The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On by Franny Choi

I am trying to read at least one poetry collection a year. I liked this one even though it was dark and somber at times. It explored grief, culture, identity, assault, climate change, and technology. I wanted to read this on my Kobo but the publisher’s note in the ebook discussed how they tried to recapture the use of space in digital format. I decided to borrow the book from the library and I did appreciate the format better.

Read June 5-7, 2024.

Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-reum with Shanna Tan (Translator)

Last week, I kept getting signals to start this book from a podcast and seeing a post from the translator on Instagram. I’ve read at least one translated from Korean book where I struggled with the prose. It was much better here. The novel was about a woman in her late 30s who after burning out from work and divorce, opened a book shop. The story chronicled her development as a bookseller and the characters who frequent or work with the bookshop. There were themes of work, burn out, existential crisis, depression, isolation, family relationships, and identity. I found most of the characters very relatable. There were women and men across a wide demographic becoming friends and colleagues. I really enjoyed reading this novel. The debut author and translator both did very good jobs with the writing. I really hope to read more from them both in the future.

Read June 8-9, 2024 on Kobo Libra 2.

Every Living Thing (All Creatures Great and Small #8) by James Herriot

Read by Nicolas Ralph. The last book in this lovely series which I started back in February. These books were all so wonderful! I am sad that it is over but glad I can listen to them or even reread over text.

1.25x. June 2-11, 2024.