The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World by Laura Imai Messina (translated by Lucy Rand)
Last year I read and loved The Library of Heartbeats, so I was very keen to read more from this Italian author who has lived in Japan for many years. Like Library, this book has a fundamentally sad premise but the way that it is written is so beautiful that it is easy to close the book with a smile, even while you ponder the emotions that you have felt while you read.
Near the coast there is a place where there is a man who has a disconnected phone booth, some times known as a wind phone, installed in his garden. People come from miles around to pick up the phone and speak to the people that they have lost. Some times they speak softly and tell their stories. Some times they yell at the top of their voices.
Yui has suffered great loss when her daughter and mother were killed in the 2011 tsunami. Yui finds herself drawn to the garden time and time again, despite the fact that she can't bring herself to actually pick up the phone to speak to her loved ones. There she meets Takeshi who has lost his wife and now his young daughter refuses to speak at all. Can these people who have lost so much, find something to help them be able to live a more full life? Can they allow themselves to be happy.
I have a friend who is a Japanophile and I was talking to her about this authors books, and she started to cry because she said that the stories just sound so Japanese. Interestingly, it seems that this idea of a wind phone has spread around the world. I recently learned that we have some in Australia. There are also at least three Japanese movies/short films about wind phones.
I also wanted to mention how much I love both of the covers on this authors books. They are so simple but totally beautiful!
I don't think any more of this authors books have been translated into English, but if they are I will be reading them!
Rating 4/5
The Healing Hippo of Hinode Park by Michiko Aoyama (translated by Takami Nieda)
A while ago I read What You Are Looking For is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama. Whilst I mostly liked it, I did struggle with one particular aspect. So while I looked a this title and think that looks like fun, I was a little nervous. Unnecessarily so it turns out.
This book is set in a Tokyo neighbourhood where there has recently been a new apartment block built. Nearby, there is a small park where one of the installations is a rather worn plastic hippo whose name is Kabahiko. He has scratches on his body and paint where he shouldn't have. But that doesn't stop people from coming to visit the hippo. You see, there is a local legend that if you touch the hippo in the place where you feel pain, then you will be healed.
As the new residents move into the area, we get to understand where their pain is, from a struggling student to a new mother who is feeling lonely and a young man who fakes an injury to get out of sports at school and more. They each find their way to Kabahiko, and slowly they also find others in their community.
Like so many of these cosy, feel good Japanse books, this one of these stories which is episodic in nature. The characters are seemingly very separate but as the book comes together we see how the lives are interconnected.
I was relieved that there was no such issue in this book, and I am really excited that this year we get two new books from Michiko Aoyama, the first of which is called Hot Chocolate on Thursday and it is out in February!
Rating 4/5
Both of these books qualify for the Books in Translation challenge hosted by Jen at Introverted Reader. Healing Hippo also counts for the Japanese Literature Challenge hosted at Dolce Bellezza, and I am sharing this post as part of my personal January in Japan event!
When I reviewed three Japanese foodie books last week, I had no idea I would be back so soon with another one but here we are.
Over the last few years I have been reading more and more Japanese and Korean fiction, and a large proportion of those have been set in restaurants and cafes. I have also read several books that have been set in bookstores or libraries. So when you find one which is Japanese, foodie and set in a library, of course I am going to have to read it!
Otoha Higuchi really wants to work with books, but working in a large chain bookstore isn't working for her at all. When she is contacted by someone known only as Seven Rainbows offering her a job at a library known only as The Night Library she is at first hesitant. The money isn't great, but it does include board and some food. Whilst her ambitious parents aren't pleased Otaha needs to get out of her current situation so she accepts.
The Night Library isn't really a library in the normal sense of the word, especially seeing as you can't borrow any of the books. It is more a collection of books that have been donated by many authors after their passing. It might include their own books, their research books, the books that they personally loved to read. The people who loved their books might come to the library just to look at the books that their favourite authors loved, or researchers might come to look for specific references. You could call it a book museum.
It is called The Night Library because of the unusual opening hours which are from 7pm to midnight each day.
One mystery about the library is who the owner is. No one has ever met them which the employees do find a bit odd. All instructions for them come via the manager, Mr Sasai.
