So my friend Debbie has a poll going about books and here's my contribution to that.

TBH I haven't read as many (non-childrens) books as I would have liked in the last... decade... or two... of my life. Partly because life, partly because it's hard to find books that I enjoy. They seem to defy classification. Although for some reason, there seems to be a better chance that I will enjoy a book if it's written by a Japanese author (and then translated, of course).

Here are some books I enjoyed recently, which were all borrowed from the (rather excellent) Hamilton Public Library

The Premonition
Author: Yoshimoto, Banana
Translator: Yoneda, Asa
Publisher: Counterpoint, 2023

Generally I like Banana Yoshimoto's books. They feel surreal but gently so. This one was similar. I think it was more a novella sized book. At any rate it was a nice read. It's about a girl with lost memories and her eccentric aunt.

Mina's Matchbox
Author: Ogawa, Yōko
Translator: Snyder, Stephen
Publisher: McClelland & Stewart, 2024

I enjoyed this one as it was a rather interesting story that was both kinda light but also kinda dark. There aren't any deep, dark tragedies in this. But that doesn't mean the story and characters are uninteresting. The story follows the childhood memories of the protagonist, Tomoko, who was sent to live briefly with her aunt's family. While there she makes friends with her quirky cousin, Mina, who has a pygmy hippo as a pet (and mode of transport, sometimes)

The Kamogawa Food Detectives
Author: Kashiwai, Hisashi
Translator: Kirkwood, Jesse
Publisher: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2024., ©2023.

The Kamogawa Food Detectives at first glance seems like other Japanese novels that have a recurring motif. I'm not sure if they all start off as serialized publications, but I believe that was the case for this one. The setup is that a retired detective turned chef sets up an exclusive restaurant that also offers a 'food detective' service. Despite the lack of advertising, clients find their way there, are treated to an great meal, and engage their services to recreate some dish that had a special meaning to them. Nagare, the chef-detective, then does his thing, recreates the dish, and explains to the client what made it special in their memory. It's a bit formulaic, but it's also fun. The revolving cast of characters and their food problems keeps things interesting. The series skips out on the whole detective-ing part, instead having Nagare summarize what he did when he presents the cooked dish to the client. I've said it would make for a good tv series, where they could have a whole segment of him walking around playing food detective.