May the books you read be plentiful,
and their stories wonderful.
May they offer a laugh, or a tear, or an escape from reality.
May they offer you exactly what you need and more.
Happy new year, happy new reading!
bookish
Let’s talk about the reading challenge
Friend E and I were talking the other day and the topic turned to reading, which doesn’t happen a lot because E is not a big reader. She is a wonderful and supportive friend, and as such patiently listens to my ramblings about bookish things and is a loyal reader of this blog (hi, E! *wave*).
The conversation kicked off with: ‘So, what’s up with the reading challenge?’
The answer to that was short, because with 8 weeks of the year left + 13 items of the reading challenge to go = I admit defeat.
But I assure you as I did her: I will still read on and try to get as far as possible.
Then we discussed the 2026 reading challenge, which I hadn’t really thought of yet as I’m a terrible planner and especially the end of the year has a way of sneaking up on me. But E was On It, and her enthusiasm was catchy and with her permission I’m totally running with her idea.
And this idea is that – drumroll – the Reading Challenge 2026 is open to suggestions. Yes, that’s right: YOU can create an entry for the new reading challenge!
I’m not talking about book titles, but about item descriptions. Want me to read a book that has something particular on the cover? Let me know! Want me to read a book that is set in your home country? A book that contains pictures? A book that is about your hobby or profession? Let me know, let me know, let me know! Check this year’s Reading Challenge for inspiration.
Go crazy, have fun! Anything goes and nothing is off limit because I’ll try anything; I’m excited to find out what you’ll come up with!
The reading challenge will have 25 spots available, and entries will be on a first come, first serve base.
You can leave your suggestion in the comments below or reach out via email (yay, there is now official email! bookworm@bookworminthecity.com), and of course your input will be acknowledged!
Book review: The Cat Who Saved Books / Sosuke Natsukawa
If I could use only one word to describe this book, I would use: adorable.
Thankfully, there is no word count limitation in the world of this bookworm, so here’s everything else I have to say about it.
Rintaro Natsuki is a teenager when his grandfather dies. Suddenly, it’s just him and the Natsuki Books bookshop. This second-hand bookshop sounds amazing; completely unassuming but with a unique collection of collector’s items and a proprietor who knows a lot about books.
Without parents and now without his grandfather as well, Rintaro rightfully feels lost and scared. He quits going to school, and stays back to run the shop until his aunt has made the necessary arrangements to sell the business and take him in. Two of his classmates visit him: the popular and smart Akiba, and class representative and music geek Sayo. They both try to convince him to come back to school, and assure him he’s being missed by his classmates. Rintaro isn’t so sure about that and prefers to stay at the bookshop. So, they make it a mission to regularly check in on him.
Someone else to enter the shop, is Tiger the tabby. This cat isn’t just any tabby, it can talk. And it’s telling Rintaro that he needs to go on a mission. A mission to save books from people who mistreat them. Rintaro doesn’t know what else to do, and simply follows the cat through a doorway that hadn’t existed before, only to find himself emerge on the other side inside the big home of a book collector. The man claims to care so much for books that he locks them in cabinets, behind bars. Rintaro has to discover why this is wrong, what the threat is, and how to resolve it.
Sayo happens to be in the shop when Tiger the tabby appears for the second mission. She won’t hear “no” and joins Rintaro and Tiger on the mission.
There is a total of four labyrinths for Rintaro to finish. In between challenges he is back at the shop, faced with the painful reality of life. Although hesitant and scared during the first mission, he’s happy to dive in by the time mission number three is announced.
The only thing in this book I had a bit of trouble with, was the timeline. At one point it’s made clear that everybody is concerned about Rintaro still grieving and not feeling up to joining daily life, because it had been two whole days since his grandfather’s memorial which seemed extreme to me. I’m jotting this down to cultural differences.
This book is a very nicely written modern fairy tale. True to fairy-tale style the moral of the story is loud and unmistakable, but it’s so nicely done that I’m willing to accept that.
If you like to read fairy-tales, fantasy, anything to do with books, reading, or cats, you’ll like this book.
The Bookworm packs a suitcase
Hiking boots, sunglasses, and SPF50.
Check, check, and check.
One big book.
…
Two medium-sized books.
Check.
A third medium-sized book, for just-in-case.
…
Two medium-sized books, so there’ll be space left for a book souvenir.
Check, check.
It turns out there’s not enough space in my bag for two books. Toss a coin to decide which one.
Check.
Read: 20 pages.
Bought: 4 books. (borrowed space from travel companion to get them home)
Blurbs
Blurbs confuse me.
They can annoy me, especially when they take up so much space that the back of a book has no summary.
They can make me suspicious if they appear on the front cover and the back alike. It makes me wonder why the book needs all these recommendations: it feels a bit like an over-eager salesperson jumping at you.
Blurbs can leave me stumped. Some books have the blurbs continued on the inside, and they can take up several (several!) pages. Three, four, pages of nothing but raving quotes just seems a tad much to me. Is there such a thing as a magic number for blurbs?
