I must have been living under a rock, because all these years of reading Japanese literature had failed to unearth the work of Junji Ito. Ito is well reknowned for his horror stories, and the fact he illustrates his own work too. I wonder if part of the success of his writing is having the …
ZOO is a translated collection of short horror stories by Japanese writer Otsuichi. The stories range in length from half a dozen chapters to just a couple of pages, but they all have one thing in common: they all challenged my preconceptions of the horror genre. There is a brilliant quote in the afterword by …
Goodreads // Waterstones I first heard about Jessica Pan’s book when she spoke to Emma Gannon on one of my favourite podcasts, Ctrl Alt Delete. They discussed Jessica’s introverted nature and her challenge to overcome some of her habits that were holding her back. As someone who really identified with what they was saying, I immediately ordered …
Inferno is an incredible biography by Catherine Cho, following her experience of postpartum psychosis, which affected her almost 100 days after she had given birth. During her pregnancy, Cho experiences pressure from her Korean family to honour her heritage by staying inside for 100 days; this is a Korean tradition believed to protect the baby from …
This book is truly a one of a kind. Dozens of short chapters are woven together to create a picture of Tokyo on the run up to the 2020 Olympics (which, sadly, never happened in the real world due to Covid-19). It is a story of how strangers’ lives can be interwoven in intricate, complicated …
Goodreads // Waterstones Reading Wed Wabbit with the children’s book club at work made me question why I don’t pick up children’s literature to read more often. The book follows Fidge, a young girl who becomes emotionally closed off after the death of her father. She carries a lot of resentment, and when her behaviour leads to …
Goodreads // Waterstones I was drawn to this book because of the interesting contrast of the cover – that girlie pink background with the serious military-style clothes on Camilla in the foreground. This does a great job of reflecting exactly what the book ended up offering: a look at the thoughts and experiences of an incredibly …
Goodreads // Waterstones You know the saying, ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’? I mean it when I say that the very worst thing you could do is pick up this book and think it will be a nice, cute story about little hedgehogs or plushies. You might see the adorable little creature on …
Goodreads // Waterstones When I pick up a biography, it is rarely by someone I know of; I much prefer unravelling a complete stranger’s journey, and discovering new lives to root for. On this occasion, unfamiliar with Lemn Sissay’s previous work, I was swayed into reading My Name is Why by that striking title, and my …
Goodreads // Waterstones In colonial New England, a woman goes missing. Or not missing – perhaps she has fled, abandoned her family. Or perhaps she’s been kidnapped, and set loose to wander in the dense woods of the north. Alone and possibly lost, she meets another woman in the forest. Then everything changes… In The …
