Welcome to Litsy!

I‘m reading a book set in Ashiya, a coastal town in Japan.

It‘s weird to keep reading almost-but-not-quite my name!

Mina‘s Matchbox is a tender, heartwarming Japanese story that follows 12-year-old Tomoko, who spends a year with her family in Ashiya in 1972. Alongside her cousin Mina and a pygmy hippo, she experiences quiet, everyday moments that somehow feel magical. Even though nothing much happens the book‘s gentle tone, nostalgia, and simplicity made me slow down and cherish what I read.

📸 Mussels, local specialty in Zeeland

The Mansfield Park influence here was evident at the start, but as the book went on, it fully went its own exciting direction. Two cousins become fast friends when Funke is sent to England from Nigeria to live with her aunt. She navigates a whole new world and encounters blatant racism while both cousins deal with completely dysfunctional family dynamics. The inspiration from Austen shines but the compelling story stands on its own.

I was really looking forward to this book because I love her other books. Sadly it didn‘t live up to my expectations. It was not as thriller like as I wanted it to be and the ending was a little bit of a let down. That is not to say it was a bad book - I enjoyed it and found it to be a good story with a good plot and characters who I loved. There were a few twists I was not expecting and that I found surprising. Overall I would recommend!

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#DynamicDs #Duo (writing)

I really liked this one. I may like it better than her other book. 2 cousins grow up in separate countries and face different challenges.

#DoubleSpin @TheAromaofBooks

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#CoverStories Day 27: This story definitely reminds me of summers either spent with family in the US or in the Philippines. I especially liked this statement: “We go to a house that‘s not any of ours, near the ocean and a #lake.”
My review: https://wp.me/pDlzr-psc

#CoverStories Day 3: #LargeAnimal - hippo it is, then. 💕

I had read and loved both The Housekeeper and the Professor and The Memory Police. This one is quite different from those. It‘s more easygoing. Tomoka is sent to her cousin‘s family for a year when she is 12. The book covers her relationship with her cousin, Mina, and their lives together for that year. Mina has a hippo that she rides to school. I wanted more of the hippo. 😊 Continued with Wake Up and Open Your Eyes on my #audiowalk.