Lovely Books and Things - 1.30.22

Lovely Books and Things
My Weekly Books and Films Update

Linking up with:
Sunday Post (details)
Mailbox Monday (details)

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HAPPY THINGS:

1. Learning about scorpions of California from scientist, Lauren Esposito (here)
2. Awesome finds at the local thrift shop
3. Googly eyes

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Bought:

The Tale of Genji
by Murasaki Shikibu
translated by Royall Tyler
illustrated by Minora Sugai
Classics, Historical, Japan | Published: 2003 (first 1001) | Goodreads
for Zusetsu Japan in January book club (details)

Library: audiobook

Earthlings
by Sayaka Murata
translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori
Horror, Japan | Published: 2020 (first 2018) | Goodreads

Library:

Year of Wonder: Classical Music for Every Day
by Clemency Burton-Hill
History, Classical Music | Published: 2017 | Goodreads

Freebies: gift from friend -thanks!

Ready Player Two
by Ernest Cline
SciFi | Published: 2020 | Goodreads

Virtual Author event: hosted by The Poisoned Pen
See archive of this (here)

The Accomplice
by Lisa Lutz
Mystery, Thriller | Published: 2022 | Goodreads

Virtual Author event: hosted by Murder By The Book
See archive of this (here)

A Flicker in the Dark
by Stacy Willingham
Thriller, Mystery | Published: 2022 | Goodreads

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AND currently listening: podcast

The Dropout (2019, 2022)
hosted by Rebecca Jarvis
produced by ABC News, Taylor Dunn, Victoria Thompson, and Rebecca Jarvis
Investigative journalism, true crime | website
This follows the story of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos.

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* comment and TELL me what you have acquired for your shelves recently

Thanks for stopping by :-)

Japanese Literature Challenge 15

Japanese Literature Challenge 15
hosted by Dolce Bellezza (details)
January 1 to March 31, 2022

The possiblities...

Automatic Eve
by Rokurō Inui
translated by Matt Treyvaud
SciFi, Steampunk, Japan | Published: 2019 | Goodreads

Before the Coffee Gets Cold:
Tales from the Café
by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
translated by Geoffrey Trousselot
SciFi, Fantasy, Japan | Published: 2021 | Goodreads | my rating: 4

Earthlings
by Sayaka Murata
translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori
Horror, Japan | Published: 2020 (first 2018) | Goodreads | my rating: 5
hooey! what a story, oh humanity

Last Winter We Parted
by Fuminori Nakamura
translated by Allison Markin Powell
Mystery, Japan | Published: 2014 | Goodreads | my rating: 4

Lonely Castle in the Mirror
by Mizuki Tsujimura
translated by Philip Gabriel
Fantasy, YA, Japan | Published: 2021 (first 2017) | Goodreads | my rating: 4

My Annihilation
by Fuminori Nakamura
translated by Sam Bett
Thriller, Japan | Published: 2022 | Goodreads

Tokyo Ueno Station
by Miri Yū
translated by Morgan Giles
Historical, Japan | Published: 2019 | Goodreads | my rating: 4

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

Convenience Store Woman
by Sayaka Murata
translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori
narrated by Nancy Wu

Published: 2018
Publisher: Portobello Books
Genre: Contemporary, Japan
Paperback: 163
Rating: 5
Goodreads

First sentence(s):
A convenience store is a world of sound.

Keiko Furukura had always been considered a strange child, and her parents always worried how she would get on in the real world, so when she takes on a job in a convenience store while at university, they are delighted for her. For her part, in the convenience store she finds a predictable world mandated by the store manual, which dictates how the workers should act and what they should say, and she copies her coworkers' style of dress and speech patterns so she can play the part of a normal person. However, eighteen years later, at age 36, she is still in the same job, has never had a boyfriend, and has only few friends. She feels comfortable in her life but is aware that she is not living up to society's expectations and causing her family to worry about her. When a similarly alienated but cynical and bitter young man comes to work in the store, he will upset Keiko's contented stasis—but will it be for the better?


My two-bits:

Oh, the pressures to be "normal".

I found myself chuckling at the interaction between the quirky characters.

Loved the character growth of the protagonist.

Appreciation for convenience stores. Definitely a place to visit when in Japan.

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* weekly theme: Japan - conformity

* listened to the audio version