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“I preferred to wallow in the problem, dream of better days.” 23 lovely unread books from the bookshelves at home, some that keep getting passed over as I’m dazzled by newer releases in the bookshops. Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World is a story of two parts and two worlds, a story that encapsulates two very different sides of Murakami’s writing. One part: a Tokyo similar to contemporary Tokyo but with a cyber twist, where our narrator lives a life typical to all Murakami’s male narrators in their 30s or so. He lives alone, he likes his beer, he whips up delectable snacks at the drop of a hat, he loves his jazz and his western culture. However, as is also often the case, our narrator is about to get himself embroiled in the most unusual of situations. Enter Murakami’s propensity for the slightly off-kilter reality. Our narrator is a Calcutec - a human data processor - and his latest project sees him navigating a secret underground cavernous world at the centre of Tokyo, leading to the secret lab of an eccentric old man, aided by his granddaughter. This is where Murakami is at his short and neat writing style, with witty, dynamic and often westernised dialogue, propelled by a sense of suspense and adventure. Ghost Girl, Banana by Wiz Wharton is a dynamic and compulsive multigenerational story that moves back and forth in time and place, between mother Sook-Yin and daughter Lily, between Hong Kong and London, spanning four decades from the 1960s to 1990s. It’s a story of love and betrayal; of the struggles of dual-heritage identity; of the power of memory and the connections we search out to better understand ourselves; of the stories we are told and the stories we uncover; of belonging, acceptance and what our worth is built in on; and of being torn between duty and following our own hearts. The Glass Hotel was my first Emily St John Mandel book read last year as an e-book and I was immediately absolutely captivated. I went on to read the other two, which went from strength to strength, and am now on a mission to listen to all three (in the right order) as audiobooks. I just finished Station Eleven as audio and it added so much to the reading experience. Can’t wait to immerse myself back in her world starting this on today’s commute - read by Dylan Moore 🎧 Definitely the author I own the most by! Collected over the last 20 or so years. Back to work Monday but today was just me, my book, and the beautiful gardens and mountains at @powerscourt_estate When Efe and Sam meet in 1990s London, Efe is burdened by the expectations of her parents, who sent her to London from Ghana in hopes of a better future, while Sam is consumed by his studies. They come and go from each other, in ebbs and flows, but the spark of friendship eventually blossoms into love, and love leads to marriage. In many ways, Sam and Efe’s love is a classic case of opposites attract and yet they do fall into a deep and strong love until Efe becomes pregnant, which is when their differences are finally put to the test. I bought this anthology a couple of years ago after reading a captivating article about editor Margaret Busby but the book is quite chunky so it got placed on a sturdy shelf and somehow never made it back off.
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