Otoha's first task in her new role will be to unpack, sort and catalogue all the books as the come in from the various donations. They will then be stamped with an individually designed stamp for each author and then shelved in the library. I did find myself googling to see if the author's that were mentioned were real Japanese authors or made up. I think it is a combination of both
If you have read book like Before the Coffee Gets Cold, you know that often these styles of stories have a fairly standard structure that are almost like connected short stories. This book is far less episodic than most Japanese books I am reading. There is a through story as we follow Otoha as she gets settled into her new role but we also get to hear the stories of the other characters including the manager Mr Sasai, and co-workers Ako and Minami.
Throughout each of the episodes we find out what happens when a new collection arrives, we meet some of the people who come to the library to look at the collections from specific authors for their own reasons, we hear about the team members who has fallen out of love with reading, and about books that start mysteriously appearing in the library but aren't part of the collection. We also meet an author's sister who just wants all their books gone, immediately. Finally, the whole team must deal with the news that the library is going to be closing for a while, but could the owner really be meaning to close it permanently?
I mentioned that this was also a foodie book. That comes in the form of the staff dinners which are prepared by the chef Mr. Kinoshita. He creates menus based on mentions of food in various books.
The episodes each have plenty of food references but specifically
Episode One - Shirobanba Curry
Episode Two - Mamaya's Carrot Rice
Episode Three - Anne of Green Gables Bread and Butter and Cucumbers
Episode Four - Seiko Tanabe's Simmered Sardines and Okara
Final Episode -Yoki Mori's Canned Food Recipes
So much of the food sounded really delicious.
In closing, I thought I would share a quote from Episode Three. As you can see from above, the meal being served is cucumber sandwiches, which the chef was serving with a small bowl of peas. I thought this exchange from page 144 between Otoha and the chef was fun.
"Those are green peas sauteed in butter. I finished them by adding a spoonful of sugar. Do you remember how, when they invited Mrs. Morgan to Green Gables, Anne added too much sugar and spoiled the peas?"
"You've read the books very closely, Mr. Kinoshita. Much more than I have."
"No, just the parts about food. I pored over those to come up with a menu."
As always, he served her coffee after the meal, along with a side dish. Brown, slightly large cubes.
"Mr. Kinoshita, this is ....?"
"Chocolate caramel."
"Really? Anne's chocolate caramel? The kind she always wanted to eat?"
"That's right."
"Ever since I was little I've always been curious about what it tastes like. Whenever I eat Morinaga brand Chocoballs, I wonder if that's how her chocolate caramels tasted."
Otoha took one of the chocolate-colored squares and popped it into her mouth. It melted in her mouth, with a thick aftertaste of both chocolate and caramel. A taste similar to the kind of fresh caramel chocolates that were popular here a while ago, but with a pleasant aroma of milk.
"This is so good!
Otoha then suggests they should market the caramels but the chef is adamant that it is way too much work!
I really enjoyed this novel, which is the first I have read by this author. It looks like they have been quite successful in Japan for a long time, but it seems that this is the first to be translated into English, with a new one coming later this year! I will definitely be reading it!
I now have a number of Japanese foodie related series on the go, and today I am sharing about three of them. For the most part, I find them to be very easy, smooth reads which is perfect when you are looking for a book to get lost in.
The Menu of Happiness by Hisashi Kashiwai (translated by Jesse Kirkwood)
Menu of Happiness by Hisashi Kashiwai is the third book in the Kamogawa Detective Agency series which is a series that I really enjoy. So far there are 11 books published in Japan, and I am really hopeful that we will continue to see these books translated into English.
There is no doubt that this book fits a very common structure for lots of these cozyish books. In fact, all three of the books I am talking about today have the same characteristics with short stories where the connection is that they feature the same main characters. Often, the story is about looking back to people who they miss.
In Menu, as in the previous books in the series, we have a several individual characters who come looking for the small restaurant in Kyoto which is home to the Kamogawa restaurant and is also home to the detective agency. And lets not forget also home to the cat named Drowsy
In each story, the character is looking for a very particular taste that brings back memories of a particular time in their life. Food, like music, is definitely a key that can unlock memories of particular people or situations. They come to the cafe and share what details, if any, they remember of the dish and then former policeman turned chef Nagare Kamogawa and his daughter Koishi then try to track down the exact dish. Then the customer returns two weeks later to see if they have been able to recreate it correctly.
