#WeeklyFavorites

My first favorite of December is this quiet Italian novel about a mother and wife rethinking her life and writing about it in a diary that she keeps hidden from her family because they wouldn‘t approve her having her own thoughts. It‘s good!

It‘s the 1950s in Italy, a country recovering from WWII. Valeria is 43, her children are grown up and she works and takes care of the family. Then she buys a notebook and from the moment she starts writing in it, she starts questioning everything in her life. Her marriage, motherhood, the expectations she had of her life. Is this all? The unrest grows along with her entries in her forbidden notebook.

#ToB26 #16

Two men have become friends at college. Turning 50, they still are. And so are their wives and daughters. During a weekend that the two families spend together something happens that changes everything. All of them have to decide what‘s true and what isn‘t and how to go on from here.

An interesting premise but the author needs way too many words to tell the story. That makes it
an okayish read but not a ToB-worthy one.

#NovemberStats

4.75⭐️
Sad tiger
Heart the lover
4.5⭐️
The river is waiting
Fault lines
4⭐️
How to sleep at night
A guardian and a thief
3.75⭐️
Immaculate conception
After Annie
Lion
3.5⭐️
Ms Ice Sandwich
The rest of our lives
Whistle in the dark
Sleep
On earth as it is beneath
3.25⭐️
Sympathy tower Tokyo
3⭐️
Strange houses
A necessary end
Killing Stella
Swallows
2.75⭐️
The invisible guardian

DNF
The emperor of Gladness

#ToB26 #15

I hadn‘t expect to bail on this one since I enjoyed Vuongs debut novel, but there‘s that. This one too is well written but to me it was rather boring. Drugs and poverty are often a recipe for a repetitive story and unfortunately this story is no exception. I didn‘t care enough to finish it. I have to admit audio didn‘t help either, my mind kept drifting off.

#ToB26 #14

This book is a monument to the father who the author kept hanging on to no matter what. He was a man at loss, being with her and leaving her, loving her and neglecting her.
In this book she comes to terms with who he was and who she has become, being his daughter. A very generous and wise woman.

#WeeklyForecast 48/25

A #ToB26 week! I am reading and enjoying Lion and listening to Emperor of Gladness, which I am not enjoying at all. Next will be the tagged book, that everyone seems to hate but I already bought it and am curious to see what I‘ll think.
Forbidden Notebook (in Dutch) is my choice for #FoodAndLit (Italy).

#ToB26 #13

This short, brutal novel hit me harder than I expected. Set in Brazil, in a remote penal colony where prisoners are released only to be hunted, it‘s stark and unsentimental, yet gripping. Maia writes violence without glorifying it. The bleakness is heavy, but the sharp writing kept me fully absorbed. So I am with you, Helen and Sarah!

#ReadTheWorld2025 #34 #Brazil

#WeeklyFavorites

With Sleep as my final addition to November‘s weekly favorites, I am having one of my best reading months.

#ToB26 #12

This book is completely different from Out, that I loved. I was a bit disappointed by the story about a surrogate mother and all persons involved in the pregnancy and the circumstances surrounding it.
It‘s a story about women‘s choices in how to live their life, I can imagine it being a big theme in today‘s Japan. But to me it felt like a story I‘ve read before.

Some books waiting for me upon returning from Japan. All #ToB26 books except for Kakigori Summer, which I bought because I liked Emily Itami‘s debut so much. More ToB to come… I couldn‘t control myself #SorryNotSorry 🤷🏻‍♀️😀

In the first part of the book Margaret grows up in a dysfunctional family. In the second part she‘s a mother herself, navigating between her kids, her ex, her new lover and, still, her family. Her dominant and depressed mother is always there, in the back of her mind or in real life.

I liked it but I just read a few books that were so much better that it‘s just a light pick for me.

📸 Tokyo, Japan

I had no real expectations of this book, which had been sitting on my shelves for years.
After being missed for 4 days a 15 yr old girl returns to her despairing parents. She claims to remember nothing about what happened. The pov is that of the mother, who tries to find out what happens. I really enjoyed the dynamics of the family and the witty dialogues. The plot didn‘t matter that much to be honest. A light pick.

📸 Ryokan in Japan

After moving his daughter to college, instead of returning to the now empty nest of him and his wife Amy, Tom continues driving. All across the US, visiting friends and relatives and thinking a lot. He‘s your typical white 50+ male and that makes the book a bit predictable, yet I enjoyed spending time with Tom and his akward relationships.

Thanks for sharing this book with me Helen!

📸 Magome, Japan

Another winner. I had no idea what this book would be about but it grabbed me from the first page and I couldn‘t let go until I finished it with a deep, deep sigh. Lily King is such a master in writing about love and friendship. Wow.

