Welcome to Litsy!

#WhereAreYouMonday

Always happy to be in Japan 🇯🇵 I am in Tokyo this time with a mother and daughter who grief for their husband / father who died in an suicide with another woman.

First finished book of 2025! There seemed to be some missed potential in not connecting the individual vignettes but otherwise it‘s a nice cozy book! Apparently GoodReads has a list of cozy translated novels….and I‘ve read several. This genre is my jam! Thanks, Rachel, for sharing this book with me! I really enjoyed it! #LitsyLove

I‘m a Murakami fan, but I just could not get into this story. Bailing, but I may try it again when I‘m feeling smarter.

I loved this book. I was expecting something like The Memory Police, but instead I got a coming of age story about a girl who goes to live with wealthy relatives for a year. Written in a light way even though it touches on some dark topics, this book was easy to read and perfect for cold winter mornings when you just can‘t face getting up yet.

Libraries, jazz, literary references, ambiguity, cats. A very Murakami-esque novel but not one of my favorites. If you love his writing you will probably appreciate it. But some of the themes, reality vs dreams, consciousness, loneliness, love etc are tackled in better ways in his other novels.

3.5 stars. First read of 2025

My first book of the year - almost-sweet Japanese dystopia. Yoshiro is bringing up his great-grandson Mumei. His generation remain strong and healthy, while the children struggle even to eat, in this isolated Tokyo where the soil is poisoned, there are no wild creatures… So many political/environmental/social themes. Intriguing world building and characters, this would make a great bookclub book to argue over! The story… 🤔 less sure.

My first book of 2025!
I loved the melancholic, dreamy vibe but it did make the abrupt revelation of Yaiyo's past somewhat jarring: I seem to have had more difficulty assimilating it than she herself did.
And I think if you are going to introduce a taboo relationship (or two!) then it really needs to be given more space and depth if the reader is to have any response besides wanting to push it away.

3.5/4⭐️ (between very good and excellent)

I love the premise of this book and I flew through it, however I suspect I would have enjoyed it even more if I knew more about Japanese cuisine. The food descriptions meant nothing to me. The human stories resonated though.

Plot and Engagement: 4 (excellent) Character and Atmosphere: 3 (very good)

#litsyatoz #letterK @Texreader

Welcome to my newest hyper fixation. I've finally started this behemoth. I've also got another translation on my Kindle that has footnotes and context if needed. I predict it may take me the whole year because I plan to go slow. I've heard it meanders in parts, so I'm ready for it. Wish me luck!