Miffy by Dick Bruna

I went to Japan and got a Miffy tote bag but I hadn’t read or consumed any Miffy media before hand. The tote bag was a collab with Kinokuniya, an international Japanese book store chain which I adore. I also am addicted to bookstore tote bags. This Miffy tote bag is one of the best tote bags I own. It was the right size, had external and internal pockets, and an internal water bottle sleeve.

My library had a few Miffy books and they were mostly in French. That was fine for me as I need the French practice. These are definitely children’s books for babies and toddlers. The plot was very thin. We barely met Miffy in this book which means I have to read another book from the series. I have yet to see the charm.

April 22, 2026.

The Early Cases of Hercule Poirot by Agatha Christie with Charles Armstrong (Narrator)

There are 25 stories in this collection but oddly enough, they were split up on Libby by each story. Some of them were not even available from the same library. We had heard about half the stories already so we skipped those. There a couple unavailable we could not verify or remember if we had read. Enjoyable from the approximately eight new to us ones.

April 20-26, 2026.

Lu and Ren’s Guide to Geozoology by Angela Hsieh

I heard this book from a podcast interview which mentioned that this was very similar to The Tea Dragon Society and it was. I really enjoyed the soft art style. The storyline had a lot about friendship and families including being part of a family that does not value one of the children. The two leads were still immature but there was sufficient character development. I liked it.

April 26, 2026.

The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie

So much Christie. It’s been a very big Christie and mystery reading year for me and it will likely continue. I was in bed and wanted to read something cozy so I started this on a whim. It’s been on my list for awhile though since I am trying to read the Marple novels in order now since there are only 12 of them. This one was a tad less enjoyable than the Marple short stories and the most recent Marple novel that I had read (A Pocket Full of Rye). There were too many characters and too much misdirection. The ending was still mostly satisfying because I really like Miss Marple and Christie’s character work was great as always.

April 22-26, 2026. Read on Kobo Libra 2.