Sunday Post #522

This week is all about the music. I discovered a cool song- below- and that artwork. It even inspires my writing. The art could easily fit in the story I'm writing. Anyway- I'm also posting my review Days at the Morisaki Bookshop below. .  

I discovered a new salsa I love- Salsa God. This stuff is the bomb. I've only tried the Smoky Garlic Chipotle. Near as I can tell there's no mild- it all seems to be medium and hotter!  

This week's discussion post is Monarchy in Fantasy    

Here is this week's lyric.  

You take the midnight subway train

You're calling all the shots  

Here is the lyric f/ last week and the answer      

Deep in the night 

Alone in the dark 

I get a need for you

   Song of the week

PULP COVER OF THE WEEK: 

 

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop was a phenomenal read. Takako is a character that I think a lot of people will relate to. She's quiet, reserved, and in a relationship with a cad named Hideaki. Things are going alright until one day he tells her he's getting married. To someone else. Turns out he's been two timing. So she quits her job (they work together) and moves in with her uncle who runs a bookshop in the famous booksellers district. She doesn't want to move in with him, but she needs a place to live. And after getting to know him she realizes how much she appreciates not only him, but the bookstore as well. And she gains a love of books she never had. 

The book is filled with wonderful little vignettes, like when she plays matchmaker between Tomo and Takano, who work at the local coffee shop. I'm so glad I've gained a sense of different areas of Tokyo, too, since it really helped me to navigate the book. You certainly don't need to know the geography of Tokyo to appreciate this, though. 

This book almost felt like two different stories. The first half involves Takako's journey of self discovery, and how she comes to terms with Hideaki and what he did. Gaining an appreciation and better understanding of her uncle. I wanted to live in their bookstore. The creaking floor, the smell of the books. A bracing look at how we find out what we want in life. The latter half of the story looks at the personal lives of her uncle and herself, as they undergo some changes. 

I enjoyed the first half more. It felt more immediate, more relatable. I wanted more time in Jimbocho, more Tomo and the uncle and the crew from the coffee joint- more of the city. But there's a journey that she has to make, and when it's time to move on then she has to. This kept me turning pages- it's not long- and I was sorry when it was time to say goodbye to this story. A great little book, translated from Japanese, that explores what it means to love and find yourself.