A gentle Japanese healing novel set in an in-between café, where a messenger cat delivers “souls” between the living and the dead. Familiar in structure, but sincere, with one chapter that hit me more personally than I expected.

At Dusk follows one man’s life while moving quietly through modern Korean history. As Park Minwoo reflects on his past, the novel traces postwar development, political change, and economic growth without ever turning them into spectacle.

This is a layered, carefully constructed book that trusts the reader. History remains in the background, shaping the characters without overt explanation. It’s a novel that asks for patience and rewards close attention.

If I Had Your Face follows four young women living in Seoul, each navigating life under the weight of Korea’s beauty standards, economic pressure, and limited choices. Their paths are different, but they intersect through shared spaces and shared constraints.

This is not a light read. The book looks closely at how beauty functions as a kind of currency and how survival sometimes requires choices that feel impossible from the outside. It’s raw in places and often bleak, but it remains true to its characters. For me, it was worth sitting with.

Three unsettling novellas about obsession, cruelty, and the danger hiding inside ordinary life. Ogawa’s writing is beautiful, which somehow makes the stories even more disturbing.

Cover of A Midnight Pastry Shop Called Hwawoldang, a cozy Korean magical realism novel about a midnight bakery for spirits seeking closure.

Murakami’s Men Without Women explores loneliness, longing, and the private worlds men build when love slips away. A soft, surprising, and deeply human collection that shows Murakami at his most vulnerable.

The Real Osamu Dazai collects twenty stories that show the full range of Dazai’s writing, from painful and deeply personal to surprisingly funny and tender. A fascinating look at the man behind the myth.

A reflective novel of three intersecting lives at a small Tokyo café. Each story holds both sadness and hope, showing how people continue and connect in deeply human ways.

The Essential Akutagawa is a rich, readable collection of twenty-two stories that move between folklore, humor, and moral darkness. It’s an approachable entry into Japanese classics and a sharp look at the best and worst of being human.

The title could just as easily have been The Rage We Pass Down. That is what I felt on every page. Rage mixed with grief, with ghosts standing in for the violence that shaped this family. The horror never felt separate from the real — it was historical and horror at the same time.

Set in 1966 China, The Morgue Keeper is not a story of rebellion in the traditional sense… it's a story of survival, of sharing cigarettes and kindness when there's nothing left. I finished it wrecked, and grateful to have read it.

A fast, voice-driven novel about a Korean teen in Japan navigating love, violence, and the harsh politics of identity. Sharp, funny, and deeply personal Go hits hard and leaves a mark

8 Lives of a Century-Old Trickster is a brutal, layered story about what it means to live through history that tries to erase you — and the impossible choices women have had to make to survive.

A quiet, haunting novel that unfolds in layers — snow, silence, and a history that still trembles underfoot.

What struck me most was how physical the reading experience felt. You don’t just think about these pieces. You feel them.

He felt himself floating far out at sea, deep down in the silence, alone. He was conscious only of the sea, and of himself in the sea.

An intimate, poetic reflection on motherhood, language, and identity. Gillian Sze captures early parenthood with rare grace and emotional clarity.

Jinwoo Park’s debut novel Oxford Soju Club might look like a spy story on the surface, but it’s really a quiet and sharp novel about identity, performance, and fractured belonging in the Korean diaspora.

A quiet, flexible book club focused on Asian literature — short novels, thoughtful conversations, and spoiler-free discussion at your own pace.