Apr 18, 2023
From Our TBR Pile

Review — Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt

Woman in a tattered dress floating near rooftops with birds flying in an eerie green sky. Hex
By: Thomas Olde Heuvelt
Release Date: September 21, 2021
Publisher: Tor Nightfire
Series: Robert Grim #1
Rating:


Horror author Thomas Olde Heuvelt flexes his abilities to leave readers shaking in terror in his latest novel, Hex. Traditional hauntings, the reverberations of the US’s witch trials, and an exploration of the darker aspects of humanity are blended beautifully into a novel that is simultaneously unputdownable and will have you sleeping with all the lights on. Like many books that rise above their brethren, Hex is much more than the sum of its parts.

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Mar 21, 2023
From Our TBR Pile Uncategorized

Review — The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji

The Decagon House Murders
By: Yukito Ayatsuji
Translator: Ho-Ling Wong
Release Date: December 3, 2020
Publisher: Pushkin Vertigo
Rating:


Author Yukito Ayatsuji is known for supporting a return to classic detective fiction—the sort of fare produced by the likes of Christie and Doyle—and his novel The Decagon House Murders is no exception. In fact, this novel is credited with beginning the shinhonkaku movement, a literary movement in Japan to restore Golden Age mystery novel plotting and style, while at the same time, influencing anime as well.

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Dec 29, 2022
From Our TBR Pile

Review — The Missing Word by Concita De Gregorio

Two fall leaves against a pink background with cracks running through the picture, making it look like a broken window The Missing Word
By: Concita De Gregorio
Release Date: July 5,2022
Publisher: Europa Editions
Rating:


One of the best explorations of grief, possibly ever written, is Concita De Gregorio’s The Missing Word. Originally written in Italian and translated into English by the fantastic Clarissa Botsford, The Missing Word is the true story of a woman whose two young daughters disappear, never to be seen again. It is a story of desperation and grief, told with all the urgency of a psychological thriller. It is a story that will rip your whole soul right out of your chest, laying everything bare for all to see. And it is a story that I cannot recommend enough.

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Jul 28, 2022
From Our TBR Pile

Review — Lemon by Kwon Yeo-Sun and Translated by Janet Hong

Silhouette of a woman in a yellow dress Lemon
By: Kwon Yeo-Sun
Translator: Janet Hong
Release Date: October 7, 2021
Publisher: Apollo
Rating:


Lemon is a slow, introspective story about a cold case murder expertly written by author Kwon Yeo-Sun and translated from the original Korean by Janet Hong. Despite being focused on a cold case, this isn’t so much a whodunit, traditional murder mystery, or thriller. Instead, we find a slowly paced, introspective tale featuring a myriad of people left behind after the murder of the nineteen-year-old Kim Hae-on: how they cope and do not cope, how they move on and how time stops in that moment forever.

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Jul 26, 2022
From Our TBR Pile

Review — The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa

Front cover of the novel The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa The Cat Who Saved Books
By: Sosuke Natsukawa
Translator: Louise Heal Kawai
Release Date: December 7, 2021
Publisher: HarperVia
Rating:


Books about books is a genre that many if not most readers often find themselves drawn to. This is true for The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa’s novel as well. Translated from the original Japanese by Louise Heal Kawai, this is a Japanese novel about Rintaro Natsuki, a young man whose grandfather has recently passed away. His life is immediately upended, as his grandfather was also his guardian.

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Nov 17, 2021
From Our TBR Pile

Review – The Salmon Who Dared Leap Higher by Ahn Do-hyun

A salmon leaping over waves The Salmon Who Dared Leap Higher
By: Ahn Do-hyun
Illustrator: Daniella Terrazzini
Translator: Deborah Smith
Release Date: April 9, 2015
Publisher: Pan
Rating:


Award-winning and bestselling poet Ahn Do-hyun brings us a classic fable in The Salmon Who Dared Leap Higher. Despite winning the 1981 Daegu Maeil Shinmun Annual Literary Contest with the poem “Nakdong River,” the 1984 Don-A Ilbo Annual Literary Contest for the poem “Jeon Bong-jun Goes to Seoul,” the 1996 Young Poet’s Award, and the 1998 Kim So-wol Literature Prize, this is the first work of Do-hyun’s to have been published in English.

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Aug 05, 2021
From Our TBR Pile

Review – Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

Two chairs at a coffee table with cat. Before the Coffee Gets Cold
By: Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Illustrator: Sunmark Publishing Inc (Cover illustration)
Translator: Geoffrey Trousselot
Release Date: September 19, 2019
Publisher: Hanover Square Press
Series: Before the Coffee Gets Cold (#1)
Rating:


Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s novel Before the Coffee Gets Cold is a slight first volume in an ongoing series expertly translated from the Japanese by Geoffrey Trousselot. The entire story takes place within a certain coffee shop, the type of tiny, cozy place only known to locals. This shop is one filled with secrets, though. A ghost occupies a certain chair, drinking her coffee just as diligently in death as she did in life. People claim that on the rare occasion she leaves her seat, the new chair’s new occupant is able to go back in time and have one more conversation with a loved one.

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Jul 21, 2021
From Our TBR Pile

If Cats Disappeared from the World by Genki Kawabura

Man and a cat sitting on a bench with their backs turned to the viewer. If Cats Disappeared from the World
By: Genki Kawamura
Illustrator: Leeann Falciani (Jacket Design); Henry Sene Yee (Jacket Illustration)
Translator: Eric Selland
Release Date: March 12, 2019
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Rating:


Genki Kawamura’s first novel, If Cats Disappeared from the World, has sold over two million copies worldwide, and it isn’t difficult to see why. A storyteller in all forms, Kawamura isn’t simply a novelist. He has also produced movies such as the famed Your Name as well as done work as a screenwriter and showrunner. All of these myriad of storytelling techniques leak into the novel, if not in method it was crafted, then in our nameless main character, his hobbies, and his loves.

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Jun 08, 2021
New & Upcoming Releases

Review – The Woman in the Purple Skirt by Natsuko Imamura

Woman's face wearing a pink hat with the title The Woman in the Purple Skirt beneath it. The Woman in the Purple Skirt
By: Natsuko Imamura
Translator: Lucy North
Release Date: June 8, 2021
Publisher: Penguin Books
Received From: Publisher
(All reviews are our own, honest opinions.)
Rating:


Natsuko Imamura’s debut English novel is a story that is at once a slow-burning character study and a tale of obsession and psychological intrigue. The Woman in the Purple Skirt has already won the prestigious Akutagawa Prize in Japan, which Imamura was previously nominated for twice before.

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