Twenty-nine-year-old Momoko has been tragically dumped. So Momoko does what many broken-hearted people do – she gets incredibly drunk. So drunk that she passes out in a nearly empty café. When she wakes, she pours her heart out to Iori, the curious and impossibly handsome manager, and Hozumi, a Buddhist monk in training and caféContinue reading “Review: ‘The Ex-Boyfriend’s Favourite Recipe Funeral Committee’ serves up delicious food and emotional healing”
Category Archives: Blog-exclusive book review
Review: ‘The Experiment’ is a flying adventure
Nathan never understood what was ‘fun’ about secrets, probably because he’s always had to keep a very big one, even from his best friend, Victor. Although he appears to be a typical grade-six kid, Nathan learned at an early age that his family is from another planet, and he’s part of an experiment to workContinue reading “Review: ‘The Experiment’ is a flying adventure”
Review: Love, shame, and redemption in Madeleine Gray’s Chosen Family
Books about friendship are not often described as love stories, but this is one.At the age of twelve, Nell has accepted that hers will likely be a friendless existence. She’s not interested in boys or makeup or competing to see who can eat the least – so fitting in at her all-girls’ school feels impossible.Continue reading “Review: Love, shame, and redemption in Madeleine Gray’s Chosen Family”
Review: ‘The Farm’ delivers suspense and reflections on women’s body autonomy
When 37-year-old Leila suffers a health tragedy, she doesn’t recover as quickly as she expected. Her partner, James, suggests a year away from the city – they’ll stay on his family farm, where the wide, open spaces and clean country air will help her come to terms with her grief. But the property is remote and the houseContinue reading “Review: ‘The Farm’ delivers suspense and reflections on women’s body autonomy”
Review: Cosy, bibliophile friendly vibes in Dinner at the Night Library
The Night Library on the outskirts of Tokyo isn’t your ordinary library. It’s only open from seven o’clock to midnight. It exclusively stores books by deceased authors, and none of them can be checked out — instead, they’re put on public display to be revered and celebrated by the library’s visitors, akin to a bookContinue reading “Review: Cosy, bibliophile friendly vibes in Dinner at the Night Library”
Review: ‘How to Dodge Flying Sandals’ and other advice to balance culture and self-acceptance
Meet Daniel Nour: Egyptian and Australian; loud and painfully awkward; conservative and very confused (especially about other boys). He’s never quite pulled off normal, but ‘not-normal’ is where the best stories are. Now he’s made his peace with that and is ready to share his wisdom in this highly unreliable ethnic memoir. Told as aContinue reading “Review: ‘How to Dodge Flying Sandals’ and other advice to balance culture and self-acceptance”
Review: Exploring healing in Jade Timms’ ‘Golden’
Golden is a warm-hearted optimistic story about friends and friendship and art and beauty—and the power of letting yourself be loved… When you work in the juice bar of your small coastal town. When your twin brother is the fun one with all the friends. When something happened a year ago that you can’t talk about,Continue reading “Review: Exploring healing in Jade Timms’ ‘Golden’”
Review: Hour of the Heart – what can one-hour therapy sessions offer?
What does ‘the father of group therapy’ do at the age of 90, when he is still advising patients in the therapy sessions that have been his life’s work, and yet must face his increasing frailties and even his own mortality? Rather than melt into retirement, Dr Yalom develops another revolutionary approach. In Hour of theContinue reading “Review: Hour of the Heart – what can one-hour therapy sessions offer?”
Review: The Paperbark Tree Committee
Twelve-year-old Art and his younger brother Hilary are great friends, best friends. When they move to the city from a small rural town, Art struggles to fit in. His dad is too busy to give him much attention, but his stepmum is always ready to listen. And there’s the paperbark tree. Art and Hilary holdContinue reading “Review: The Paperbark Tree Committee”
Review: You Must Remember This – a journey through time and memory
Grace can’t settle. She can’t shake the feeling that someone is missing. You Must Remember This is an eloquent jumble of a family story, as experienced by Grace, an elderly woman with dementia trying to get her moorings in a worsening storm. It contemplates the perils of remembering and forgetting, making your own way inContinue reading “Review: You Must Remember This – a journey through time and memory”
Novel Feelings 