories themselves are often complicated/not completely happy.

Having a little bite to eat outside before work

It‘s no Kitchen but I don‘t regret reading it. I didn‘t connect with the short stories as I hoped I would but that could be because Kitchen left me with unreasonable expectations.

I love that she dedicated the American version to Kurt Cobain.

Bite to eat before work and a bit of reading.

Starting this one today. Not really sure I'm feeling emotionally secure enough for "sad, but beautiful" in my current perimenopausal state, but hey-ho...

Another beautiful chapter in this manga series. 4.5⭐️

Under the Eye of the Little Bird, by Hiromi Kawakami (2016, transl. 2024)
⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Premise: A novel in linked short stories about the distant fate of humanity.

Review: This will no doubt work for a lot of readers, but despite the fact that I can recognize that it‘s very well done, it was not for me. Told in short stories, all at different moments in the future,, this is meant to keep the reader off guard. Cont.

As a die hard Murakami fan I had to fight my way through this book. It pains me to admit that it‘s extremely dull and it was hard work persisting. I have no idea how it was published because nothing about it is engaging. A huge disappointment #murakami

I loved that 📕 by one of Japan‘s most famous female writers. The co-existence of four women (wife servants concubines etc) in a bourgeois family during the Meiji area. The interactions are observed and described with minutiae giving the main characters a deep humanity. Very beautiful and delicately written. The ending was a stark contrast (no spoilers).