Rutabaga's Reads 2026: Part 11

The year is scooting along, isn’t it? How are we halfway through August already? What have you been reading? I always welcome recommendations, though I never promise that I’ll get them read, knowing the length of my TBR (To Be Read) list at any given moment. Here is this year’s second adult fiction compilation.

            P.S. Although other posts are technically also adult fiction, I did not nickname them under that banner, making this post still the second.

The Charmed Library (Jan. 26, 2026) by Jennifer Moorman.

<This is a standalone novel.>

The public library in [fictional] Blue Sky Valley, North Carolina, is a sanctum for readers, as libraries should be. Unlike other libraries, fictional characters can step off the page into the contemporary world. Greetings, Mr. Darcy! Hello, Ichabod Crane! Ahoy, Robinson Crusoe! Thirty-year-old assistant librarian Stella Parker is oblivious to this. She’s living in the outdated house inherited from her late father, and she’s holding onto bitterness from a breakup. So she burns one of her journals. She’s always seen actual words rising from people, places and objects, but once she “murders” the words in her journal, she experiences purple words that physically hurt as they arise. Words matter, but why these ones? The truth starts coming to light when Arnie (Arnold) Cohen, the 68-year-old head librarian, has a medical emergency, and he needs her to keep his friends in the library. Suddenly, Stella is faced with her fictional crush, a 27-year-old WWII soldier named Jack Mathis. He is her ideal man: heroic, handsome, kind. It’s too bad that there’s a time limit. Like a library checkout, characters must return to their books after two weeks, and characters can only “visit” once a year. Jack’s already been out for 11 days. With a villain on the loose (Stella’s fault) and the annual Blue Sky Valley Festival coming up this weekend, Stella must maintain control while keeping the library’s secret. She must also face the reality that all stories come to an end, no matter how good. All magic comes with a price.

            An adult fiction novel of contemporary romance and magical realism, it honors libraries, favorite stories and anyone who’s ever fallen for a fictional character. The title caught my eye, but it’s the idea of favorite characters wandering around where you can interact with them that really struck me. This story should’ve been wondrous, but Stella is a woman who’s stuck and is so fixated on romance that she’s miserable. I’ll admit that if she was my friend, I’d be struggling with her. Frustrating Stella aside, this is a novel of hope and renewal that brims with magic, the wanderlust found through reading and book boyfriends come to life. There is whimsy and heartbreak and quite a bit of charm.

Menu of Happiness (Oct. 14, 2025/US edition) by Hisashi Kashiwai.

   Jesse Kirkwood, translator.

<This is the third novel in a series.>

Anyone for thirds? The food detectives and father-daughter duo are back at the Kamogawa Diner serving up lost recipes and reviving suppressed memories. They may not realize it, but their clients aren’t just hungry for food; they’re hungry for nostalgia. A professional dancer looks for kake soba (plain noodles in hot broth with no trimmings) as an upscale lacquerware artisan wants curry and rice made by his estranged daughter who’s currently in prison. A former piano prodigy who injured her own hand for love seeks yakisoba made by the man she loves but hasn’t seen in 15 years while a man unhappy in his decades-long marriage yearns for gyoza served by the parents of the woman he once had an affair with in his student years. A businessman wants omurice (an omelet on fried rice) made by the mom of his best friend growing up and a popular romance author desires croquettes that she serially stole from a stall as a desperately hungry child. They come for the sustenance and will return for the solace.

            This is the third novel in Kashiwai’s Kamogawa Food Detectives series, and it’s the third of his I’ve read. The adult fiction, cozy mystery is one to warm you up on a chilly day and bring you the luxury of comfort food, even if one isn’t familiar with all of the food in these books. Step into the diner on Shomen-dori and sit yourself down. Might Chef Nagare serve you omi beef with miso sauce and tempura vegetables? Will you wash it down with the hojicha (a Japanese green) tea Koishi brings you? Or do you prefer sake? A nice cava? The entire book is succinct and reading it makes me feel nutrient-rich. Hungry, too!

