Welcome to Litsy!

He arrived bundled up in a woolen coat. —Winter in Sokcho

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

This was high on my TBR because it checks all those book-lover boxes: a woman leaves her unfulfilling life & job to start a bookshop, which grows into a place for others to also find purpose & healing. I‘m fascinated by how deeply I connected with the book, when the writing felt so…plain. The topics were so relevant to where I‘ve been in my life over the past few years: feeling a disconnect and discontent in my job, then leaving it to pursue ⤵️

I‘m really enjoying this book, probably because it has a lot about books and coffee! And I just love the idea of having all day to think about a film (or a book) and discovering something special.

“According to legend, coffee was discovered thanks to a herd of goats. When they ate a small round red fruit, they were very energetic and began to prance about, leading the goat herder to discover the coffee fruit and its properties.”

I looked up the story mentioned in this book because in Japan we have Kaldi coffee beans with a goat on the package. Turns out the goat herders name was Kaldi, so this is a popular name for coffee shops ☕️ 🐐

Yeongju leaves her old life behind and opens a bookshop in Hyunam-Dong. She learns how to navigate her dreams along with reality and societal expectation, makes a group of friends, and everyone helps each other think about where they are in life and where they want to be.
I have to say that some bits felt particularly poignant as I am a bit fed up with work at the moment. So it definitely left me with some things to think about!

#DoubleSpin

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.

8/20
Join if you would like!

#20Covers

This is a very tender, but also very sad book. In different very short texts, Han Kang talks about white things. White being the color of mourning in Korea. We learn about her older sister, who died shortly after birth. We learn how that still hunts Kang, how it affects her life. I was deeply moved by this work, by its calmness, by its insights.

Written by a Korean author and set within Seoul, if you‘re looking for a heartwarming story, you may enjoy this book. It is a gentle tale, waving many life principles throughout. At times, the story was a little too precious for me with its self-help esque cliches. At other times, it made me smile. Overall, it‘s quirky and sweet.