The Kinokuniya bookstore above Shinjuku Station in Tokyo has become one of my favorite stores for its excellent selection of English-language books. They have a really good sci-fi/fantasy section, and on a recent visit, they had a whole rack dedicated to recent award winners where I noticed the … [Read more]
Detective Novel from Morocco, kind of a mixed bag
Whitefly is a short detective novel by Moroccan writer Abdelilah Hamdouchi. Hamdouchi writes crime fiction and has had success as a screen writer of police thrillers. This novel was first published in Arabic in 2000 and translated by Jonathan Smolin in 2016. It is a noir-ish story of bodies washed … [Read more]
Bit Scattered, Not As Helpful As It Could’ve Been
Best for: People looking for a bit of a memoir mixed in with some genuinely good ideas about improving our workplace. In a nutshell: Author Mary Portas details her career struggles rising through the ranks of department store marketing and shares her thoughts for ways to improve the workplace so … [Read more]
One who cannot cast away a treasure at need is in fetters.
Lord of the Rings - 5/5 I am revisiting Lord of the Rings this Thanksgiving season, mostly while I do yardwork and household chores avoiding work and staving off boredom and frenetic energy. I am also listening to the audiobooks this time, and the last time I read the books was in 2004. I also … [Read more]