In this book the dishes that he needs to recreate include
Kake soba
Curry and rice
Yakisoba
Gyoza
Omurice
Croquettes
I like that the food is very accessible. It's not fancy, and some times it is the merest change of an ingredient that changes the dish from just the every day to something that the customer remembers so well!
There are a lot of lovely little details in each story. For example, one of the customers is the person who makes the special lacquerware that they use in the restaurant. Having been to Japan I now have a much better idea of what they are talking about, as we had some meals that were served in some beautiful little bowls
Even though this third book is more of the same as the previous two books, the stories still delight me! Bring on the fourth book.
Best Wishes from the Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki (translated by Jordan Taylor)
When we travel we like to collect Christmas decorations. When we were in Japan last year, we looked in quite a lot of the tourist shops and didn't find any Christmas decorations anywhere. I was aware from previous reading that a Japanese Christmas cake is basically a fluffy strawberry and cream cake and that lots of Japanese people like to have Kentucky Fried Chicken on Christmas Day but that was about it in terms of Christmas traditions, which isn't all that surprising given that the majority religion is Shinto. It was therefore a bit of a surprise to realise that this book is a Christmas book.
This is the second book in the Full Moon Coffee Shop series which features giant talking cats, a magical cafe that generally only comes out on full moons and amazing sounding food and drinks. However, the magical cafe can also pop up anywhere in the week leading up to Christmas and this is when this book is set.
This time the stories are also a more connected than they sometimes tend to be in these styles of books. Satomi works hard and long hours in an advertising agency in Tokyo. She is afraid that her boyfriend is going to propose and that he is going to expect her to move away from the sitter. Koyuki is a temp at the same agency. She does good work but never seems to be able to convert her temp work into a permanent role. The final main character is Junko, who is Satomi's sister in law. She has long been estranged from her parents, but when she gets a message to say her dad is dying, she takes her young daughter to meet him for the first time.
For each woman, the encounters at the Full Moon Coffee Shop helps them to look at both their past and their present to understand what happiness might look like in the future.
I mentioned the fantastical sounding food. In this case there is a Cheese Fondue and Candy Apples, a New Moon Mont Blanc and Sparkler Iced Tea. Here is just part of the description of the tea:
"I have prepared this drink for you," he said placing a rather large glass in front of me. It was transparent and shaped like an ancient vase with no handles. Inside was tea, ice and a sparkler firing off bits of light. "It is Sparkler Ice Tea."
I brought my face close to the glass in astonishment, staring dubiously at the sparkler twinkling inside the liquid. How in the world does it work?
The master said, "Tea and memories are extracted like leaping sparks. It will be ready to drink when the sparks have scattered and the last fragment falls."
I read this one on a plane trip to Brisbane and it was the perfect way to pass the time.
This series currently has 6 books in the series. Once again, I will be looking for the next book in the series.
The Calico Cat at the Chibineko Cafe by Yuta Takahashi (translated by Cat Anderson)
The Chibineko Kitchen is in a small seaside village not too far from Tokyo. They specialise in kagezen, which are traditional meals offered in remembrance of loved ones. The twist here is that it is possible that, for the duration of the meal, you can have one last conversation with them, one last chance to tell them that you love them, and to say goodbye.
This book is the second book in the series, and once again we meet both Kai, the young man who runs the restaurant after taking over from his mother, and Kotoko, who was one of the people whose stories we read about in the first book. And then there is Chibi the calico cat.
There are four stories in the book
The first is about Nagi, a young woman who has been ill for most of her life. She has broken up with her boyfriend when he proposed to her because she thinks it would be unfair to marry her. Now, she has come to the restaurant to talk to her mother, who also died young.
Next, we meet a man named Keita who had basically shut himself in the apartment that he shared with him mother. When she dies, he takes on her job cleaning at the community aged care centre and begins to find a purpose.
The third story is about an older lady named Mitsuyo who feels isolated despite living at the aged care centre. She comes to the restaurant hoping to talk to her favourite singer.
