I had grand plans to write about every book I read this year then life, as it tends to do, had other ideas. Work piled up, weeks blurred together, and the draft remained unfinished.
So here’s a different kind of post. Not a deep dive into every title, but an honest look back at 3 books that I read in the past few months.
1. The Days at the Morisaki Bookshop — Satoshi Yagisawa
This was an impulse buy. After reading the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop, I got fascinated with Japanese authors and their way of telling simple, quiet stories. I was in Chennai visiting family and stumbled across this little book.
The story follows Takako, who ends up at her uncle’s secondhand bookshop after a rough patch in her life. It’s a small, gentle book. Less than 150 pages. It shows how old books passed between strangers can quietly remind you that people are good, that things get better and that is good to have faith in love and humanity.
If you like feel-good stories that don’t ask too much of you, pick this one up.
2. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow — Gabrielle Zevin
I bought this after Tim Ferriss wrote about it in his newsletter. He wrote about how he was genuinely moved and finished this book in one sitting. That got me intrigued.
I didn’t finish it in one sitting, but I kept thinking about it whenever I wasn’t reading it.
It’s about two game creators, Sam and Sadie, and how their lives mirror the games they make together. Heartbreaks, creative highs, falling outs, all of it. The detail that Zevin puts into the games themselves is phenomenal. You feel the love behind the craft.
It has its slow patches, but it’s a journey worth taking. I’d recommend it.
3. The God Who Loved Motorbikes — Murali K. Menon
Small detour: I finally bought a Kindle Paperwhite this year. I always preferred physical books but lately the only time I get to read is before bed. I started reading on my phone, then gave in and bought the device.
The first book waiting for me when I set it up was one I’d completely forgotten buying. I had picked it up a few years ago during an Amazon sale, purely because of the title. I love motorbikes, that was my whole reason.
Boy, was I in for a ride.
It’s a fantasy told from the perspective of a demigod from Kerala who loves motorcycles and goes searching for a ghost bike that apparently never existed. It’s funny and strange and unexpectedly moving. It touches on belief, faith, luck and what it means to hold on to something that can’t be proven.
Relatively short and one I enjoyed immensely. If the title intrigues you, trust that.
Happy reading. Ciao!