Welcome to Litsy!

#CoverStories Day 3: #LargeAnimal - hippo it is, then. 💕

I do love this series: lovely, wholesome feel-good stories

Book 16/60 Page 4,444/18,000 #Read2025 @DieAReader
Book 4 in the Before The Coffee Gets Cold series #SeriesLove2025 @TheSpineView

What I can say is, the way that the author described the setting, the places in Japan was spot-on. I can definitely imagine them vividly. What I didn‘t like was the slow pacing. Ultimately, it was a good read. During a time when the Japanese women were conservative and predictable, this book challenged societal norms.

A retired detective and his daughter run a successful food recreation restaurant and the new customers bring forward stories of loss, love, misunderstandings and valuing the gifts you have along with painfully good descriptions of food.
5/5 stars, read for a collection of short stories that will remind you of the power of food to shape one‘s life. I also really enjoy the traditional food ware described, it‘s fun to look each piece up for images.

I had read and loved both The Housekeeper and the Professor and The Memory Police. This one is quite different from those. It‘s more easygoing. Tomoka is sent to her cousin‘s family for a year when she is 12. The book covers her relationship with her cousin, Mina, and their lives together for that year. Mina has a hippo that she rides to school. I wanted more of the hippo. 😊 Continued with Wake Up and Open Your Eyes on my #audiowalk.

These are my current long reads, and I‘m enjoying each of them in their own way.

I got a lot from my previous read of #Genji, so I thought I would reread for the #Reading1001 yearlong read this year by listening to the Washburn translation. It‘s interesting how I‘ve forgotten so many details, but then hear sections that immediately seem so familiar.

#CurrentlyReading #NaturaLitsy #WhatTheDickens #NoPlaceLikeHolmes #1001books #audiobook

My return trip to Kyoto and the Kamogawa Diner was a delight! I‘m a vegetarian but all of the dishes are described so mouthwateringly. Cosy in all the right ways! I love how Nagare & Koishi work together as food detectives - they have a beautiful father-daughter dynamic.

You know I love Japan and Japanese fiction but these short stories often didn‘t work for me.
It took me a long time to read them all and although some stories and authors are super good mostly I am glad I finally finished it.

IRL bookclub pick. One member bailed and “hated” it, the rest of us agreed Oyamda effectively achieved her purpose in describing the inane dehumanizing impact of the corporate world.

Don‘t expect high action or deep character development. That is not the point. 😉

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.