And finally, Kumagai, who is in the same theatre group as Kotoko, visits the restaurant to see his son
What makes this book a little different is that you not only get the stories, but you also get the recipes for the food. They include
Tofu no Misozuke (Miso-marinated tofu)
Buta Bara no Kara-age (Fried pork belly)
Iwashi no Kabayaki-don (Soy glazed sardines on rice)
Shime no Kare (Curry using leftover hotpot)
There are currently 10 books in this series in Japanese but this is only the second one to be translated into English.
It is interesting that not only food and structure connects these stories. Cats also play a part in all three of these stories. The other connection is also that, even though some of these stories feature characters who have suffered great loss, particularly in Menu and Calico Cat, ultimately they are stories about finding hope and joy.
Saturday - Baked chicken fried rice Sunday - Curries, rice and roti Monday - Chicken Stir Fry Tuesday -Sausages in tomato sauce with mash potato Wednesday - Homemade pizza Thursday - Out for dinner Friday - Takeaway
Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page
The end of one reading year and the beginning of a new one means thinking about which challenges you are going to be participating in. So today I am sharing the challenges that I will be participating in for 2026, and some I am contemplating joining. I am very much committed to making the challenges fit my reading as opposed to specifically reading for a challenge. The ones that I am thinking about joining would be more things that I would have to find books to read for it.
Of course I am going to start with the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge which I host here. All the sign up details are in this post. If you love historical fiction or if you are just exploring the genre, we would love to have you join us as we read through history.
New Release Reading Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog - Do you love reading new releases or older books. I love both! When you do review a new release book, all you need to do is add your link to the link post! This year I read just under 100 new releases, so I think I am going to aim for New Release Veteran, which is 61-100 books per year! All the sign up details are here.
Bookish Books Reading Challenge hosted at Bloggin' Bout Books- I love reading books about books, so this is another challenge I enjoy. This year I read 17 books which counted towards this challenge, so I am going to aim for the Picking and Perusing level which is for between 11 and 20 books! All the details are here.
Japanese Literature Challenge hosted at Dolce Bellezza - The Japanese Literature Challenge runs through out January and February and I am going to try and read a couple of books at least. I am also going to try and do my own January in Japan theme, but I am not sure how well that will go! Here's the link for the review site.
Tying in nicely with that is the Books in Translation challenge hosted at Introverted Reader. I will be aiming for the Bilingual level which is 7 to 9 books. This year I read 9 books, most of which were Japanese but with a couple of French ones thrown in for good measure. You can find all the details for this challenge here.
In terms of the challenges I am contemplating joining, top of the list is Classics Spin. I did a Top Ten Tuesday post recently of Classics I Haven't Read so that would be 10 of the 20. Just need to add another 10 to the list.
I am going to try and do the additional Goodreads challenges, depending on the themes that are chosen. In terms of my goal for how many books to read, I am going to choose 104 again. This year I read a lot more than that but it was mostly thanks to the fact that I wasn't working for the first half of the year.
I am also still thinking about joining two of the challenges that Shelleyrae from Book'd Out is hosting. One is the Non-Fiction Reading Challenge. I read very little non-fiction. This year I only read three, but I am half way through another at the moment, which would fit with one of the categories! You can find all the details here.
The other one is the 2026 Speccy Fiction Challenge. Again, I don't read a lot of pure sci-fi or full on fantasy but I do love some magical realism and do read a bit of that, particularly in food related fiction. I just had a look at the categories and one is called Spectator where you are invited to "Read & review any speculative fiction book. Set your own goal, or none at all, just share what you read through the year". This sounds perfect for me, so no more contemplating. I am joining up for this one! Here are the details
I feel like I should add some kind of bingo type reading challenge but if I do it will probably by the Rachael Johns book club one.
In terms of other events of course I am going to be joining in on Paris in July. I am also going to be reading and cooking for Cook the Books, linking up to Foodies Read whenever I read something relevant and participating in events like Six Degrees of Separation, Sunday Salon and Top Ten Tuesday. I really enjoyed being part of Twenty Books of Summer/Winter this year so I will join up for that one again. I will also try to read something for Aussie Author August, Women in Translation and probably something for November (novella/non-fiction etc) on Instagram
I feel like that will keep me busy enough for the year.