📸 Nagoya Castle, Japan

How cool is this bookstore in Nagoya 🤩?
Unfortunately they sold only Japanese books, mostly manga 🤷🏻‍♀️

#ToB26

One of my most anticipated moments each year: the #ToB longlist. I‘ve been deep diving almost all day and I have read 11, I own 12 to be read on my shelves and am about to buy another load… please help me prevent this and tell me what book or books I should absolutely get and what books I can skip 😀

This quote defines Tokyo in one sentence. Love it!

This book is a tribute to modern Tokyo and I adored it.

Mizuko is a stay-at-home mother who keeps thinking of how different her life could have been had she made other choices. Yet she loves her children more than anything so she guesses it‘s fine. Until she meets Kyoshi and shows him her Tokyo.

I loved it all, especially while reading it in Japan.

📸 Shimanami Kaido, Japan

#10BeforeTheEnd #7

This is so relatable to me 🤷🏻‍♀️

A boy has an innocent crush on a grocery clerk. He buys sandwiches daily just to see her, until classmates call her a “freak,” mentioning botched facial surgery. Shaken, he stops visiting, though he keeps drawing her. Lonely and unsure, he‘s nudged by his friend Tutti to face his feelings and seek the quiet connection he misses. A cute novella.

📸 Onomichi, Japan

This is an autobiographical story about rape. From a very young age the French author was raped by her stepfather. It took her years to speak up and she still is so scarred. Neige Sinno makes perfectly clear why such an experience will always stick with you. She uses many literary works to emphasize her feelings.
It is very hard to read but I couldn‘t look away. Highly recommended with a huge trigger warning.

📸 Korakuen, Okayama, Japan

This book is wild. An architect has won a competition for designing a tower in Tokyo for prisoners, for whom we need to feel sympathy, cause aren‘t we all human beings? She feels conflicted about this, consults AI and a younger boyfriend and it‘s all pretty meta but so Japanese and I devoured it!

Thank you Helen, for sending me this one!

📸Teshima Art Island, Japan

A very bleak story about a woman taking care of her friend‘s daughter. Although taking care of is an exaggeration: she mostly just tolerates Stella‘s presence and drives her straight into the arms of evil. We don‘t get to know Stella but all other characters I kind of hated.

📸 Kobe, Japan

In times of famine everyone with a family becomes a guardian and a thief. That‘s what this book shows the reader by setting a story in a near future India, where Ma is trying to get her father and daughter on a plane to the US while Boomba is trying to take care of his family. It‘s a sad and harsh read and it feels awfully plausible.

#ReadTheWorld2025 #33 #India

📸 Awaji Island, Japan

Gabe and Ethan are happily married until Ethan decides to run for Congress as a Republican. In the mean time his sister Kate, a politics journalist, reconnects with Nicole, who she dated in her twenties but who is married with kids now. Their lives collide and unravel. A good read!

Annie dies and leaves four kids, a husband and a best friend devastated. The book follows them in the first year after she dies, each dealing with their own complicated feelings of grief.
Based on this blurb and coming from Anna Quindlen the book could have been great. It was just good.

The third DCI Banks novel. It‘s a decent detective series but I do think k I take a break for a while.

📸 Erwin Olaf Exhibition

#WeeklyForecast 46/25

I am reading both After Annie and A Necessary End. By the time I am reading the tagged book I will be in Japan again. So excited to be able to travel there again. I am counting the days until Thursday, when I‘ll fly to Tokyo 🇯🇵

Inspector Amaia Salazar is called back to Basque Country, where she grew up, to lead the investigation of several killed young girls. So far so good. But there‘s a lot of folklore too and Tarot cards and nightmares leading her the way. It felt a bit too much, didn‘t really make sense to me.

#ReadTheWorld2025 #32 #Spain #10BeforeTheEnd #5

Such an odd read. The plot is a bit over the top for me but the twists and turns based on weird house maps make up for that and kept me reading on. A light pick.

#FictionalTraveler #Asia

And #popsugar26 dropped too today. So much planning to do 😂, makes my head spin!

Excited for another year, just because of the dropping of new challenges. Anyone in for #the52Bookclub2026?

Narrator Enka has befriended Mathilda in art school. Mathilda is everything Enka ever wanted to be. When a cutting-edge technology allows her to inhabit Mathilde‘s mind and access her memories and artistic inspirations, Enka can‘t refuse. What follows is intense and bizarre and somehow very believable. The book does a great job exploring themes like greed, envy, deceit and corruption in the context of amazing art and technology

#10BeforeTheEnd #4

Sounds familiar 😇

#WeeklyForecast 45/25

The tagged one has been on my TBR for years. In anticipation of the #ToBLonglist I‘ll finally pick it up.
However, I first have to finish both other books, that I am both reading now.

