Welcome to Litsy!

This book is beautiful when you get accustomed to the cadence. I think it‘s going to stay with me a long time and at some point, I‘m sure I‘ll flip this to a pick.

1: Strangers/All of Us Strangers - my all-time favourite film, which is one of the few I can say, without experiencing that niggling book-blasphemy feeling, is better than the book.
2: Stardust - I loved the book so much, but the film has a totally different vibe, which I preferred.
3: Good Omens - technically not a film in this case, but an incredible series that is far superior to the book, I think.
(Couldn't screenshot, so had to improvise).

I enjoyed this chance find of a detective mystery involving government corruption, shady business dealings, cynical emotional manipulation and malignant jealousy. And who knew that train timetables could be so murderously interesting? (Ok, Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, etc, etc. ?)
I paired this with The Dave Brubeck Quartet's 1964 Jazz Impressions of Japan, as it has a track, "Toki's Theme", the book having a character of this name. ⬇️

The charity book table at our local supermarket has some of the most awful titles on it (Jeremy Clarkson! Boris Johnson!!), a sad indictment of the reading habits of my neighbours (though, who am I to judge 🧐), but I still cast an eye over it each time I pass, which has eventually paid off.

Books I read recently.
My favorite was Strangers. Set in Tokyo , a recently divorced screenwriter has moved into his studio workplace to live. Immediately atmospheric. Suggestive , thoughtful, a short book and every word is numbered 👌🏻. I loved this one.

North Woods was a beautiful book to read.

Christ on a Bike I enjoyed, but didn‘t love it.

Writing Retreat , ok till 2d half. Then quickly a bail.

Wow, I loved this twisty (& twisted) book filled with mysteries that takes place in an apartment building for women residents leading up to the building being moved due to road construction. A master key which disappears drives much of the story. I literally laughed out loud in surprise at the end & it had me rereading the very beginning. What a macabre gem! I am using this for #toldinnonchronologicalorder for #52bookclub

I'm greatly enjoying this dark mystery. A page turner that made me think of other Japanese crime authors, such as Kanae Mintao (the so-called queen of Iyamisu, which “deals with grisly episodes & the dark side of human nature.“).
#weirdwords @cbee

In my Japanese fiction era. Haven‘t read most of these but recently completed The Kamogawa Food Detectives and I really enjoyed it!

Enjoyable but nowhere near as magic as her other books. Still some of the language and imagery was pretty and the whimsical otherworldly vibe of Japan shone through

After watching the movie, I bought the book All of Us Strangers is based on.
And it‘s so much better! The movie is good too but the original horror story is Japanese and that seems more fitting somehow for the plot. A man lost his parents at twelve but suddenly meets them again 35 years later in an old neighborhood in Tokyo. A short good read.

#Pop24 - Horror by BIPOC author

(Photo: Frans Hals exhibition, detail)