Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
I read The Hunger Games as a teenager and I loved it. For a YA dystopian, the writing is incredible and surely beats out the others in its genre. Although I’m not entirely sure why I never continued to read the rest of the series, because I did initially buy the trilogy. I also never watched Mockingjay Part 2 for some reason; probably because I found Part 1 underwhelming. Nevertheless, I have no idea how The Hunger Games series ends to this day. I enjoyed reading Catching Fire, though. It was great to be back in this world and I had fun rewatching the film afterwards. The adaptation is so faithful to the book. I plan on finally reading Mockingjay next and then watching the final two films. Catching Fire certainly ends on a huge cliffhanger. I’m excited but nervous to learn how it all ends!
Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa
I had a feeling I would need some cosy Japanese translated fiction to read around this time of year and I was right. Days at the Morisaki Bookshop started off really well: 25-year-old Takako ends up living with her uncle and working at his bookshop after her boyfriend reveals he’s marrying someone else. Nursing her broken heart, Takako is surprised by what she finds within the stacks of books lining the Morisaki bookshop and the world around it. I enjoyed these parts a lot, and the characters, but the book eventually becomes something else, focusing instead on the return of Takako’s aunt and why she left her uncle many years prior. By this point, Takako is no longer working at the bookshop and I no longer felt connected to the story. Still, a nice cosy read. The audiobook is good. I don’t think I’ll check out the sequel, though.
Unfortunately didn’t read much this month because I just haven’t felt like it. Having COVID, a migraine, and sinus headaches affecting my eyes also hasn’t helped. I’m always a little disappointed when I don’t read at least 4 or 5 books per month, plus I’d planned to read Catcher in the Rye and The Picture of Dorian Gray, which just didn’t happen. I hope I’ll be able to read more in December. I hate being stuck in a reading slump of sorts, but it happens. And it lasts as long as it lasts.