Cats in Japanese Fiction: Sunday Salon

 

2023

49,550

pages read

159

books read

Harvee

My reading goal for this year was 160 books. As of today, I am up to 162 books, with a few more to come for 2023.

I know there are people who read up to 600 a year, so mine is a very modest number.  How did you do so far? 

Some of my latest reads featuring cats:

The Japanese and indeed many Asians are fascinated by cats, their lore, and their promise of good luck. Their history of influence goes back to Egyptian times. 

Adapted from Wikipedia

 

The maneki-neko (招き猫, lit. 'beckoning cat') is a common Japanese figurine which is often believed to bring good luck to the owner. The figurine depicts a cat, traditionally a calico Japanese Bobtail, with a paw raised in a beckoning gesture. They  are often displayed in places of business, generally near the entrance, as well as (in) households.

Here are a few of many Japanese novels with cats as main characters.  

The Goodbye Cat by Hiro Arikawa

Published October 10, 2023 by Berkley, NetGalley

I enjoyed the stories in The Goodbye Cat, about how various kittens came into their owners' lives and into the lives of the children they grow up with. There is love, affection, and pathos in the lives of the cats and their humans, as the stories are about beginnings as well as endings.

It was interesting that the last story revisited the characters in the previous cat book by the author, The Traveling Cat Chronicles. Nana the cat and his owner Satoru are on their journey to various parts of Japan to find a new home for Nana, as Satoru is unable to continue taking care of the cat.

I loved reading about the various cat pets, their interactions and positive effects on the children in the households, and the fact that the cats are always treated as valued members of the family.

This book is definitely for cat lovers, but for those who are on the fence about which are better, cats or dogs, these stories may persuade them to consider both as equal.

 

The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa
Published October 23, 2018, Berkley, NetGalley

A moving novel about a stray cat Nana adopted by a young man, Satoru, who later takes the cat on a car tour through parts of Japan and the scenic northern island of Japan. 

The empathy of Satoru comes through in his dealing with friends and with animals, in particular his cat Nana. Satoru is unable to continue caring for Nana and is on a mission to visit those he thinks could take responsibility for the cat. 

This is a book about a cat finding a new home, a beginning as a pet and companion, and about sad but hopeful endings.

 

She and Her Cat: Stories by Makoto Shinkai

Published November 22, 2022; Atria Books, NetGalley

I enjoyed these stories about the abandoned kittens and cats rescued or taken in and fed by several people, primarily women, in this series of four interrelated short stories.

Some of the cats have outdoor lives of their own and find each other on the streets, confer together regarding their respective owners or benefactors, and help their human companions go through the complications and sorrows their lives bring.

In many parts heart warming, these stories of speculative fiction show how much cats as pets can mean to humans in real life and as shown in literature.

And now for something completely different:   

Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies by Catherine Mack
Publication: April 30, 2024; Minotaur, NetGalley

I liked the setting of this humorous mystery, a book tour of Italy with a focus on the Amalfi coast. On her book tour, writer Eleanor is so fed up with exlover and her main character in her books, Connor, that she begins thinking of killing him off in her next and final book in the series. But Connor is already convinced someone wants him dead in real life.

I found it interesting that the suspects are the group tour members and I couldn't wait to see which one it was, The twists and turns in the plot kept my interest, as the variety of individuals on this trip kept me reading. I was surprised and delighted by the ending.

Great character delineation and plotting, as well as humorous writing kept me engaged in this entertaining mystery.

What's on your reading schedule this week and/or the rest of the month?

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon, Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday

Finlay Donovan's Antics: Suspense Series

 Thriller/suspense series

I began seeing Finlay Donovan everywhere on the web - everywhere, that is, where bloggers write about books and characters they liked. I got a copy of the first Finlay book from the library and here is my take on Finlay Donovan Is Killing It (#1)

In the beginning, I found Finlay and her problems not very unique for a suspense novel, but as I read on, I became more involved in her need for family security, for money, and for making sure her ex-husband didn't gain sole custody of their two children.

That she is pulled inadvertently into a murder for hire situation, and how she manages the puzzling and troubling problems she finds herself in becomes unique and hilarious at the same time. At the end of the book, I'm looking forward to reading more about Finlay and how she might become a contract killer without actually killing anyone, not intentionally anyway.

i figured Finlay must be popular as the latest is #4 in the series. I plan to read the 2nd and 3rd books before I tackle the 4th.

Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice (#4) by Elle Cosimano, March 5, 2024

Publisher: Finlay Donovan and her nanny/partner-in-crime Vero are in sore need of a girls’ weekend away. They plan a trip to Atlantic City... a cover story to negotiate a deal with a dangerous loan shark, save Vero’s childhood crush Javi, and hunt down a stolen car. When Finlay’s ex-husband Steven and her mother insist on tagging along, Finlay and Vero suddenly have too many meddlesome passengers along for the ride.

If Finlay can juggle a jealous ex-husband, two precocious kids, her mother’s marital issues, a decomposing loan shark, and find Vero’s missing boyfriend, she might get out of Atlantic City in one piece. But will she fold under the pressure and come clean about the things she’s done, or be forced to double down?

The second and third books in the series:

Finlay Donovan Knocks 'Em Dead (February 2022)

Finlay Donovan is―once again―struggling to finish her next novel and keep her head above water as a single mother of two. On the bright side, she has her live-in nanny and confidant Vero to rely on, and the only dead body she's dealt with lately is that of her daughter's pet goldfish.

On the not-so-bright side, someone out there wants her ex-husband, Steven, out of the picture. Permanently. Whatever else Steven may be, he's a good father, but saving him will send her down a rabbit hole of hit-women disguised as soccer moms, and a little bit more involvement with the Russian mob than she'd like. (publisher)

Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun by Elle Cosimano (January 2023)

Author and single mom Finlay Donovan has been in messes before―after all, she's a pro at removing bloodstains for various unexpected reasons―but none quite like this. When Finlay and her nanny/partner-in-crime Vero accidentally destroyed a luxury car that they had "borrowed" in the process of saving the life of Finlay's ex-husband, the Russian mob did her a favor and bought the car for her. And now Finlay owes them.

This from the publisher: From USA Today bestseller and Edgar-Award nominee Elle Cosimano, comes Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun—the highly anticipated, hilarious, and heart-pounding next installment in the beloved Finlay Donovan series…

I'm not totally hooked on the series as I've only read the first book. Will let you know how I like the two others, both of which look like light, entertaining reading. 

What's on your reading schedule this week and/or the rest of the month?

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon, Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday.

Guest Post by poet Fran Abrams: Arranging Words: Dec. 3

 Guest post arranged by Poetic Book Tours

Thanks to Fran Abrams for sharing her background and how and when she began to write poetry. Her poems, Arranging Words, was published by Quillkeepers Press in October 2023. 

Excerpt from a few of Fran Abrams' clever and witty poems with their word play:

 

 from "All Ears"  

 She had a reputation

 for being a good listener. 

 What her friends 

 didn’t know is that she had

ears all over her head.,,,

from "Arranging Words" 

Tell me you find solace

when you slip into a poem, find joy

 as you button a poem around you.

 

Author Post:

I began writing poetry in 2017 at the age of 73. Before that, I earned an undergraduate degree in art and architecture and a master’s degree in urban planning. After graduate school, I worked for ten years for the Montgomery County, Maryland, government in jobs related to my formal education. After rising to the position of department head, subject to appointment and dismissal by the County Executive, I left when a new Executive was elected who wanted to place his own appointee in the position. That experience played into my first book of poetry titled I Rode the Second Wave: A Feminist Memoir, although at the time, it never occurred to me I would be writing poetry later in life. 

I spent the next 31 years working in nonprofit organizations, the last 10 years at the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County, Maryland, as Director of Grants responsible for making roughly $4 million in grants each year. Some of those grantees were poets. I still had no thoughts of writing poetry myself. 

Through those 41 years, I wrote reams of legislation, zoning regulations, grant guidelines, memos, and reports. I love writing and enjoy getting words on paper that were valuable to the mission of the organizations for which I worked. If readers understood what I was trying to say or, in some cases, were persuaded by what I was writing, I considered it a success. 

After I retired in 2010, I wanted a change of focus and worked as a visual artist, pursuing an earlier part of my education. I joined a cooperative, nonprofit gallery in Washington, D.C., and, in part because of my more than 30 years’ experience in managing nonprofits, became president of the organization. 

One day, a large chunk of the plaster ceiling in our gallery fell to the floor. We already realized the building was old and we might need to move, but this was a sign we could not ignore. As president, I appointed a committee to search for new space. We found it in a building under construction in a livelier part of town where new apartments were being built all around. The only catch—the landlord issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) to find the best creative tenants. I wrote the 25-page response to the RFP on behalf of the gallery. And we “won” the space. 