          Book One: The Kamogawa Food Detectives

          Book Two: The Restaurant of Lost Recipes

Tales from the Cafe (Oct. 12, 2021) by Toshikazu Kawaguchi.

   Geoffrey Trousselot, translator.

<This is the second novel in a series.>

<Alert: Potential spoilers ahead.>

Clang-Dong. Return to Tokyo’s Funiculi Funicula to meet four new patrons looking to travel back in time. There are familiar faces, too, in Kazu Tokita, waitress and coffee pourer, and Nagare Tokita, Kazu’s cousin and proprietor of the cafe. There’s Miki, Nagare’s daughter, who’s eager to become the cafe’s pourer (when she’s seven). Gohtaro Chiba wanders into the shop wanting to meet Shuichi Kamiya. Gohtaro’s been raising Shuichi’s daughter all these years as a single dad, and she’s about to get married. Yukio Mita’s life isn’t going according to plan. He isn’t the successful potter he thought he’d be, and his mother (Kinuyo), his biggest champion, passed away from cancer without her or his sister (Kyoko Kijima) ever telling him she was sick. Katsuki Kurata wants to travel to the future to see Asami Mori, but he doesn’t want to meet her if either of two circumstances has come to pass. Kiyoshi Manda, a homicide detective at Kanda Police Station, wants to give his wife (Kimiko) a birthday gift, but he needs the advice of those at Funiculi Funicula. And ever present is the woman in the white dress: Kaname. Kazu’s mom. Clang-Dong.

            The follow-up to “Before the Coffee Gets Cold” is a short, adult fiction, Japanese literature novel that isn’t limited to one genre. There’s time travel in a contemporary setting with dashes of magical realism and patrons who each must face their past (or, for one, his future) in order to move on with their lives. It’s wistful and charming, deeply moving and sometimes sad. The story contains the multitudes of life and death, love and loss, the gladness of renewal and the awe of happiness. It manages to show pragmatism within the magic of the cafe.

            Book One: Before the Coffee Gets Cold

"The Midnight Train" by Matt Haig

The Midnight Train (May 26, 2026) by Matt Haig.

<This is the second novel in a series.>

It’s the three-cylinder passenger express engine of Wilbur Budd’s childhood, the Duke of Gloucester, except this one has carriages trailing behind, and the gray nameplate on the side of the boiler reads The Midnight Train. The station location isn’t SHEFFIELD, but WILBUR. Wilbur has just died, you see. Dead or not, no one can change a past that’s already been, but the Midnight Train can take you to all of those places where there is something to be observed and learned. It’s a chance to relive the moments that meant the most. With Agnes Deborah Amaryllis Bagdale (a.k.a. Mrs. Bagdale) of Bagdale’s Bookshop as his guide, Wilbur’s about to take a really hard look at the person he was in life. He’ll visit his best days with Maggie Shaw (eventually Mrs. Budd), the love of his life, when their love was young and their compasses centered. Then there was after. The shop expansions, the trips, more business trips, a husband that is never home and a wife who no longer feels like she has a husband. He wants more, more, more, but pushes Maggie aside as he achieves all of that more-ness. He loses his compass. Referring to his deceased self as the Ghost, he anticipates the memories he’s about to relive and there are those he wishes he could skip over (but he can’t). The regrets he didn’t have in life are staring back at him through his memories. He wishes he could go back and live better. He has an idea ... but the risk might be too great.

            Penned as the second novel in The Midnight World series but easily read as a standalone (Nora Seed makes an appearance), this is a time travel fiction novel of fantasy and magical realism that gives readers an interesting take on a journey after death. This love story is an adventure, as well as an exploration of what’s truly important in a lifetime. Through Wilbur, Haig reminds us that we should remember to live in the moment, but not in a way that feels clichéd. The love story is an appreciation expedition, a journey, a lesson and a reflection. It’s an adult fiction novel that makes readers think and encourages us “...to be nostalgic about the present.” Let none of us ever be in the sidecar of anyone’s ambition!

