I loved Hanna Alkaf’s debut novel, The Weight of Our Sky, and really liked her other novel The Girl and the Ghost, so I was definitely interested in reading more from her. Queen of the Tiles is different from her previous historical novels as it’s a contemporary YA story about grief, disguised as a murder… Read More Book Review: Queen of the Tiles by Hanna Alkaf
After reading River Town, I decided to move on to another book about China – this one about the “return of religion after Mao” (according to the book’s subtitle). One thing I noticed in River Town was that while people didn’t like to criticise Mao Zedong overtly, they were rather willing to admit that he… Read More Book Review: The Souls of China by Ian Johnson
I had a business trip to Suzhou and Shanghai and was too ambitious about how much reading time I had, which is why I started River Town in China but finished it in Singapore. River Town is a memoir of Hessler’s two years in Fuling, a small town on the Yangtze river. Hessler was there… Read More Book Review: River Town by Peter Hessler
I posted earlier about the tea I had at Giverny cafe in Nagasaki. Well, as I was leaving, I realised that they were selling Mlesna Tea so… I bought three (which already shows a lot of self-control on my end). These three teas were technically already in the previous post, but I’ve been sharing them… Read More 3 Mlesna Tea Reviews
Since I have been reading more Japanese literature (and since my memory of struggling through “人間失格/No Longer Human” in the original Japanese is fading), I decided to reread Natsume Soseki’s classic, “I Am a Cat”. I’ve read it years ago and my main takeaway back then was that the first chapter was lots of fun… Read More Rereading: I Am A Cat by Natsume Soseki
I can’t remember where I heard about this book but I’m always up for some fun Singlit so I actually made a trip to the library (instead of looking on Libby) to borrow this! The Formidable Miss Cassidy is a historical fantasy novel set in end-19th Century Singapore. Leda Cassidy has arrived in Singapore to… Read More Book Review: The Formidable Miss Cassidy by Meihan Boey
I was looking for things to do in my half-a-day (more or less) in Nagasaki when I came across the Giverny cafe! It’s part of the Mihara gardens (link to site), which are two small gardens, a cafe, a bar, and a few shops all clustered together in a small neighbourhood in Nagasaki which overlooks… Read More “Tea Free” Experience at Giverny Cafe in Nagasaki
After reading and enjoying The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett, I was interested in reading more from her. So when I had a long trip, I decided to borrow the book as a palate cleanser between all the nonfiction I was reading. And wow. I started this book only intended to read a chapter or… Read More Book Review: The Appeal by Janice Hallett
As you know, September was a difficult month for me. But because October was so incredibly busy (as you probably saw from the sudden burst of activity on the blog), September feels like… months ago. October was both very long and very short at the same time and I’m both ready and not-ready for the… Read More October 2024 in Review
When I was looking for hotels to stay for my last night in Japan, I casually told my fiancé that I found a place that looks good. He later told me: “when you mentioned that the place lets you borrow books and bring it up to the hotel room, I knew you were going to… Read More When I Stayed… In a Book-Themed Hotel (Lamp Light Books Fukuoka Review)
