kimothay's reviews
49 reviews

The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods

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mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa

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reflective relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I enjoyed this book as a quick, cozy read. It served as a good “palate-cleanser” after reading a heavier, non-fiction book. Some of the characters were a little flat and I feel they could have been developed more, but I was expecting as much from the reviews I’d seen and the fact that some translated books seem to be similar (I assume some deeper descriptions or meanings may be lost in translation or mean different things in different cultures). Overall, while it was pretty simple, I enjoyed the story and found it charming. 
The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston

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emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The Goodbye Cat by Hiro Arikawa

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emotional reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

Goodbye Cat: 5/5
Bringing Up Baby: 2/5
Good Father/Bad Father: 1/5
Cat Island: 4/5 
The Night Visitor: 1/5
Finding Hachi: 5/5
Life Is Not Always Kind: 4/5 
The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

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dark reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was my favorite book when I was in high school but I hadn’t read it in a decade, so I wanted to re-read it and see if I still enjoyed it and how my thoughts on it would change. I work in the mental health field now and the mental health themes always interested me as a teen, so it was incredibly interesting to read through that lens. Holden is a difficult character to like as he’s emotionally immature (but who wasn’t at 17?), cynical, and generally just hypocritical and whiny at times. Despite all of that, his character is still one of my favorites of any book I’ve read. The clear impact of trauma and how it shaped his worldview is intriguing, and I picked up a lot of different things that I didn’t when I first read it at 15 or 16. 
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Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao

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emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I really loved this book! I’m finding myself getting into magical realism and speculative fiction more recently, and this was a great read. The writing style is cozy and easy to digest, but don’t let that fool you—the themes are powerful and character development was beautiful. Not related to the book, but the origami boat directions on the “dust jacket” was a really cute touch, too. 
If Cats Disappeared From The World by Genki Kawamura

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emotional reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was a cute, cozy read that left me reflecting a lot about how I perceive the world and what’s important to me. It got me thinking what, if anything, I would make disappear if I were in that situation. The writing is fairly straight-forward and there isn’t a lot of fluff as far as big words or elaborate descriptions go, but I love a book that makes me think so I absolutely loved this! 
Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

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adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma by Stephanie Foo

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challenging emotional informative reflective fast-paced

5.0