And sometimes blurbs surprise me, with names of people I don’t know. I do tend to look these people up, after I finished the book and agree with what they said because I’ll reason that if we liked the same book, they might have published something themselves that I might like. Is that why blurbs exist? To sell us other books?
Blurbs confuse me.
Happy 2024!
Or: Looking forward to a new year or reading
There will be love and heartbreak.
There will be war and peace.
There will be tears and laughter.
There will be moments of quiet reflection and wild jubilation.
There will be I-can’t-believe-that-happened moments, and obstacles to overcome.
Opportunities, conquests, and robots.
The books will have all this as well, and then some.
Wishing you and yours a happy and healthy New Year, filled with wonderful stories.
‘Tis the season
Or: 2023 – Looking back on a year of reading
The days are dark and dreadful, literally and figuratively, and I’ve happily drawn the curtains to block it all out. Here, in my personal bubble of books, booze, music, and absolutely no news, I’m looking back on the year in reading that is now almost entirely behind me. This is, after all, the time of year where we look back and reflect. So, let the evaluation commence!
The Reading Challenge
- 17 of 25 boxes ended up being checked, which is a result even I didn’t see coming, as I only started the challenge in May. My willingness to drop everything in order to read, has finally paid off!
- The worst book I read for this list was definitely no. 13 – a banned book which had me in a spin for a bit. And then I didn’t finish it. It’s also with great pleasure that I can announce that this is hands down the worst book I ever attempted to read.
- The biggest disappointment in a book was no. 5 – a book with a person’s name in the title. I was so enticed by the teasers and the cover page, and then I just didn’t get it. It happens.
- The biggest stand-out ends up a triple tie between numbers 14 – a western, 20 – a book that prominently features an animal, and 6 – a book that was turned into a movie. The western was just a thrill-ride that sucked me in from the very first page, and the animal I read about, was a delightful octopus named Marcellus. Then there was scientist Elizabeth Zott, who figured if cooking on tv was the way to get her science across, then that was what she would do. Three very different books, but the common denominator was a kick-ass main character with an amazing voice.
- The biggest surprise about a book was no. 10 – a retelling of a classic just because I was fearing a dry and complicated mythical read, and then it turned out to be a delightful, almost Dickensian, tale of love conquering greed and envy.
- Books I learned the most from, are numbers 8 – a book with a one-word title, and 4 – a book with a city in the title. My entry-level knowledge of John Wilkes Booth was what I had learned through tv-show Timeless, but now I know enough to take a quiz on the guy. 1950’s Iran was something I knew equally little about, but reading a story set in that time and place, had me doing a deep-dive into the history books (and recipe books, because the way the cooking and the food was described, had my stomach growl).
- The book I laughed the most about, was easily no. 22 – a book with more than 500 pages. Fucking stuff up is part of life, no matter what age you are, and I really enjoyed the way it was described that Nell came to that realization.
Other reads:
Yes, I probably would have finished the reading challenge if I only had stuck to reading items that fitted the list. But, sometimes books that don’t fit a category, still had to be read: they were either borrowed from friends, I was the next reader on the library waiting list, or they just called out to me from their spot on the to-be-read pile. Then I also re-read some of my all-time favourites, just to get me going again when I got stuck in a reading rut or needed something to get me away from a book.
How to kill men and get away with it , Everyone in my family killed someone, and Factory girls were the stand-out reads in this category. I’m sure it’s entirely coincidental that these three books all have bright orange covers.
In numbers
- 31 – total number of books read that fell outside of the reading challenge category and/or were read before the reading challenge was started.
- 17 – total number of books read for the reading challenge
- 7 – books started but not finished because they were the wrong book at the wrong time
- 27 – books I borrowed from the library
- 5 – books I borrowed from friends
- 23 – books I bought
Overall conclusion
I borrowed books, bought books, and donated books.
I’ve talked about books, written about books, and took so many pictures of books-i-want-to-read that my phone’s memory is close to reaching full capacity.
I got to know amazing characters, and discovered new places.
2023 was one heck of a book year.
Puzzled
During the pandemic I was one of many people who (re)discovered the joys of doing jig-saw puzzles.
Some friends and family members had picked up on this too, which was great because it meant we could do puzzle swaps and didn’t have to spend inordinate amounts of money on pieces of carton with pictures glued to them.
Lockdowns came and went and life has returend to “normal”. I still enjoy puzzling, although it now takes me much longer to finish one because there’s so much life happening. Good thing I have a puzzle plate that allows me to shove the unfinished work under the sofa so it doesn’t get in the way and is easy to pick up again.
I like puzzling because it takes me away from a screen and I can listen to a podcast or just music.
Most of all I like doing a puzzle with other people, chatting and drinking while sticking pieces together.
The 1000 pieces jigsaws are my go-to, and the topics are mostly book-related: bookshop interiors, bookshop exteriors, bookshelves, book covers and libraries.
My second-favourite category is Christmas related, with Christmas shops, Christmas markets and decorations.
I’ve got quite the collection of puzzles by now. Maybe I should start cataloguing them…
Bookworm in the City 