Do you like reading challenges? What ones are you doing in 2026?
I will be sharing this post with Sunday Salon hosted at Readerbuzz and with A good book & Cup of tea monthly link party hosted at Boondock Ramblings
I have done very badly in my reading for the Japanese Literature Reading Challenge which I signed up for this year and runs all through January and February. In my head, January should have been a month long extravaganza of all things Japanese, and then I could share a couple more reviews in February! Success! I did go and see a Japanese artist exhibition in January, but never really posted about it, and I have read one book this year, so ....not success?
The books that I do find myself reading when I read Japanese literature have quite a few similarities. Many of them episodic in nature - almost a collection of short stories. Most of them all seem to be looking at the people who are left behind and the grief they feel, and how grief is processed. Another series which has these similar characteristics is the Before the Coffee Gets Cold, which I have posted about previously. I have a friend who lived in Japan for a couple of years ago and we were talking about this recently which was an interesting conversation about the differences in cultures.
Today, I am going to share mini reviews of two books which both have food at their core and both have the similar episodic formats
The first is The Restaurant of Lost Recipes by Hisash Kashiwai, which is the second book in the Kamogawa Food Detectives series. I read and reviewed the first book in the series last year and really enjoyed it.
The idea of this book is that if you can find the restaurant you can tell them about a dish that has such perfect memories for you. The food detective, primarily former police detective Nagare Kamogawa, will then take the clues that you have provided and try to recreate the dish as authentically as possible. There is no magic in this series, unless you count the magical power of food to bring back memories
There are six stories in this book. They are:
A famous swimmer who wants to have another taste of the nori-ben that his father used to make, before they had a big falling out,
A food writer who busily critiques all of the food she is served but then wants them to recreate a hamburger steak which is her son's favourite.
A couple who run a traditional confectionary shop who want to track down a Japanese Christmas cake
A model looking for the fried rice that her mother used to make her
A man looking for ramen that replicates the one he used to have at university
A one hit wonder that had been waiting thirty years for her next hit to recreate a celebration meal but it didn't happen.
The descriptions of the food throughout the book are absolutely mouth watering. The Christmas Cake story inspired me to make a Japanese Strawberry Shortcake, which is their version. I posted about making that here.
The relationship between Nagare and his daughter Koishi who helps him with his detecting underlies the stories, particularly as they take care to honour their wife and mother who has passed away some time ago. And yes, there is a cat! It's name is Drowsy and it appears in all the stories.
There are currently 11 books in this series published in Japan, but only two have been translated into English so far. As soon as more have been translated I will definitely be reading them
The Chibineko Kitchen is the first book in The Meals to Remember at the Chibineko Kitchen series by Yuta Takahashi. It is also published with the title The Curious Kitten at the Chibineko Kitchen.
I know that I probably shouldn't compare this book to either the When the Coffee Gets Cold series or the Yamogawa Food Detectives, but as I mentioned in the intro it is very difficult not too given the similarities in themes, the tone of the writing and the cats. There is one major difference with this book and that is there is a bit of a through story going through the four stories, more than there is in the other books I mentioned.
The Chibineko Kitchen is in a small seaside village not too far from Tokyo. They specialise in kagezen, which are traditional meals offered in remembrance of loved ones. The twist here is that it is possible that for the duration of the meal you can have one last conversation with them, one last chance to tell them that you love them, and to say goodbye.
In this book there are four stories.
The first is about a girl named Kotoko whose brother died and she is struggling with survivors guilt. She come to eat a fish stew made of a fish called fat greenling
The second story is about a young boy who shares an omelette sandwich with a young girl and then she disappears not long after!
The third is about making peanut rice for a neighbour of the restaurant
The final story is making beef hotpot and is for one of the main characters in the book
One of the points of difference to this book is that it actually includes the recipes. Some of them may be somewhat basic but they are there!
There are currently 9 books in the series. The second book comes out in English mid-year, and you can be sure that I will be getting my hands on it as soon as I can!
