Others: Leaning positive ２０２１年本屋大賞第２位！！ 「お探し物は、本ですか? 仕事ですか? 人生ですか?」 仕事や人生に行き詰まりを感じている5人が訪れた、町の小さな図書室。彼らの背中を、不愛想だけど聞き上手な司書さんが、思いもよらない本のセレクトと可愛い付録で、後押しします。 自分が本当に「探している物」に気がつき、明日への活力が満ちていくハートウォーミング小説。
Lists: …
Toshikazu Kawaguchi
2017 · 6 reviews
Others: PositiveThe second book in the multi-million-copy bestselling series about a cosy Japanese cafe that offers its visitors the chance to travel back in time. Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s heartwarming Tales from the Cafe, translated from Japanese by Geoffrey Trousselot, explores the age-old question: what would you do if you could travel back in time? More importantly, who would you want to meet, maybe for one last time? In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a cafe which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time . . . From the author of Before the Coffee Gets Cold comes a story of four new customers each of whom is hoping to take advantage of Cafe Funiculi Funicula's time-travelling offer. Among some faces that will be familiar to readers, we will be introduced to: The man who goes back to see his best friend who died 22 years ago The son who was unable to attend his own mother’s funeral The man who travelled to see the girl who he could not marry The old detective who never gave his wife that gift . . . This beautiful tale tells the story of people who must face up to their past, in order to move on with their lives.
What made the match, strongest first
Toshikazu Kawaguchi
2019 · 247 pages · 7 reviews
Others: Overwhelmingly positiveThe latest novel in the international bestselling Before the Coffee Gets Cold Series, following four new customers in a little Tokyo café where customers can travel back in time. In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café that has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time. From the author of Before the Coffee Gets Cold and Tales from the Cafe comes another story of four new customers, each of whom is hoping to take advantage of Café Funiculi Funicula's time-travelling offer. Among some familiar faces from Kawaguchi's previous novels, readers will also be introduced to a daughter, a comedian, a sister, and a lover, each with something they wish they had said differently. With his signature heartwarming characters and immersive storytelling, Kawaguchi once again invites the reader to ask themselves: what would you change if you could travel back in time?
What made the match, strongest first
Emi Yagi
2022 · 213 pages · 1 review
Others: PositiveA woman in Tokyo avoids harassment at work by perpetuating, for nine months and beyond, the lie that she’s pregnant. When thirty-four-year-old Ms. Shibata gets a new job to escape sexual harassment at her old one, she finds that as the only woman at her new workplace—a manufacturer of cardboard tubes—she is expected to do all the menial tasks. One day she announces that she can’t clear away her coworkers’ dirty cups—because she’s pregnant and the smell nauseates her. The only thing is... Ms. Shibata is not pregnant. Pregnant Ms. Shibata doesn’t have to serve coffee to anyone. Pregnant Ms. Shibata isn’t forced to work overtime. Pregnant Ms. Shibata watches TV, takes long baths, and even joins an aerobics class for expectant mothers. She’s living a year of rest and relaxation, and is finally being treated by her colleagues as more than a hollow core. But she has a ruse to keep up. Before long, it becomes all-absorbing, and with the help of towel-stuffed shirts and a diary app that tracks every stage of her “pregnancy,” the boundary between her lie and her life begins to dissolve.
Sanaka Hiiragi
2023 · 196 pages · 3 reviews
Others: Overwhelmingly positiveEsta é a história de Hirasaka e do peculiar estúdio fotográfico onde trabalha, um local que é um ponto de transição entre a vida e a morte. Os «visitantes» de Hirasaka acordam no estúdio, onde são recebidos com uma chávena de chá, a par de uma inesperada novidade: acabaram de falecer. Antes de partirem para o Céu, terão de cumprir uma última tarefa: selecionar, de entre uma pilha de fotografias – testemunhos de toda a sua existência –, uma por cada ano de vida. Para além disso, têm a possibilidade de viajar no tempo, na companhia de Hirasaka, para capturar uma nova fotografia da memória mais especial, aquela que mais os marcou. No fim, o visitante assiste ao filme da sua vida, projetado por uma lanterna rotativa, cuidadosamente montada por Hirasaka. Completa-se assim o ciclo, antes da passagem em definitivo para a eternidade. Um elegante e comovente romance, que nos traz à memória histórias marcantes como A vida é bela ou After Life. Com a simplicidade dos mestres, Sanaka Hiiragi oferece-nos uma narrativa inspiradora, que nos leva a questionar o que é realmente importante na vida.
