Welcome to Litsy!

Two friends recommended this novel to me so here I am enjoying these cute stories about a cafe in Tokyo which has one seat which can transport a person to the past. But there are rules!! I‘m about halfway through this novel, still trying to keep the characters straight. I don‘t know why this is such a problem for me because, in truth, there are very few character!!

Going with another mystery for tonight‘s reading…

Rachel and Drew are dealing with the care of their aging mom who has Alzheimers and often doesn't recognize them. On one of Rachel's visits, her mom tells her about a book she wants her to find. The sisters find the book hidden in their mom's sewing room, a book about a woman named Tomoe Gozen who was a samurai warrior in Japan in the 1100s. They wonder what it has to do with their mom, and why she wanted to make sure they had it.

Maybe it‘s just my current mood, but I didn‘t love this one. I think I would have liked it more if Part 1 had been the entire book.

Finished 02 February 2025.

Visitors to a Tokyo cafe get to travel in time if they sit on a certain chair and follow very specific rules. Four segments follow four different people as they travel, along with snippets of their back stories, and the stories of those who work in the cafe. The premise is intriguing and some of the stories sweet, yet the delivery not so much so. It dragged, despite being a short book, I lost track of who was who and found the narrative overdone.

I checked off my first 2 countries in one book for #ReadtheWorld2025 :
Japan and Canada! This book really transported me to both places!

My goal is to get to 10 this year to beat last year.

Thanks for hosting @GatheringBooks !

3.5⭐

I wanted to like this book more than I did. The narrator for the #audiobook had an incredibly soothing and easy to listen to voice. The firsthand accounts of the loss, devastation, resiliency, and strength were powerful. The book just felt too drawn out. If the author had condensed things a bit, which I fully believe he could have done without sacrificing the integrity of his work, then I think this would have easily been a 4-4.5 star read.

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On Rika (and women in general) loving herself: “All you need to do is to eat as much of whatever it is you most desire at any given point. Listen carefully to your body. Never eat anyhting you don‘t want to. When you take the decision to live that way, both your mind and your body will commence their transformation.”