This is one of those books that’s not of interest to the general public (I think) and also not easy to find (again, I think) but which I want to write a review about mostly so people know that it exists. Sophia Blackmore (18 October 1857 – 3 July 1945) founded both my alma mater,… Read More Book Review: Sophia Blackmore in Singapore edited by Theodore R. Doraisamy
I can’t remember how I found this book but I must have had it on hold for close to a year before the library decided to get a new copy. I’m glad to say that I found this book as interesting as I expected, and with a pleasant surprise! The Dress Diary of Mrs Anne… Read More Book Review: The Dress Diary of Mrs Anne Sykes by Kate Strasdin
I just finished this book and while I have other drafts of book reviews sitting in my blog, I thought it would be nice to end this mini-streak of Japan-related book reviews and posts with one last translated work! The Convenience Store by the Sea is, in some ways, a very typical example of the… Read More Book Review: The Convenience Store by the Sea by Sonoko Machida
I was looking for a different Endo book in the library when I chanced upon this one and was hooked by the line “a newly discovered novella”. Apparently in 2020, a curator at the Endo Shusaku museum in Nagasaki discovered the novella that is translated and collected with five short stories (three of which are… Read More Book Review: Portraits of a Mother by Endo Shusaku
Hello friends! This post should have been posted earlier this week but life and work got in the way. I’m a bit more refreshed after my staycation (short post about what I wore there – including my thoughts on a convertible yukata) and so I finally have the energy to post this! I’ve probably told… Read More Taking My Time: A Charming Day Trip to Sawara
Since I’m exploring Japanese culture, I thought a good follow up to the Ukiyo-E book would be The Demon at Agi Bridge and Other Japanese Tales, which is a collection of Setsuwa stories from various compilations. Setsuwa stories refer to “stories that were first orally narrated and then written down. These recorded stories were often… Read More Book Review: The Demon at Agi Bridge and Other Japanese Tales by Haruo Shirane
Now that we’re in 2026, I’m slowly opening up some of the more unusual teas that I bought in 2025 (ignoring the even rarer teas that I bought in 2022 in SF!). Today’s tea is a white tea, which is a type of tea that I rarely see in Japan. The dry leaves of the… Read More Tea Review: Hokumei White Tea by Hiraoka-En
I was browsing Libby one day when I chanced upon Murder at the Black Cat Cafe. The title caught my eye and so I decided to borrow it – realising only later that the author, Seishi Yokomizo, was someone that I had intended to read back when I read The Decagon House Murders. Murder at… Read More Book Review: Murder at the Black Cat Cafe by Seishi Yokomizo
Hello friends! It’s been a long time, and I’ve actually been slowly writing book reviews here but not publishing them as life got more and more hectic. But I think I’ll be back for about one or two weeks with a few posts before disappearing again. The impetus for this slight return to the blog… Read More I’m Finally Making Progress on my Reading Goal!
I don’t think I reviewed the first Andy Crouch book I read, which was part of my reading binge on culture making, but I recently read his new book and thought it would be a good one to share. Subtitled: Reclaiming Relationship in a Technological World, Andy Crouch makes the case for how to be… Read More Book Review: The Life We’re Looking For by Andy Crouch
