Putting all the books I want to read/finish reading by the end of the year in one place was probably a mistake. 😜 This is a lot! I do plan on listening to the audiobook for several of them (and switching to audio for a couple that I can't get motivated to finish), so that will help.
pick4.5 Stars • No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai follows Yozo Oba, a young man alienated from society, masking his despair with a clownish persona. Through his notebooks, we see his troubled childhood, failed relationships, addiction, and suicide attempts, reflecting his profound sense of being "inhuman." Set in early 20th-century Japan, the novel explores isolation, identity, and societal pressures, culminating in Yozo‘s tragic self-destruction.
so-soPensive and atmospheric, Kawabata‘s last novel, left unfinished when he died. We never hear from the young woman brought to an asylum by her mother and fiancé in an attempt to cure her “body blindness,” her inability to see her lover in times of excitement. Communication through the pealing of bells. Father‘s life lost in a riding accident on a cliff. All very dramatic, almost Gothic. Trauma, memory, couples, bodies, guilt. Trans. 2017
bailedI was grabbed by the cover of this and went in blind. Early on, it seemed like it was going to be an exploration of language, but at the halfway point it‘s doing nothing for me, so I‘m out.
Online #independentbookshopday #bookmail!
pickMina‘s Matchbox is a tender, heartwarming Japanese story that follows 12-year-old Tomoko, who spends a year with her family in Ashiya in 1972. Alongside her cousin Mina and a pygmy hippo, she experiences quiet, everyday moments that somehow feel magical. Even though nothing much happens the book‘s gentle tone, nostalgia, and simplicity made me slow down and cherish what I read.
📸 Mussels, local specialty in Zeeland
Reading…
When a young man‘s girlfriend mysteriously vanishes, he is brokenhearted and determined to find the imaginary town where he suspects she has taken up residence.