            Book One: The Midnight Library

Rutabaga's Reads 2026: Part 6

Welcome to this first edition of adult fiction titles for 2026. I actually have more adult fiction than usual plotted for this year, but some are saved under different nicknames and not specifically as adult fiction posts. Stay tuned, my fellow readers! I didn’t plot the post this way, but each of the short novels is from a Japanese author.

Before the Coffee Gets Cold (Nov. 17, 2020) by Toshikazu Kawaguchi.

   Geoffrey Trousselot, translator.

<This is the first novel in a series.>

Clang-Dong. Customers at Funiculi Funicula can go back in time, but there are unbending rules to be followed, including the one that states the trip will only last until the coffee gets cold. The cafe in Tokyo is small and unassuming, but it’s significant for four people one sweltering summer. She knows she can’t change the present, but Fumiko Kiyokawa still wants to tell her boyfriend Goro Katada how she feels. Kohtake, a nurse, wants to retrieve a letter from Fusagi, her husband battling dementia. Yaeko Hirai runs a successful bar after leaving her family’s inn, but is desperate to connect with Kumi, a sister six years her junior. Kei Tokita, the wife of proprietor Nagare Tokita, wants to travel to the future, but not to know if she’s alive. She knows her heart is weak, and she isn’t afraid of dying. They will be guided by Kazu Tokita, cousin to Nagare, and the only one who can serve the transporting coffee. There’s also a teenage girl looking for someone, but no one knows who she is when she turns up in that seat, the one normally occupied by the woman in the white dress (she’s a ghost). It remains to be seen if the travelers will find the answers they’re looking for, but one thing’s for sure -- they must all return before the coffee gets cold. Clang-Dong.

            The first in a series of the same name is a short, adult fiction, Japanese literature novel centering on magical realism and time travel. It’s as immersive as one’s favorite cup of hot coffee/tea/chocolate and is wistful, delightful and totally individual. It’s also heartwarming and heartrending, and it made me teary, but I can’t deny its charm and simple beauty. The story is engaging and highlights the power of human relationships and love. Based on one of the cafe’s rules, it reminds readers that you can’t change what’s already happened, but you can change yourself.

The Full Moon Coffee Shop (Aug. 20, 2024) by Mai Mochizuki.

   Jesse Kirkwood, translator.

<This is the first novel in a series.>

Welcome to the Full Moon Coffee Shop. There are no set hours, no fixed location, and it typically appears without notice. The shop is currently appearing under a Kyoto moon to people feeling lost who are also interconnected. The shop doesn’t have a menu, but guests will be served by talking cats who will discuss astrology and natal charts and say things like Mercury is in retrograde and With Venus in your fifth house. There’s Mizuki Serikawa, a scriptwriter down on her luck, Akari Nakayama, a director who isn’t as goody-goody as she presents herself despite the perfectionism she places on herself and others, and Satsuki Ayukawa, a lead actress crumbling under a public scandal. There’s Jiro, a stylist whom someone hasn’t admitted she has romantic feelings for, Takashi Mizumoto, co-owner of M Y Systems and its server security engineer who feels like things go wrong more for him than his partner, and Megumi Hayakawa, a hairdresser who’s made a rather impulsive career choice based on a dream. They will be served delectable, otherworldly treats like Astral Milk from the Milky Way, Aquarius Trifle, Mercury Cream Soda and Sunrise Syrup (none of which can be replicated with regular, mortal ingredients). It may be served by Master, a six-foot tall tortoiseshell cat; Caelus, a Singapura; Cronus (Saturn), a tuxedo cat; Venus, a Persian; or Mercury, a Siamese. With varying personalities and cryptic wisdom, these working lost will reclaim their paths.

            Although I don’t drink coffee, I do love cats, and with cats on the cover, I was drawn to this short, adult fiction novel of contemporary fantasy and magical realism. It’s a cozy Japanese literature story and a gentle one. Even though I’m not into astrology, this tale is charming and well-crafted. Reading it goes down smooth like a luscious milkshake and dazzles like diamond stars in the night sky. Clever celestial confections, unruffled fantasy and enchantment create a feel-good story, despite the woes of the human characters. The magical cats are a delight, too. I will be continuing this series.