I know I have mentioned grief a lot here, but please don't think that these are heavy or depressing books. They are both very respectful of the people who are no longer in the lives of the characters for whatever reason, but there is also a joy and charm that lifts the books. As much as they are about looking backwards they are also about finding ways to move forward.
I have about four or five of these styles of books on my Kindle which I am hoping to read when I am visiting Japan and Korea in a few weeks time. That's my plan at any rate.
Saturday - Honey Pepper Chicken Stirfry Sunday - Leftovers Monday - Out for dinner Tuesday - Takeaway Wednesday - Zucchini, Tomato and Parmesan Risotto Thursday - Baked Tuscan Chicken and Pasta Friday - Mushroom Spaghetti Bolognaise
Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page
The beginning of a new reading year means thinking about which challenges you are going to be participating in.
I am very much committed to making the challenges fit my reading as opposed to specifically reading for a challenge. Of course, the first challenge I am going to mention is one where I will go exactly opposite but never mind!
The first I am going to mention is Japanese Literature Challenge 18, hosted by Dolce Bellezza. I have several books in mind to read during January and February for this challenge! I am also intending to post a few other things during January about all things Japanese which will be for my own January in Japan, but we will see how we go!
Toe in the Door: 1-10 books read Picking and Perusing: 11-20 books read Lost in the Stacks: 21-30 books read Living in the Library: 30+ books read
And I am choosing Picking and Perusing!
The challenge is the New Release Challenge hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog, where you can add any books you read that have been released in 2025.
The levels are
1-30 books per year – New Release Newbie 31-60 books per year – New Release Pro 61-100 books per year – New Release Veteran 101-200 books per year – New Release Enthusiast 200+ books per year – New Release Obsessed
20th Century Reader - 2 books Victorian Reader - 5 books Renaissance Reader - 10 books Medieval - 15 books Ancient History - 25 books Prehistoric - 50+ books
I am aiming for Ancient History!
I reserve the right to add more challenges at any time. I am also declaring now that ,of course, I am going to be participating in Paris in July when the time comes!
Oh, and I have set my Goodreads Challenge at 104 books!
What challenges are you participating in this year?
Today I am going to be sharing two mini reviews of books I have read for this years Japanese Literature Challenge. I am half way through another and have one more to read but whether I will finish both of those before the end of the month is debatable.
When I reviewed The Kamagawa Food Detectives a few weeks ago, I mentioned that I tend to be reading books which are constructed as a series of vignettes, and both of these books fit this description.
The first book is What You Are Looking For is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama, translated by Alison Watts, who also translated Sweet Bean Paste,which I read and loved last year.
The stories include a young woman who is working in a fashion department in a store. Tomoko doesn't want to stay working there but she also doesn't have the first clue of what else she can do. She starts talking to a young man who encourages her to go to her local library to help learn some new skills. My favourite part of Tomoko's story was when she decides to challenge herself to learn to make Castella, a Japanese cake. I think I might even try to make it.
Other stories include a woman who is working her way up the ranks at a magazine publishing company but finds herself moved into a new role when she returns from parental leave, a young man without a job and an older man who finds himself moving into a new phase in his life when he retires. In a way, each of the stories is about beginnings.
The magic in this book comes in the form of the librarian who can not only help the characters find what they are asking for, but also gives them something that they didn't even know they needed. In addition, she gives them a felted mascot to carry with them.
One thing I really liked was the way that these characters are ever so loosely connected, not in an obvious way, but still connected. They all have the library in common as well.
However, I did have one quibble with this book and that is the way that the librarian, Sayuri Komachi, is described. She is a larger lady and some of the ways that she was described were a bit....off. Maybe I am a bit sensitive to this but it was still a bit of a stain on an otherwise good read. I did see someone else comment on a similar thing recently, so maybe it is a cultural thing.
This book also counts for my Books About Books Challenge
The second book I wanted to mention is Before You Memory Fades which is the third book in the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series by Toshikazu Kawaguchi is translated by Geoffrey Trousselot. I have listened to each of these books and I expect that I will listen to the next one too, partly because they are pretty quick and easy to listen to. I will say that one of the characters in the first story had a bit of an odd accent but luckily that was only in the first story.
This series has been a Booktok favourite for a while (not that I am on Booktok) so I will only give a brief summary of the book. I did review the first book a couple of years ago.