That was the volta, the change that made me realize I missed writing. But I didn’t want to keep writing in the vein that business demands. No more memos, reports, or responses to RFPs. What form of writing, I wondered, would be different, but still satisfying. I thought it might be poetry. Happily, the gallery rented its space to earn additional income and a poetry reading was scheduled in our new space soon after we moved in. I assigned myself to be the onsite staff member that evening and, when the reading was over, I knew I wanted to try writing poetry. 

Not too far from where I live is a nonprofit, a grantee from my earlier life, called The Writer’s Center, that offered numerous classes on a wide variety of writing forms. I began taking poetry writing classes there and, over time, I took every class they offered about the craft of poetry. My instructors said I had a knack for it. I wrote. I revised. I submitted. And my work began to be published. 

Reflecting on my life growing up in the 1950s, I decided to write a memoir in poems that became the book titled I Rode the Second Wave: A Feminist Memoir. Around the time it was published, Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court and the struggle for the rights of women again came to the forefront. The book is timely as it talks about my life in the context of all that occurred during the second wave of feminism.

Since then, I’ve written two chapbooks that have been published by two different small publishers—The Poet Who Loves Pythagoras from Finishing Line Press, and this book, Arranging Words, from Quillkeepers Press. 

So how did my early interests and college studies influence the direction I took in writing poetry? As the Bard wrote, “What’s past is prologue.” All of my past interests and experiences are brought into play when I write poetry. My poems are in narrative form that tell stories. For example, I have always enjoyed math. It has a sense of certainty that few things in life do. So, when I wrote a few poems on math topics, including one about Pythagoras, an instructor encouraged me to expand the topic into a book. 

Arranging Words grew out of my desire to make letters, words, and idioms relatable and meaningful while recognizing that the English language is a slippery beast, and sometimes it’s hard to say what we mean. From my perspective, one of the ways to reveal the trickiness of words is to use humor. Many of the poems in Arranging Words are intended to be funny. Feel free to laugh. 

And that’s the bottom line. After being on this earth for almost 80 years, having experiences both good and bad, I like to write poetry that I hope makes readers think about life from an uncommon perspective, and, at times, laugh.  

About the Author:

Fran Abrams lives in Rockville, MD. Her poems have been published in literary magazines online and in print and appear in more than a dozen anthologies. In July 2022, the title poem of this book, “Arranging Words,” was a finalist in the 2022 Prime Number Magazine Award for Poetry. Her two previous books are: I Rode the Second Wave: A Feminist Memoir (2022) and The Poet Who Loves Pythagoras (2023). Learn more at www.franabramspoetry.com and Connect on Facebook at Fran Abrams, Poet. 

Available on Amazon, Bookshop, and Barnes & Noble.

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon, Stacking the Shelves.

Didn't See That Coming by Jesse Q. Sutanto and Two Murder Mysteries: Sunday Salon

 

Didn't See That Coming by Jesse Q. Sutanto
Puplication: November 28, 2023; Delacorte; NetGalley

Genre: YA, romance, teen

I liked the themes explored in the novel of a high school girl, Kiki Siregar of Jakarta using a boy's name for her game name online in order to protect herself, a girl, from ridicule and outright threats by male game players.

I thought that having her foil, the obnoxious wealthy gamer Jason, be her classmate at school, added to the conflict in the plot. It was also clever that her best friend on the online game happens to be another male classmate, neither of whom realizes that girl classmate Kiki is the game player they interact with online .

There is, of course, romance in the story of the teens. The author wrote an entertaining young romance with a broader message, that sexism in society and in some private schools give preference to males that put girls at a distinct disadvantage.

A book not just for YA and teen readers, but it has a message for adults as well.

In my mailbox  

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Hercule Poirot #4) with an intro by Ruth Ware came courtesy of Penguin Random House. Publication Nov. 28, 2023, Signet. 

The Agatha Christie mystery was first published in 1926 and is the Anthony Award Nominee for Best Novel of the Century (2000), CWA Best Ever for Crime Novel (2013) 

Publisher: Roger Ackroyd knew too much. He knew that the woman he loved had poisoned her brutal first husband. He suspected also that someone had been blackmailing her. Then, tragically, came the news that she had taken her own life with an apparent drug overdose.

However, the evening post brought Roger one last fatal scrap of information, but before he could finish reading the letter, he was stabbed to death. Luckily one of Roger’s friends and the newest resident to retire to this normally quiet village takes over—none other than Monsieur Hercule Poirot . . 

