Welcome to Litsy!

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.”

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Yoshie‘s father dies along with his mistress and Yoshie and her mother have come to terms with both having a death and the circumstances.
And they do, after moving to an old neighborhood in Tokyo, where they live and work and eat. Again, food plays in important role in a Japanese story!
It‘s a very Japanese novel, quiet and melancholic. A light pick.

#ReadTheWorld2025 #Japan #ATY25 #IntriguingTitle

Remember when we read Butter for Camp Litsy? Yeah. I‘ve been reading it ever since. I just couldn‘t bail. I loved the concept, but I had a really hard time with other aspects. The translation felt off to me. And I think there are probably cultural differences that kept me being able to get over some things. The views of weight for one. The one highlight: discovering that rice with butter and soy sauce is so good! Between so-so and pan.

Sorry, @Andrew65 but I‘m going rogue! Long hours at work in July and August meant less time for reading, so I have few books to choose from, and none that wowed me. So while I give an honourable mention to Jenny Lund Madsen‘s Thirty Days of Darkness, read in July, I‘m using a September read as my Day 7 #12BooksOf2024. Though it was a little strange, I found Butter a compelling read.

Another close month in June. Butter was such a profound read for me, about the images women are expected to live up to and how the main character found her independence. A very close second is in the comments. #12booksof2024 @Andrew65

This novel is longer than it seems. It unfolds in a similar way to many Japanese novels I've read, peopled by characters with rich internal lives and busy but somewhat held-back lives. It makes me think of the pressure that builds up when playing a double-reed instrument. The main character is recognizing this pressure through the article she's writing and trying to identify ways to opt out of some of the pressure. I enjoyed it.

A book to make you hungry, about a journalist interviewing a gourmet blogger who‘s killed three times.

Better late than never! #bookspin

Not what the blurb suggests, or is much more nuanced anyway.
Whilst àn account of her relationship with Kajji, it's also her own journey of self awareness, misogyny and culture and how women fall into that. Her developing friendships which blossom through shared occasions.
Too long in places but a very good and worthy read.