The first two books are set in a cafe called Funiculi Funicula in Tokyo. This time, the location has changed to Cafe Donna Donna which is in a town called Hokodate on the island of Hokkaido in Northern Japan. It does make me wonder how many other places there may be a time travelling cafe in Japan! Whilst the location has changed, there is one character who has temporarily moved from Tokyo to Hokodate and that is the chef Nagare. Fortunately, the rules are the same for anyone who wants to travel either to or from the past, otherwise that might get a bit confusing.
You must sit in a particular chair in the corner and the you can't move from the chair
You can only meet people who come into the cafe
Nothing that happens in the past will change the future
You must finish the coffee before it gets cold in order to return to your own time
I liked the change in location. The cafe stands on a road which goes up a mountain and so you can look out across to the harbour. It sounds like a beautiful place, and be changing the location the author was able to share different cultural events with us
Once again we have four stories that make up this book along which almost stand alone although there are regular customers who appear in all the stories. One of the cute ideas running through this novel involves a young girl who is reading a book which asks 100 questions about what would you do if the world was ending tomorrow. It's a fun mechanism to get the characters talking to each other.
Once again the stories feature people who have lost someone wanting to make one last connection. This does mean that there is a certain sameness to the stories, but I guess it makes sense because those are the people who would want one last conversation, one last chance to see their loved ones.
Before you can sit in the designated chair, you have to wait for the ghost who normally sits there to get up and go to the bathroom. In this book, the ghost is a man who appears to have been there for years. It might be interesting to get to hear the ghost's stories, especially how they got stuck in the cafe, unable to move on.
I think for next year I will try to focus on a longer, single story for the challenge, in addition to these episodic type of books.
Last week I mentioned that I was reading a book called The Anywhere Hotel, which I had chosen for the theme of outside my comfort zone for my read on a theme bookclub. I have now finished this book, and I did like it a lot, to the point that I read the connected short story and bought the author's next book. The short story which was called How Captain Found the Anywhere Hotel. What you need to know about this title is that Captain is a dog!!
I then started and finished reading The Secret Ingredient by Sue Heath. I loved this book from the first page, and I am looking forward to sharing my review for Weekend Cooking on Saturday! It will be a good one!
I have one more book to mention. I started reading Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa. I haven't made much progress yet, but I expect to finish it this week.
I finished listening to Before Your Memory Fades by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, which is the third book in the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series. Both of these last two books count towards the Japanese Literature Challenge.
I knew exactly what book I wanted to start listening to next, Inheritance by Nora Roberts. I did get a bit of a surprise when I started listening to the audiobook as there was an introduction. I didn't realise that it was Nora Roberts herself, so I was thinking, gee I am not sure I can listen to this whole audiobook. then I heard the actual narrator and I was reassured. I will say that the narrator, Britanny Pressley does very much sound like a Nora narrator - the same tones and intonations that I remember from other audiobooks I have listened to by this author!!
Have you heard that the New Release Challenge has a new home. It is now being hosted at The Chocolate Lady's Book Review blog. I am excited to join in and have added a couple of my reviews from earlier this year already!
I'm watching
We started watching a new series of Great Kiwi Bake off. We watch any numbers of version of Bake Off, whether it is British, Australian, Kenyan and yes, Kiwi! This year there are new judges and one new host. I think that we need to watch a couple more episodes to get used to the new team!
Life
Well, it has taken a couple of months, but we finally have had a few hot summer days! Up until this week we had only had a couple of days over 30C.
What else would you do on a very hot Sunday? Well, you would go and sit in the direct sun and watch a concert which features Aussie acts Bachelor Girl, Daryl Braithwaite, Noiseworks, Icehouse and ending with Scottish band Simple Minds! It was a great day out! And one win for me....no sunburn!
Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's them
e is Top Ten Quick Reads/Books to Read When Time is Short (Books under 150 pages, or if you’re not a novella reader maybe spin this to be books you could read in a day or a single sitting.) (Submitted by Jennifer @ FunkNFiction.com and Angela @ Reading Frenzy)
As I am participating in The Japanese Literature Challenge I am going to twist the topic this week and share ten books by Japanese authors that I have read. Many of these book actually would qualify as pretty quick reads.
Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi - This is the first book in the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series. I am currently listening to the third book in the series. (my review)
Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa - I really loved this book, and then watched the movie adaptation as well (my review)
The Great Passage by Shion Miura - A fun book about the creation of a dictionary
What You Are Looking for is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama - This was the last book I read for the Japanese Literature Challenge.
The Kazogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai - This was a lot of fun (my review)
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro - I had to go back many years to find this book! I think I read this for a bookclub back in the day.
Kitchen by Banana Yashimoto - I liked this one but still haven't read any more from Banana Yashimoto
Hotel Iris by Yoko Ogawa - I must say I don't remember a lot about this book!
The Restaurant of Love Regained by Ito Ogawa - (my review)
Butter by Asako Yuzuki - I just saw this on Netgalley and requested this straight away! I plan to read it this month!
Do you have memories of a dish that was just so delicious that it lives on in your memory, and whenever you try to recreate that same dish it just isn't quite the same? It just never quite lives up to the memory no matter how often you try? I do. One of my own examples is a garlic prawns dish that I had in the early 1990s in Perth, or more precisely Fremantle. From memory it didn't look flash but it was the perfect ratio of prawns, garlic and rice. Now, I have tried garlic prawns in restaurants many times but it has never quite reached the same level of enjoyment as that one dish. Who knows if it was really that good, but it is in my memory.
Welcome to the Kamogawa Diner. There is no sign over the door, and the only advertising is a vague one line ad in a gourmet magazine. But this is no ordinary diner. Whilst they do serve food and have some regular customers, they also have a side business as food detectives.
What you may ask is a food detective? In this case, it is a former police detective, Nagare Kamogawa, and his daughter Koishi. If their potential clients can find them, they share their story of that one dish with Koishi. Her father does whatever it takes to be able to recreate the dish when the client returns two weeks later, and hope that the dish illicits the correct memories.
This book has has a similar structure to other books like Before the Coffee Gets Cold. There are episodes where we meet each new client, learn their story and then hear the outcomes. Another comparison would be the TV show Midnight Diner, which has a similar structure with the clients coming and telling their story and going again. It seems that these styles of stories are the Japanese books that are coming across my radar because I have read a couple of others this month which have a similar structure
Because food, like music, can be such a trigger for memories, a lot of the stories in this book are about the people who we have lost.The first story is about a man called Hideji, who is a former colleague of Nagare. They had worked together as police officers. He is now trying to track down exactly what made his deceased wife's version of nabeyaki- udon so special. He has moved on and now has a new relationship but her nabeyaki-udon just isn't the same!
Other stories include woman looking to recreate a beef stew that she was eating when she received quite a shock, a man looking to recreate a mackerel sushi he ate 50 years ago, a woman looking to recreate a Napolitan Spaghetti dish she shared with her grandfather, a woman looking for a tonkatsu and a man looking for the recipe for nikujaga which his mother used to make.
There is so much food in this book! So much! One of the enjoyable things is that often Nagare has to travel to different areas in order to learn more of each client's origins and as a result we get to see food from those various areas. But we also get glimpses of life in Kyoto which is where the diner is. We also get some insights into some food culture. For example, there is a particular character who has a very strong opinion on the use of the word dessert.
"There's also dessert - sorry, I mean the mizugashi course. So please take your time," said Koishi, shrugging her shoulders.
"That's right, Koishi. There's no such thing as "dessert" in Japanese cuisine. The fruit served at the end of the meal is called mizugashi. We're not in France, after all!" said Tae, her nostrils flaring.
"Really, Tae, you never change, do you? Always fussing over the strangest things.....I'm not sure it really matters," said Nobuku, setting down her bowl.
"No, it does matter. If you mess around with language like that, it's culture that suffers. Traditional Japanese sweet dishes are in decline precisely because people insist on calling them English words like "dessert"!"
I really enjoyed this book, and yes, the cat on the cover plays a role!
We have recently booked a trip to Japan next year, and we will be stopping by Kyoto for a day. Maybe I could stop in at the Kamogawa Diner and see if they can figure out the secret to my garlic prawn dilemna and try some mizugashi?
Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page
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