Are you a Poirot fan, and have you read this one?

The Murder of Mr. Ma by John Shen Yen Nee and SJ Rozan, came courtesty of Soho Press. 

Publication: April 2, 2024, Soho Crime

Judge Dee surfaces again, in this new novel. I have read several of the detective novels featuring investigator Judge Dee, written in the 1960s by Dutch writer Robert Van Gulik 

Publisher: London, 1924. When shy academic Lao She meets larger-than-life Judge Dee Ren Jie, his life abruptly turns from books to daring chases and narrow escapes. Dee has come to London to investigate the murder of a man he’d known during World War I when serving with the Chinese Labour Corps. No sooner has Dee interviewed the grieving widow than another dead body turns up. Then another. All stabbed to death with a butterfly sword. Will Dee and Lao be able to connect the threads of the murders—or are they next in line as victims?

John Shen Yen Nee and SJ Rozan’s collaboration blends traditional gong'an crime fiction and the most iconic aspects of the Sherlock Holmes canon.

What's on your reading schedule this week and/or the rest of the month?ly202

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon, Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday.

COMING OF AGE WITH COOKING: Colorful Palete by Raj Tawney and Sweetness in the Skin by Ishi Robinson

Happy Thanksgiving coming up, everyone! Enjoy!  Here are two books about the love of cooking and baking

Colorful Palate: A Flavorful Journey Through a Mixed American Experience by Raj Tawney

Published October 3, 2023; Empire State Editions 

I loved reading about the author's growing up in the Bronx with the influence of his Puerto Rican grandmother and her tasty dishes that include an Italian recipe or two. His love of cooking multiple types of food also came from his PuertoRican-Italian mother who cooked Indian dishes at home for the family and his Indian father.

It was interesting to see how a family with three different cultural influences brought up the sons - the author and his older brother, who nevertheless grew up going their own way to develop their own American identities. The coming of age memoir is a cheerful one, with happy overtones in spite of his parents' alienation from each other. I find it notable that the couple were estranged but continued to live in the same home.

The recipes included in the book are mostly Indian recipes, delicious sounding but requiring many steps and varieties of ingredients and spices. I liked the simple Italian recipe of spaghetti and meatballs that his grandmother used to prepare.

I enjoyed reading this well written, easy to read book and would recommend it to foodies and those interested in the dynamics of multicultural families.

 Sweetness in the Skin: a Novel by Ishi Robinson

Publication: April 23, 2024; Harper

Genre: coming of age, multicultural, food, baking

I was happy to find this ARC of a coming of age book set in Jamaica, about a young girl with the ability to bake the delicious Jamaican pastries, cakes, and snacks that I remember enjoying when I was growing up on the island.

I am in the middle of reading the novel, eager to see how the 13-year-old girl living in relative poverty with a largely absent and hostile mother, how she will escape through her baking skills, and realize her dream of being with her aunt in France. It sounds far fetched, but so far, Pumkin seems to be handling obstacles, one by one, and getting closer to her dream.

Publisher description: 

 A winning debut novel about a young teenage girl in Jamaica determined to bake her way out of her dysfunctional family and into the opportunity of a lifetime. Pumkin Patterson is a thirteen-year-old girl living in a tiny two-room house in Kingston, Jamaica, with her grandmother, her Aunt Sophie (who dreams of a new life in Paris for her and Pumkin), and her distant, hostile mother Paulette (who’s rarely home).

What's on your reading schedule this week and/or the rest of the month?inly202

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon, Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday.

Sunday Salon: Travel Stories of Normandy and Two Picture Books

 

Title: The Bear and the Paving Stone by Toshiyuki Horie with Geraint Howells (translator)

Published Feb. 1, 2001; Pushkin Press; NetGalley

Genre: short stories, novellas, France, Japanese

 Winner of the prestigious Akutagawa Prize, three dream-like tales of memory and war.

 I enjoyed the author's descriptions of the Normandy coastline and countryside, the views of Mont St. Michel in Brittany, the stories of the old friends the narrator visits near these places.

The second story is the narrator's poignant look at a young girl as she grows up with the same passion - building sandcastles on the beach, at ages 6, 15, and in her 20s as a young mother.

The third story is humorous and another adventure in Normandy with the Japanese narrator, who like the author, is a scholar and teacher of French literature.

I found these stories interesting because of the author's unique point of view, his humor, and interest in the human condition.