What made the match, strongest first
Hiro Arikawa
2018 · 277 pages · 5 reviews
Others: Overwhelmingly positive"Sometimes you have to leave behind everything you know to find the place you truly belong ... Nana the cat is on a road trip. He is not sure where he's going or why, but it means that he gets to sit in the front seat of a silver van with his beloved owner, Satoru. Side by side, they cruise around Japan through the changing seasons, visiting Satoru's old friends. He meets Yoshimine, the brusque and unsentimental farmer for whom cats are just ratters; Sugi and Chikako, the warm-hearted couple who run a pet-friendly B and Kosuke, the mournful husband whose cat-loving wife has just left him. There's even a very special dog who forces Nana to reassess his disdain for the canine species. But what is the purpose of this road trip? And why is everyone so interested in Nana? Nana does not know and Satoru won't say. But when Nana finally works it out, his small heart will break ..."--
Sayaka Murata
2022 · 256 pages · 1 review
Others: NeutralMangiando la città esplora delle strane norme intorno al cibo e al foraggiamento, mentre Incubazione chiude la raccolta con una straordinaria rappresentazione della fragile personalità di qualcuno che si sforza troppo di essere accettato. «La prosa di Murata è impassibile, chiara come il cellophane, fredda e trasgressiva allo stesso tempo. Nel complesso è così glaciale che ci si potrebbe raffreddare una bottiglia di vino». - New York Times «Non è un libro per schizzinosi o facilmente impressionabili. Al loro meglio, queste macabre storie sono pervase da una tenera compassione per le debolezze dei personaggi». - Japan Times «Murata riesce a trattare con la stessa folle e cruda intensità sentimenti e argomenti differenti, cogliendoti sempre impreparato e lasciandoti disturbato, ma anche affascinato, dall'assurdità di un mondo che a suo personalissimo modo riesce a parlarci di tutto. Perché talvolta, guardare le cose a testa in giù può svelare un collage raffazzonato più interessante di quel dipinto piatto dal titolo normalità.» - Corinne D'Aloe per Maremosso In questi dodici racconti, Murata Sayaka miscela un insolito cocktail di umorismo e orrore per ritrarre sia i solitari che gli emarginati, capovolgendo completamente le norme e le abitudini sociali per metterle meglio in discussione. Se le storie hanno luogo nel Giappone moderno, nel futuro o in una realtà alternativa è lasciato all'interpretazione del lettore, i personaggi spesso sembrano strani nella loro normalità in un mondo spaventosamente anormale. In “Materiale di prima qualità”, Nina e Naoki sono felicemente fidanzati ma Naoki non sopporta la consuetudine di utilizzare i corpi dei morti per creare vestiti, accessori e mobili; una lite rischia di far deragliare il giorno del loro perfetto matrimonio. “Gli amanti del vento” è raccontato dalla prospettiva di una tenda nella camera da letto di un bambino che guarda gelosamente la giovane Naoko mentre dà il suo primo bacio a un bambino della sua classe e fa di tutto per impedirglielo.
Loved itI really enjoyed this book because it's incredibly like down to earth, and not only the problems the characters are facing, like I found each short story to be super relatable in its own way, but also the solutions are also incredibly tangible
Mixedthe first two I really enjoyed. Then it started getting repetitive... by that point, I was a little bit checked out... So, because of that, it came out as a three star.
MixedThis to me was I wanted to go for three stars, but I think it would be more of a 2.75. I liked the idea, but not always the way it was done. Was it cozy? Yes. But I think that was sort of corrupted by how rude and mean it was.
