Hello readers! Wanted to do something a bit different and share some of the books I’ve read and enjoyed and want to recommend to you.
Alice In Kyoto Forest
Orphaned at a young age, Alice has lived with her aunt for most of her childhood. But her uncle is abusive and resentful, and at fifteen years old, Alice decides to return home to Kyoto and train as a maiko, eventually hoping to become a geisha. But when she returns to the city where she was born, she finds that Kyoto has changed quite a bit in the eight years since she left it. Almost as if it’s a completely different world…
Alice in Kyoto is a charming retelling of the popular tale Alice in Wonderland, except the story is set in 1800s Japan. Following our main character Alice, who shares some similarities with the Classic novel she sets out for a new beginning after leaving her uncle’s house. Alice is taken aback by all the mystical creatures, people, clothing, and surroundings but tries to adjust the best as she can. Though Kyoto seems to accept her she is still confronted by finding out what her heart desires and what her true purpose is in order to stay there.
Gather Me: A Memoir in Praise of the Books That Saved Me
For Glory Edim, that “friend of my mind” is books. Edim, who grew up in Virginia to Nigerian immigrant parents, started the popular Well-Read Black Girl book club at age thirty, but her love of books stretches far to public libraries alongside her little brothers after elementary school while her mother was working; to high school librairies where she discovered books she wasn’t being taught in class; to dorm rooms and airplanes and subway rides—and, eventually, to a community of half a million other readers.
When Edim’s father moved back to Nigeria while she was still a child, she and her brothers were left with a single mother and little money, often finding a safe space at their local library. Books were where Edim found community, and as she grew older, she discovered the Black writers whose words would forever change her Nikki Giovanni through children’s poetry cassettes; Maya Angelou through a critical high school English teacher; Toni Morrison while attending Morrison’s alma mater, Howard University; Audre Lorde on a flight to Nigeria. In prose full of both joy and heartbreak, Edim recounts how these writers and so many others helped her to value to find her own voice when her mother lost hers, to trust her feelings when her father remarried, to create bonds with other Black women and uplift their own stories.
Reading this memoir felt like reading someone’s diary while also being a deeply personal love letter to books. It is a testament to how books can open up a world of wonders for each reader and how they can teach us, nurture us, and help us to discover brand new things. I enjoyed how each chapter would reference a few specific book titles and how the lessons from those books tied into Edim’s life at that period. It was a heartwarming and emotional read as Edim details her struggles of coming-of-age, being a child of divorce, dealing with mental illness from a loved one, and so much more.
Neruda On The Park
The Guerreros have lived in Nothar Park, a predominantly Dominican part of New York City, for twenty years. When demolition begins on a neighboring tenement, Eusebia, an elder of the community, takes matters into her own hands by devising an increasingly dangerous series of schemes to stop construction of the luxury condos. Meanwhile Eusebia’s daughter, Luz, a rising associate at a top Manhattan law firm who strives to live the bougie lifestyle her parents worked hard to give her, becomes distracted by a sweltering romance with the handsome white developer of the company her mother so vehemently opposes.
As Luz’s father, Vladimir, secretly designs their retirement home in the Dominican Republic, mother and daughter collide, ramping up tensions in Nothar Park, racing towards a near fatal climax.
Neruda On The Park is a narrative that weaves together the tale of the Guerrero’s who live in the neighborhood of Nothar Park. The neighborhood as well as our main characters grapple with this change in their home and are unsure of how to stop it. Natera paints a vivid portrait of the life of immigrants in the United States as well as the trauma that came come with a significant change in our lives. It’s a powerful novel about fighting for what we believe in, the consequences of our choices, and what we define as home.
Body and Soul Food
When Koby Hill and Keaton Rutledge were orphaned at age two, they were separated, but their unbreakable connection lingered. Year later, they reunite and decide to make up for lost time and capitalize on their shared interests by opening up a well-stocked bookstore and cozy soul-food café in the quaint Pacific Northwest town of Timber Lake. But this new chapter of their lives could end on a cliffhanger after Koby’s foster brother is found murdered.
The murder, which occurred in public between light-rail stops, seems impossible for the police to solve. But as Keaton and Koby know, two heads are always better than one, especially when it comes to mysteries. With just a week to go before the grand opening of their new café, the twins will use their revitalized connection with each other to make sure this is the killer’s final page.
Books and food! Two of my favorite things! I love the idea of a hybrid café and bookstore, because I’ve visited a few and they are so cozy in real life. I love the family dynamic of a brother and sister making up for lost time and getting reacquainted. They both use their knowledge of mystery media to put on their amateur sleuth hats to try to solve the mystery. It’s equally a cozy and entertaining read.
Sprite and the Gardener
Long, long ago, sprites were the caretakers of gardens. Every flower was grown by their hand. But when humans appeared and began growing their own gardens, the sprites’ magical talents soon became a thing of the past. When Wisteria, an ambitious, kind-hearted sprite, starts to ask questions about the way things used to be, she’ll begin to unearth her long-lost talent of gardening. But her newly honed skills might not be the welcome surprise she intends them to be.
I loved the gorgeous artwork of this story and the theme of friendship and finding joy in simple things. In this world, sprites used to be the sole caretaker of gardens, but once things shifted to the modern age, there was less of a use for them. Once Elena and Wisteria meet face-to-face by accident (the sprite’s existence is supposed to be a secret), they strike up a new friendship. It’s a very wholesome story.
What book/s would you recommend for the Spring season?
Rachel Moulden 