Title: The Lucky Red Envelope: A Lift-the-Flap Lunar New Year Celebration by Vikki Zhang

Genre: children's picturebook

Publication: December 5, 2023; Wide Eyed Editions; NetGalley

The Lunar New Year 2024 is coming up soon on February 10, the Year of the Dragon! An auspicious year, hopefully for the good! I found this delightful illustrated children's book that I enjoyed, even as an adult and grandparent!

The book is an elaborately and gorgeously illustrated story of a little girl and her baby brother who celebrate the Lunar New Year (Chinese New Year) with their parents at their home. The pictures show the decorated family home and the family table with various holiday foods and treats.

I enjoyed the illustrations with red colors everywhere in the home, the abundance and variety of the foods and gifts, plus the red envelopes with money that children traditionally receive for the new year.

It was difficult to read the ARC ebook as I wanted to see the finished hardbound copy with the fold out flaps meant to delight children readers. I definitely want a paper copy for new year gifts!

Lovely story, pictures, and concept.

Title: The Rock in My Throat by Kao Kalia Yang, Jiemei Lin (illustrator)

Publication: March 4, 2024; Carolrhoda Books; NetGalley

Genre: picture book,educational

Book Publisher: At first, no one noticed when I stopped talking at school. In this moving true story, Kao Kalia Yang shares her experiences as a young Hmong refugee navigating life at home and at school

My review: Young children can stop talking for many different reasons. Khao Kalia Yang stopped talking at age seven in the first grade. Her teachers and even her parents can't seem to understand why, but Khao later tells us that she stopped wanting to speak the language spoken by people who disrespected and humiliated her Hmong mother and had no time or patience to try to understand her mother's halting English in stores and elsewhere.

I found it interesting that the teachers did not come up with the explanation so common for this kind of silence. They didn't attribute it to shyness, as it was clearly, in this case, something more profound.

The story is good for children and adults of all ages who come in contact with immigrants who speak little or no English, and with their children who are comfortable in their own language but reluctant speaking English.

An educational book, with lovely illustrations, that has an important message for every reader.

What's on your reading schedule this week and/or the rest of the month?i

nly202

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon, Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday.

Sunday Salon: Mystery Novels in Translation

 

The Couples Trip by Ulf Kvensler

Published April 2022, Hanover Square Press

Genre and setting: thriller, adventure, northern Sweden 
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A group of four travel to the north of Sweden in the fall, for a challenging mountain hike three of them have never attempted before. Jacob is the newcomer who proposes the change to the tried and true hiking location that Anna and Henrik and Milena have taken for many, many years.

Is it the new person to the group, Jacob? Or the challenge of the unfamiliar mountains? Something has turned the hiking trip sour and even dangerous. One of the group, the narrator of the story, seems to become unreliable as time passes and we are left to wonder about the stresses of this group hike.

The characters are well drawn, individualistic, and intriguing, as they travel together under some duress. The descriptions of remote mountains, lakes, and forests in northern Sweden is breathtaking yet adds to the suspense, which builds throughout the book, an unputdownable read. Nothing is predictable in this book's plot. I loved it and, at the same time, hated the stress of reading it.

An astounding suspense novel by a Scandinavian thriller writer from Sweden. 

   

The Lover of No Fixed Abode by Franco Lucentini, Gregory Dowling (translator)

Publication: February 20, 2024, Bitter Lemon Press

Genre: mystery, romance, Venice

Book publisher:

A passionate affair set in Venice between a Roman princess searching for undervalued paintings and a mysterious tour guide. Art shenanigans become unavoidable, but the guide's true identity is the mystery that drives the story. Their passion will last three days, long enough to be exposed to unscrupulous art dealers and scammers passing off worthless paintings as part of a famous collection.

She goes to cosmopolitan parties given by Venetian social and art glitterati. Mr Silvera, a guide whose erudition and distinction sharply contrast with his beat-up suitcase and stain-spotted raincoat, drags his shabby tourists from monument to monument. Around them are the canals and lagoons of Venice, a city which becomes a character in the novel in its own right. Written with elegance and wit, this is an atypical, sophisticated novel of love, crime and social satire worthy of Fellini's Dolce Vita or Sorrentino's The Great Beauty . The novel does have a mystery at its heart – and it concerns the identity of the principal character, apparently a tour guide, but clearly something else as well. 

 Thanks to Meryl Zegarek Publicity for a review copy of this book.

What's on your reading schedule this week and/or the rest of thejmonth?i

nly202

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also,  It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon, Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday.