Have you ever wondered about the real lives of influencers? Well, obviously I have, because there was that time I read a bunch of books on the influencer industry, but Chloe Cates is Missing has a different take on it. This novel assumes that all the worst theories of parent influencers are true – forcing… Read More Book Review: Chloe Cates is Missing by Mandy McHugh
This was recommended to my book club as a book that you would speed through because you would be fueled by anger. An anger read is new to me but this is absolutely the correct term for it, because you CANNOT be anything but angry when the first chapter starts with abestos in baby powder… Read More Book Review: No More Tears by Gardiner Harris
I can’t remember where I heard of this book because I had it (and quite a few others) on hold at the library until one day, the library miraculously got one new copy of the ebook! In Search of Amrit Kaur is the story of a journey to find out more about someone whom we… Read More Book Review: In Search of Amrit Kaur by Livia Manera Sambuy
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
