They were both ferocious female warriors, fighting alongside and even leading men into battle. And while one was on the side of the empire, and the other an outlaw, both of these women broke with expected gender roles of passivity and took their agency into their hands. Yet one of these women is always tied… Read More Unruly Women: Zheng Yi Sao and Mulan
It’s finally happened: A Louise Penny book that I did not immediately give five stars to, although after reading the whole book, I found that I liked it more than my initial impression. I’m going to try and avoid big spoilers but given how vague the summary is, I’m not sure if it’s possible. So…… Read More Book Review: The Madness of Crowds by Louise Penny
Hello friends! Over the last two weekends, I attended two different events – one for Sayama tea (where I was helping to translate from Japanese to English), and one for champagne. While I am totally new to champagne and don’t know much about it, I thought it might be interesting to just write some of… Read More 5 Thoughts on Champagne and Sencha
I am obviously not going to pass on a book about books, so I was very excited to read The Book Makers and quite determined to share my review with my fellow book lovers! Through 11 chapters, The Book Makers explores the lives of 18 individuals and the various facets connected to a book, including:… Read More Book Review: The Book Makers by Adam Smyth
After my really good experience with Moominpapa at Sea, I decided to borrow another Moomin book when I went to the library. This time, I selected Moominland Midwinter, completely randomly. In Moominland Midwinter, Moomintroll wakes up midway through the winter hibernation only to find that he can’t go back to sleep! Awake and a little… Read More Book Review: Moominland Midwinter by Tove Jansson
It’s another book from my book club!! I actually missed the previous book club pick (Atmosphere, I’m guessing most people will know the author since it’s a new release?) so I was determined to read this one. And even though I went into this book cold, like didn’t even read the synopsis cold, I found… Read More Book Review: The Woman with the Blue Star by Pam Jenoff
Hello friends! It’s a two-in-one post today because I went for the Paddington Bear-themed tea at Skai and of course, I had to read the book before I went. Afternoon Tea Review I first went to Skai in 2020 (apparently also for my birthday) and my friend and I enjoyed it so much that we… Read More Paddington Bear Afternoon Tea @ Skai & Book Review
I’ve had my eye on The Kamogawa Food Detectives for a while because it seems like the cosy, heartwarming genre of Japanese fiction I like – books like What You’re Looking For is in the Library and There’s No Such Thing as an Easy Job come to mind as similar titles. And if you’ve read… Read More Book Review: The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai
It’s been a very long time since I read Agatha Christie (reread or not) so I was pretty excited to run across At Bertram’s Hotel while at the library. It’s a Miss Marple mystery, which I generally am not as familiar with, but I’m slowly overcoming my previous reluctance to read her books. At Bertram’s… Read More Book Review: At Bertram’s Hotel by Agatha Christie
Hello Friends! So…. I spent a little longer than expected just talking about the introductory parts about Raaya, so I figured I need a post just to talk about our experience there. Honestly, we had a pretty good time overall, but for clarity’s sake, I thought I’d break this post into different sections as well.… Read More Maldives Honeymoon – Raaya by Atmosphere Part 2
