London Bookstores
A long-awaited dream of mine came true when my husband and I took a great – and exhausting – bookstore tour in London. I’m sure I’m not alone in my love of bookstores and books. I also prepared for this trip using a book written specifically for bookworms and listing all the bookstores in London. Since we had limited time, we focused on central London: Bloomsbury, Soho, Charing Cross and Piccadilly Circus. Among other places, we visited the London Review Bookshop, which was opened in 2003 by the famous publisher under the same name. In addition to the conscientiously selected collection, the bookstore also hosts various bookish events, readings and signings. Gay’s the Word was founded in 1979 and was the first LGBTQ bookstore in Britain. In addition to gay, lesbian and trans novels, magazines and non-fiction books, it plays an important role in the life of the LGBTQ community.…
The tiger inside us
Tae Keller: When You Trap a Tiger (Penguin Random House 2020) Lily has a secret superpower: she can turn invisible. Not like in the movies where the hero saves the day. She can simply disappear so that no one notices her. According to her sister, this is called being shy. But Lily knows that it is magic and it comes in especially handy when she wants to stay out of her mother and sister’s fights. Just such an argument occurs when they move from California to Lily’s grandmother (her halmoni) because she needs help. The girls have always loved their halmoni, who told them Korean fairy tales, but this still means a big change in everyone’s life. That’s when the tiger first comes to Lily… The story is based on the Korean fairy tale of the Sun and the Moon, several versions of which appear in the book. For me,…
Ordinary Action Hero
Jackie Chan – Zhu Mo: Growing Old Before Growing Up (Gallery Books 2018) Jackie Chan’s name is now synonymous with action movies with beautifully executed fight scenes. Fewer people know that he is also present in the film industry as a fight choreographer and director, but he has also released music albums. In this volume, we can follow the actor’s life until he was 60 and won the Oscar through personal stories, as well as the author Zhu Mo’s own experiences. Jackie Chan was born on April 7, 1954 in Hong Kong. He studied martial arts from very early on and became famous in Asia at a very young age. Like everyone who suddenly becomes rich, he wanted to buy everything he ever wanted. However, unbridled spending has now been replaced by charity. And irresponsibility has been replaced by precise planning and strict rules. His movies always have some moral…
What you are looking for is in the library
Michiko Aoyama: What you are looking for is in the library (Penguin Random House 2023) Tomoka is 21 years old and works as a sales assistant in a women’s clothing store. She doesn’t find her job exciting and would rather switch to an office job, but she doesn’t know how to use the computer. Ryo is 35 years old and works in the accounts department of a furniture manufacturer, but he has wanted to open an antique shop since he was a teenager. Natsumi is 40 years old and has a two-year-old daughter. She used to be a magazine editor, but she was transferred to another job after giving birth. Hiroya is 30 years old and unemployed. He draws very well, but he hasn’t been able to find a job. He can’t find his place in the world. Masao is 65 years old. He worked in the sales department of…
Welcome to the Morisaki Bookshop
Satoshi Yagisawa: Days at the Morisaki Bookshop Manilla Press 2023) 25-year-old Takako’s life is turned upside down when her boyfriend, who she’s been dating for a year, announces that he’s getting married. But not to her! She completely breaks down, quits her job, where her lover also works, and escapes into sleeping. Her uncle, Satoru, rushes to her aid, whom she hasn’t seen in 10 years and has always thought of as a bit of a strange person. He runs the family’s secondhand bookshop, Morisaki Bookshop, in Tokyo’s book paradise, the Jimbocho district. Satoru is in his forties. He’s always been searching for his purpose in life and finally found it where he spent his entire childhood: he took over the Morisaki Bookshop. His wife has left him, but his love of books has remained. Now he wants to save his niece by inviting her to live in the room…
Dorayaki
Durian Sukegawa: Sweet Bean Paste (Poplar Publishing 2013) Sentaro works at a shop called Doraharu, which sells dorayaki. It is a pancake filled with sweet bean paste. Sentaro bakes dorayaki every day, without a day off. He doesn’t even like sweets. He used to want to be a writer, but then something went wrong in his life and now he is completely hopeless and distraught. Tokue’s life has been very difficult. She was never able to do what she wanted, her husband has already died, but she hasn’t given up on life and she has found what many people are looking for, that there is meaning in life. Wakana is a shy teenager. She doesn’t talk much, she has no friends and her parents are very poor. However, she sometimes goes to Doraharu to eat dorayaki. These three people show how great the power of friendship can be in today’s…
Modern classics – Haruki Murakami
Haruki Murakami: The Elephant Vanishes (first published in Japanese in 1993) Haruki Murakami is one of the most famous writers of our time in Japan and around the world. His works, which have won numerous awards, are considered modern classics. His style is characterized by magical realism and surrealism, and he is most often concerned with themes of loneliness, alienation and love. He narrates his works in first person. He was greatly influenced by Western culture: Kurt Vonnegut, the Beatles, Nat King Cole, Elvis and the Beach Boys. He wrote his first work (Hear the Wind Sing) at the age of 29. He had never written anything before, but the idea for this book came to him during a baseball game. He achieved major breakthrough and international recognition with Norwegian Wood, published in 1987, the title of which itself refers to a Beatles song. Before moving back to Japan, he…
Before the Coffee Gets Cold
Toshikazu Kawaguchi: Before the Coffee Gets Cold (first published in Japanese in 2015) The first book by Japanese playwright and theater director Toshikazu Kawaguchi, based on his play with the same title. The book won several awards and was translated into English, Chinese, and Vietnamese before being published in Hungarian. Since then, it has been translated to Polish, Italian, Spanish, French, Arabic, Indonesian, Portuguese, Turkish, Romanian, Dutch, German, Finnish, Lithuanian, Czech, Swedish, Serbian, Greek, and Thai. Café Funiculi Funicula opened in 1874 and has been operating for more than 140 years. Legend said that there is a chair which, if you sit on, help you travel in time once in your life. But there are rules: you can only meet someone you already know and you can’t change the past in any way. You also have to return to the present before your coffee gets cold. There are even a…
Alex/Axel
Sam Copeland: Alex vs Axel – The Impossible Quests (Penguin Random House 2024) Alex Always is a smart boy, he has a very good memory and studies well. This is not appreciated by everyone in his class… He is raised by his grandmother, with whom they can barely keep their small apartment. However, he has even bigger problems to solve when he suddenly falls into another world. Axel Stormward is a Grade Nine hero, a defender of justice, a flayer of evil, a slayer of wolves. He doesn’t even know how much trouble he will get into when he suddenly falls into another world. Alex and Axel switch places to complete their Impossible Quests. The story runs on two threads, as the two boys try to figure out why they ended up in another world and how they can get home. Both of them are helped along the way by…
Charlie McGuffin changes again
Sam Copeland: Charlie Morphs Into a Mammoth (Penguin Books 2020) Charlie is an unusual little boy. He can transform into an animal. His friends think it’s really awesome, but he doesn’t think so. They’ve already figured out that anxiety is what triggers this ability in him, and he’s managed to influence it and can pretty much control it. However, there are things in his life that he can’t control, like the fact that his parents are constantly fighting and they can’t seem to get their problems under control together. The story is very expressive, yet humorous, about the anxiety that everyone experiences in their lives, but it is up to us to decide how to cope with it. The main point of the story is that even if we think that bad things happen only to us, don’t forget that we are not alone. Friends play an important role, as…