Rutabaga's Reads 2025: Part 10

Here I am with a second adult fiction compilation for 2025. I didn’t purposely aim for variety, but in this post, you’ll find magical realism, a cozy, contemporary mystery and domestic (or women’s) fiction.

The Cat Who Saved the Library (Apr. 8, 2025) by Sosuke Natsukawa.

   Louise Heal Kawai, translator.

<This is a sequel book.>

The local library is 13-year-old Nanami Kosaki’s home away from home. Her books are her best friends, though she does have one human friend, a straightforward classmate named Itsuka Imamura who’s often seen carrying her archery bow. Nanami, with her “wild horse” asthma, can’t do physically exerting things, and she’s had limited exposure to the outside world. But her world is in the books she reads, so it’s troubling when she notices that some of her favorite books are disappearing from the library’s shelves. There is a mysterious man taking them, but maybe more mysterious is Tiger the Tabby. He’s a talking cat. There’s a passageway that glows blue, and the General tries to convince her that books are extremely dangerous, the Prime Minister tells her that imagination is the worst evil of all, and the King only seems to understand power. There’s also Rintaro Natsuki, a.k.a. Mr. Proprietor, who helps Nanami and Tabby out of a tight spot. Rintaro owns Natsuki Books, and he understands what Nanami and Tabby are trying to do. Save books.

            Whether someone reads one genre or multiple, all readers understand the transporting power of good literature. In a time where book bans are at an all-time high (or it certainly seems so), this contemporary fantasy, magical realism story is needed. It’s a story where faceless gray soldiers led by a changeling menace (who happens to take the form of men in authority roles) are stealing books to try to erase them from humans’ minds. They are taking away the freedom to choose, but Natsukawa writes the story in a way that’s warm and wise. The fleeing scenes don’t have the intensity of an action-adventure or suspense novel, but it doesn’t diminish the seriousness of the situation. We are reminded to think for ourselves and be intelligent about it. “We need to see things with our heart as well as our mind, but that view can easily become clouded” (Rintaro, p. 67).

            Book One: The Cat Who Saved Books (haven’t read as of this posting)

The Kamogawa Food Detectives (Feb. 13, 2024/US edition) by Hisashi Kashiwai.

   Jesse Kirkwood, translator.

<This is the first novel in a series.>

The Kamogawa Diner exists past the Higashi Honganji Temple in Kyoto, Japan, down a quiet backstreet. The restaurant has no sign and no listed menu and those customers looking for the Kamogawa Detective Agency typically have naught to go on but one line from an ad in Gourmet Monthly magazine: “We Find Your Food.” Koishi Kamogawa and her father, Nagare, run the unique restaurant, serving delicious food on high-quality dishes with top-brand chopsticks. But the reason for their ad proclaims them to be “food detectives.” Koishi takes the initial information, but it’s Nagare who does the bulk of the research and creates the lost recipe, treasured by the customer. One customer wants tonkatsu that her ex-husband used to make for her. Another wants Napolitan spaghetti that she once ate with her grandfather when she was five years old, but she has no recollection of where they ate it or the name of the restaurant. The unassuming restaurant is one of lost recipes waiting to be found – and eaten – again.

            Reading “The Kamogawa Food Detectives” (TKFD) is like being enveloped by your favorite comfort food and warmed up by a steaming bowl of soup. Each of the six chapters follows the same recipe (a.k.a. setup), and each meal is worthy of a Michelin star. TKFD is completely charming. Koishi and Nagare are so warm and welcoming, that I wish this was a local restaurant that I could frequent. It’s beautifully crafted and completely off-beat compared to other mystery stories. You’ll find no dead bodies or major scandals, but good company, great cuisine and culinary history for each of the found-again foods. It’s an ode to nostalgic food; it’s umami for the soul. Remember to savor each bite (a.k.a. page)!

The Memory Library (Dec. 3, 2024) by Kate Storey.

<This is a standalone novel.>

Every year, on July 11 at midnight, Sally Harrison adds a new book to a special bookshelf with a personal note to the daughter who hasn’t been home in 21 years. Ella, Sally’s only child, fled from the U.K. to Australia after angry words were exchanged, and she’s had nothing but cursory contact via phone with her mother. Ella and Charlie’s daughter, Willow, doesn’t properly know her own grandma, who’d love to dote on her. When an accident prompts Ella to grudgingly return to the home she grew up in, she learns critical lessons about herself that are hard to learn, like how judgmental she’s been -- to her mother and to Nathan, one of her mother’s next-door neighbors. Something precious of Sally’s has been ruined because of the accident, and Ella may find it within herself to do something positive about it.

            While I wasn’t specifically looking for a domestic fiction story, this one’s large print edition cover and “Library” in the title caught my attention. As gathered from the title, this lovely novel celebrates books and libraries (and notes that libraries these days do so much more than simply house physical books), but also emphasizes the importance of family, compassion and love. There’s the rekindling of love between spouses who’ve let life drift them apart, the understanding of the unconditional love of a parent while accepting the misunderstanding of youth that led to a false accusation toward said parent whose love never wavered, and the love of friendship that’s grown dusty with time. Ella’s not an easy character to like in the beginning, but as her awareness grows and understanding seeps in, the complexity of her and Sally’s characters really stand out. A touching story, full of heart and hope.

            P.S. No, I don’t need large print books. My local library only has the large print edition, so I checked that one out vs. requesting the regular print from a different library.