The Restaurant of Lost Recipes (Oct. 8, 2024/US edition) by Hisashi Kashiwai.

   Jesse Kirkwood, translator.

<This is the second novel in a series.>

In this second helping, Chef Nagare Kamogawa and his adult daughter Koishi continue running the unassuming but incredible Kamogawa Diner and the Kamogawa Detective Agency, respectively. Nagare’s turned his past as a former detective and his passion for food into a culinary sleuthing business. He serves a mouthwatering set menu to first-time customers. They might be served miso-marinated pomfret, deep-fried Manganji peppers, hamo eel and chilled tofu, but they seek lost recipes. An Olympic-level swimmer looks for nori-ben (nori seaweed on a bed of rice) made by his estranged father as a gray pantsuit-ed woman always in a hurry looks for a Japanese-style hamburger steak recipe that she thinks her father made. A couple who run a traditional bakery are hoping for a Western-style Christmas cake as an offering for their young son’s shrine (he died in a car accident six years ago) while a model friend longs for fried rice made by her deceased mother. A managing director of a printing company seeks ramen from a yatai (food cart) existing during his university days over 30 years prior and a singer pursues ten-don (tempura served over a bowl of rice) she once had after her one hit from a restaurant that’s no longer open. Each of these characters longs for lost recipes. They need help finding them again.

            When you’re on Karasuma and reach Higashi Honganji temple, turn onto Shomen-dori to find the tucked away Kamogawa Diner. The second novel in the Kamogawa Food Detectives series is as comforting as rich hot cocoa and as healing as any balm. The adult fiction, cozy mystery highlights the marvel of delectable food. I love the details of the served food as well as the found food. This short novel is easy to devour with a lot of flavor and nourishing to boot. The only unfortunate part isn’t the story, but the lack of any Japanese restaurants near me.

            Book One: The Kamogawa Food Detectives

"Throwback" by Maurene Goo

Throwback (Apr. 11, 2023) by Maurene Goo.

<This is a standalone novel.>

Time is a mother. Like, for real. Samantha Kang is a Gen Z high school senior in 2025 who’s always butted heads with her perfect mom. Priscilla is a first-generation Korean-American, a former high school cheerleader and one of the “in crowd” who graced her homecoming court. She expects Sam to embrace the same all-American nightmare. After a huge blow-up with her mom when her beloved grandma (Priscilla’s mom), her halmoni, falls into a coma, Sam is stuck finding her own way to school during a downpour. She employs Throwback Rides, and Marge picks her up. She drops her off at her high school. North Foothill High. Except it’s all slightly off. The lighting, the color of the lockers, the year. She’s been thrown back to 1995. Priscilla Jo is a gorgeous high school senior, looking like perfection at school around her mostly Caucasian classmates and working at her mom’s dry cleaners shop, as well as often caring for her little sister, Grace, and making meals for the family when their mom’s at the cleaners. Their dad has been deceased for a few years. As if being on a time crunch isn’t bad enough – she’s got to figure out how to help her mom and Halmoni in the ‘90s or risk staying trapped there – but there’s the extra trickiness of dealing with outdated tech, ‘90s microaggressions and finding the right guy in the wrong time.

            “Throwback” is a YA novel that has high drama, but a big heart with a Back to the Future vibe and a rundown, old hatchback with chipped teal paint (a far cry from the DeLorean). My first story from Goo is one I found to be delightful. I don’t much care for expletives, as I don’t ever think they move a story along, but that’s easy enough to ignore. What’s at the forefront is a sometimes snarky love story, and I’m not only referring to romantic love, but the love that binds families, too, even when that love isn’t obvious. It’s YA, so it’s teenager-drama-ridden, but it’s also an emotionally complex ride with intergenerational relationships. There’s hardheadedness and anger, but it’s tempered by compassion and connection. As someone who was a kid in the ‘90s, reading this felt nostalgic and sometimes familiar. It’s vibey, inventive and bright, and I’m glad that I spotted this book at my local library.