It’s a brand new year, so let’s talk goals!
I usually set a reading goal on Goodreads — my goal for this year is 40 books. It’s been set at 40 books since a couple of years, actually, even though I usually end up reading a lot more than that.
This year, I thought I’d bump that number up to 50, but I immediately felt anxious about it, so back down to 40 it went. After all, there’s no point in stressing yourself out over something that you enjoy doing!
This year, I’ve also given myself a goal of reading taking a deep dive with 1 non-fiction book each quarter. The idea is to read, make notes, and then take some of the ideas/concepts to my journal or blog and think about it deeply + see how I can apply it to the way I approach life.
I’ve already read 5 books this year, which puts me 3 books ahead of schedule. How cool is that? 😉
Reading wrap-up for January
This month’s reading took me to a venerable stationary store in Japan, and saw me walking the streets of Tehran, exploring Salem, Pennsylvania, and the Isle of Amberly. Four of the five books I read were for the Book Bingo challenge — the prompts are mentioned in brackets.
(Click on the book covers to purchase the book on Amazon.)
Letters from the Ginza Shihodo Stationery Shop by Kenji Ueda, Translated by Emily Balistrieri (A genre you don’t often/usually read)
Nitta-sama moved from the countryside to Tokyo for an internship. He’s still somewhat bewildered by life in the big city, its fast pace and busy lifestyle. When he gets his paycheck, he decides to buy a gift for Natsuko-san, the grandmother who raised him when his mother abandoned him at her doorstep. He finds his way to Shihodo, a venerable stationery shop hidden away in a corner of the Ginza neighborhood. The manager of store, Ken Takarada, listens painfully as the shy, nervous young man tells him what he needs, and gently guides him to choose not just the perfect gift for Natsuko-san, but also instructs him on the art of letter writing.
Into Shihodo come a whole cast of characters, a talented sushi chef who still feels guilty at the way he skipped out on his mentor; the hostess of an elegant club who cannot gather up the courage to tell her mamma, who is like a mother to her, that she’s planning to venture out on her own; the vice-captain of a high-school archery team who has harbored a secret crush on the captain of the club; and an ageing businessman who doesn’t quite know how to deliver the speech at his first wife’s memorial service.
Ken Takarada, the manager of the stationery shop, intuits their every need, inviting them to take a seat at a small wooden table on the top floor, where they can unlock repressed memories and secret longings, and find the words to convey what is in their hearts.
I enjoyed this slice-of-life glimpse into the life and culture of modern day Japan. The politeness inherent in their nature, and the genuine warmth and care in these interactions and stories was truly heart warming.
Told as a series of short stories, it can get a bit repetitive if you try to read it in a sitting or two. But spaced out and read over a few weeks or alongside another book, it would be perfect!
The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali (A book set in the Middle East)
In 1950s Tehran, 7-year-old Ellie lives a life of comfort, until the untimely death of her father forces her and her mother to move to a tiny home downtown. Lonely and bearing the brunt of her mother’s grievances, Ellie dreams of a friend to alleviate her isolation.
On the first day of school, she meets Homa, a kind, passionate girl with a brave and irrepressible spirit. Soon, the girls become fast friend, must to Ellie’s mother’s disgust. Undaunted, the girls play together after school, learn to cook in the stone kitchen of Homa’s warm home, wander through the colorful stalls at the Grand Bazaar, and share their dreams of becoming “lion women.”
But when Ellie and her mother are given the opportunity to return to their previous bourgeois life, Home and Ellie are separated; until years later, Homa unexpectedly returns into Ellie’s privileged world. As they rekindle their friendship, little do they know that a chance encounter and placing their trust in the wrong person will alter the course of their lives in ways they could not have imagined.
Set against the backdrop of the political turmoil in Iran during the Shah of Iran’s reign and the rise of Ayatollah Khomeni, with sharply defined characters and beautiful story arcs, this book in an absolute gem. I loved the immersion in Iranian life and culture, and seeing the ways in which we are similar and also so different.
