Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman, Patrick Egan (Narrator)

This took a long time. I have a softcover and thought I would read it by print, but ended up slowly listening to it over the summer in bursts. I had to return the audiobook twice before finishing it. It was repetitive, but maybe somewhat necessary to drive home the psychological ideas. The narration was fine. I do think I will read and/or listen to Noise which I also have in print.

1.25x. June 12-August 24, 2024.

Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami, Allison Markin Powell (Translator)

What an interesting cover. This was a May-December romance about a 37 year old woman and her retired former high school teacher. It’s about loneliness and connections. There were some nice descriptions of Japanese food and life. The characters were likeable. It was just too slow at times.

Read on Kobo Mini and Kobo Libra 2. August 22-25, 2024.

One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle, Lauren Graham (narrator)

Audiobook for 30% by itself and immersive reading. This was a grief novel about a woman who had a codependent relationship with her mother. I don’t know any woman who would say their mother is the love of their life. Aside from the oddness, this book had a silly but fun twist. It was not believable but it was nice to get away to Positano, Italy for a couple hundred pages.

1.25-1.5x Read mostly on Kobo Libra 2 and a bit on Kindle Keyboard. August 25, 2024.

Time Is a Mother by Ocean Vuong

Narrated by the author. Poetry read by the author is nice. This was short and while I liked the narration, I didn’t find myself connecting to a lot of the poems. I read Vuong for his lyricism. I am will try his first collection of poetry as well.

1.25x. Aug 26-27, 2024.

The Dallergut Dream Department Store by Lee Mi-ye, Sandy Josun Lee (translator)

This was a cute cozy fantasy about a store which sells dreams. There were some sweet moments, but it took me awhile to read this book. The characters were nice but they didn’t have enough depth for me to be very invested. The world building was good but took awhile to get a a hold of it. Maybe it was the translation. Still sweet and original. I’d consider reading more from this universe.

Aug 19-29. 2024.

The Aosawa Murders by Riku Onda, Alison Watts (Translator)

Closing out on Women in Translation Month and the Storygraph Genre Challenge to read a thriller or crime novel in translation. I picked this up in the spring from my local rummage sale. I had not heard of it and it was a good find. This book and its mystery were very well written as it had several characters and their perspectives. It was very layered. I cemented a very important book appeal factor for myself. I do not like ambiguous endings especially for mysteries. This had a very ambiguous ending. It was not the cathartic ending that I wanted after all that well written build up. The whole book was really well written until the last couple of chapters which frustrated me.

Aug 31, 2024.