That ending…. 💔 This book is so sad. And somehow hopeful. Corny struggles to come to terms with life in prison after caused a tragedy that tore his family apart. He will spend three years of his life there and is determined to come out a better man. This is the story of a complex man, who has grown on me while I couldn‘t stop reading. Recommended!

#10BeforeTheEnd #3

#EuropaCollective

Leslie and I hope you enjoyed the first reborn #EuropaCollective read: Mona‘s Eyes. The discussion is on Leslie‘s thread, feel free to comment there once you‘ve finished the book.

For January, we‘d like to announce the tagged book as our second read. We‘ll discuss it in the last weekend of the month. We‘ll keep you posted, let me know when you want to be tagged or removed from the taglist!

#OctoberStats

4.25⭐️
Remote sympathy

3.75⭐️
Though the bodies fall

3.5⭐️
The murder house
Mina‘s matchbox
Mania
The children of Red Peak

3.25⭐️
A dedicated man
On the calculation of volume V
The paper palace

3⭐️
Your steps on the stairs
The Barbizon

2.75⭐️
The satisfaction cafe

2.25 ⭐️
The girls who grew big

2⭐️
Heartstopper

DNF
Goodbye days

#WeeklyFavorites

Ending the month with the tagged as this week‘s choice. Remote Sympathy is my favorite book this month.

Adding five countries to #ReadTheWorld2025 for September and October: #Ukraine #Albania #Austria #Croatia and #Portugal, coincidentally all European.

I now have read 31 countries!

A well written and interesting book about the Barbizon Hotel, a refuge for ambitious women coming to New York. Many interesting and promising women found a safe place here between the 1920s and 2005. They arrived young and ambitious and had a chance to become self aware and successful career women. I knew nothing about this hotel and enjoyed learning about it.

#10BeforeTheEnd #2

I read this book because Lidija Hilje recommended it and I loved her book Slanting Towards the Sea. The Paper Palace is a love story, just like Slanting, but not as good.
Elle is staying with her husband and kids at Cape Cod. As always Jonas is there too, with his own family. They used to love each other but never really were together. This year everything changes and Elle has a tough choice to make.
An enjoyable read and a light pick.

#WeeklyForecast 44/52

My reading has been slow lately, I‘ve had way too little time! I am reading and enjoying the tagged book though and have just started The Barbizon.
The Beauvoir memoir is one I‘ve been interested in for a long time and I hope to finally read it now!

The book isn‘t even in the database yet but I have just finished part V while enjoying #FidayHappyReadingHour.

Part IV ended with a big cliffhanger so I was eager to read this one but it didn‘t at all go as I expected or hoped. I can‘t say much without spoilers. It was good (not as good as IV though) and now I have to wait for months for the next installment to be translated.

#10BeforeTheEnd #1

Five survivors of a cult (all other members mysteriously) are trying to live their lives as if all of that didn‘t happen. When one of them commits suicide however, they know they have to face their past. Should they return to Red Peak for answers?
A pageturner! Thanks for the recommendation @Reggie

#fictionaltraveler #trees

After 9/11 the narrator of this book moves from NYC to Lisbon to wait for the end of the world. He‘s waiting for his partner Cecilia in his new apartment, that very much resembles the NY one.
Described as a psychological thriller the book is much more a stream of conscience novel and I have to say I got very confused at the end. Just like the narrator. Not sure what to think.

📸 Lille, France

#ReadTheWorld2025 #31 #Portugal

#WeeklyForecast 43/25

I am reading off my shelves, finishing reading challenges and eagerly waiting for the ToB longlist to be announced.
For now I am almost finished reading Your Steps on the Stairs, a very weird read. Next will be The Children of Red Peak, that I meant to read last week but forgot somehow. The Barbizon I hope to start too.

Imagine an America where no one is more intelligent than anyone else. So everyone can be a doctor, go to university, build a plane. Actually, being smart is a disadvantage. This is the premise of Shriver‘s novel and it‘s a super interesting concept. Her books are often hit or miss for me but this is a hit. The idea is so ridiculous and yet it seems somehow possible in this crazy world.

📸 Lille, France

To me this book is a bit of a mess. We follow Taiwanese Joan from her life as a girl moving to the US, marrying, and raising two kids. Her dream is to one day open a restaurant for people who want someone to talk to, to being listened to. She‘d call it The Satisfaction Cafe.
Joan is an interesting character and so are most of the others. I‘d have liked to lean more about them but Kathy Wang wants to tell so much she forgets to do exactly that.