This is an immersive and thought-provoking novel about friendship, courage, empathy, forgiveness and redemption, and the characters and their stories will stay with you long after you have turned the last page.
The Vanishing Bookstore by Helen Phifer (Bubble bubble. Toil and trouble! (A book about witches))
This dual timeline novel, set in the 1690s during the Salem witch trials and present day London and Salem follows the English sisters and their niece, Dora.
Accused of witchcraft during the Salem witch trials, the English sisters were cursed to live their lives repeatedly while being hunted by the witchfinder in every lifetime. Dora is their only hope of breaking this curse, with the help of a spell book that she hid in the 1690s, and which the sisters have never been able to find.
But as Dora begins to remember who she is, and manages to finally awaken her powers and find the vanishing bookstore, will the English sisters finally be able to break the curse, or will they be doomed to be hunted yet again?
This is an absolutely delightful story! I loved the blending of the Salem witch trials with present day Salem, the little spells and magic woven through the story, and Hades, Dora’s familiar. The Vanishing Bookstore itself plays a very small role in the novel, which is, perhaps, a shame. Though there is a hint of another story that may possibly feature the English sisters again?
It’s a delightful weekend read, perfect for lovers of magical/witchy fantasy novels.
Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney (A book released in 2025)
Grady Green is waiting impatiently for the phone to ring. For the call that will tell him if he is a New York Times bestselling author. He is also waiting impatiently for his wife, Abby, an investigative journalist, to return home. She’s running late, she should have been by his side when the call came, because this solitary, reclusive author wants nothing more than to celebrate this moment, the culmination of years of hard work, with the wife he loves beyond reason.
When he calls Abby to find out where she is, he hears her slam on the brakes, get out of the car, and then nothing. When he eventually finds her car by the cliff edge the headlights are on, the driver door is open, her phone is still there, but there is no sign of his wife.
A year later, Grady is still overcome with grief, desperate to know what happened to his wife. He hasn’t been able to write, or to keep up with mortgage payments, or do much except survive. When his publisher gives him the keys to Charles Whittaker’s log cabin on the Isle of Abmerly, a tiny, cut off Scottish island, Grady is determined to try and turn his life around. This may be his only chance.
While making the ferry crossing to Amberly, he sees the impossible — a woman who looks exactly like his missing wife. Could it really be Abby whom he saw or on the ferry, or is his insomnia playing tricks on his mind?
As Grady settles into the log cabin on the Isle of Amberly, strange things start happening. The islanders are hiding a terrible secret, and as Grady slowly descends into hallucinations and paranoia, he can no longer tell what is real and what isn’t.
I loved the slow build up of suspense, the increasingly sinister, almost gothic vibe around the island, and the twists! Oh. My. Word. I did not see those coming! Highly recommended!
A Quiet Life by Ethan Joella
In a close-knit suburb in a small Pennsylvania town, Chuck Ayers, Ella Burke, and Kirsten Bonato are grappling with their own private grief.
70-year old Chuk finds himself wandering around his home, holding on to his wife Cat’s favorite yellow striped towel and rifling through her sketchbooks. Ella delivers the morning newspaper and works at a bridal shop as she anxiously awaits news about her missing daughter. And Kirsten has set aside her veterinary school aspirations, finding comfort instead in the steady routine of working at an animal shelter, after her father was shot at a gas station.
The novel traces the quiet unfolding of their lives, the way they grapple with their individual losses, and their quest to find their way to the other side of grief.
It is a quiet, character-driven novel with strong backstories and beautiful storytelling. There’s no great mystery, no page-turning drama, just a beautifully written story that weaves together the lives of all the characters, as they help one another find their footing after their devastating personal losses. Highly recommended!
Over to you: What was on your reading list this month? And also tell me your reading goals for this year!
If you love books and reading, sign up for The Reader’s Nook — a simple, monthly bookish newsletter, where I send out monthly book recommendations, a poem of the month, and links to interesting things, as well as the occasional special edition with seasonal reading recommendations.