December 2020 Wrap-Up & Favorites

Source: personal collection

Hello fellow readers! The year 2020 has finally come to an end. It's already 2021 actually, I posted this just now because I want to chill a bit after such a hectic year-end at work. In December, I watched and read some heartwarming contents that I'd love to share. Online Japanese Film Festival also happened in December so I watched several Japanese movies for a whole week. Some even become my favorite of the month. Anyway, here's the list of books I read in December.

Books read in December

	Before the Coffee Gets Cold - Toshikazu Kawaguchi (★★★★)
	Before the Coffee Gets Cold is the first book in a series which revolves around a small cafe in Tokyo. What makes this cafe special is there is an urban legend that people could time travel while sitting in a specific seat in the cafe. Of course the time travelling is not that easy. There is a set of rules to follow such as you could only time travel for a limited time, which is before the coffee served to you gets cold. This book contains four chapters in which each focus on a specific character. There are several recurring characters which consist of the cafe staffs and frequent visitors. The stories in this book trying to answer the question of what would you do if you could travel back in time. These tales about dealing with grief, regrets, and redemption are heartwarming and moving. I wrote a full review of this book on this blog if you want to know more of my thoughts on it. Overall, I recommend this book to read.
	Kidnapped - Olaudah Equiano (★★★)
	This little black classic contains selected chapters taken from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, which is the autobiography of Olaudah Equiano. It tells the story Equiano's life being kidnapped as a child and forced to enslavement. In this book, he described the horror of being a slave and his personal journey studying Bible and becoming a Christian. Since this book only include selected chapters from the actual book, many details about his life aren't explained in this book. However, those included especially the ones revolving around his life as a slave in the West Indies Colony are horrifying. The slaves are treated inhumane. The description can be graphic so be warned. The writing itself can be difficult to understand at times. I guess because it's written in some kind of old English style. Anyway, it's a horrific tale. I don't think I'll be able to read the full book.
	Hyouka - Yonezawa Honobu (★★★)
	Hyouka is the first book in the Kotenbu (Classic Literature Club) series. It follows the life of four high school students who joined the classic literature club. These four students have different and quirky personalities, especially the protagonist, Oreki Houtarou. He's a guy who refuse to waste his energy. He only does things if it's really necessary. Joining the club wasn't initially on his high school experience plan. However, her older sister who's an alumnus asked him to join the club to save it. In this book, they encountered a mystery surrounding a school event from 33 years ago. Chitanda Eru, the president of the club asked Oreki's help to solve the mystery since it also involves her uncle and her fading memory of him from when she's younger. As the story progress and more clues revealed, the whole club ended up joining Oreki trying to solve the mystery. Hyouka is a fun young adult mystery book. In this book, the focus is more on the characters and the club itself, so the mystery bit is not as intense. However, I enjoyed reading the interaction between the characters. Anyway, this series has been adapted into anime series if you want to check it out. I haven't watched the anime but I'll continue on reading the next book in the series.
	The New World - Patrick Ness (★★)
	The New World is a short story which is a part of Ness's Chaos Walking world. It follows Viola before she and her parents land on the planet where Todd lives. Though it's a prequel, I think reading at least the first book is recommended so the story would leave more impact. To be honest, I enjoyed reading the series but I don't love it that much. In fact, I forget a lot of things which happened in the original trilogy so reading this short story was just okay to me. The keyword in this short story is hope which Viola lacks of. It's nice to know the kind of mindset Viola had when she landed on the planet but I don't think reading this short is necessary unless you really like the original trilogy.
	The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Junot Diaz (★★★★)
	This book follows the life of Oscar De Leon, a Dominican overweight kid who lives in America. It tells the story of his life and people around him who shape his life. Though the summary of this book sounds so simple, believe me this book is not. Many many things happened in Oscar's life. Most of them influenced by the reign of Trujillo. In this book, there is a thing called Fuku which basically means a curse. It is said that Trujillo held a Fuku and people who have somewhat contact with him will catch the Fuku. The Fuku is often believed as what's responsible for the misfortunes in the De Leon family. That's the theme of the book. There's actually a lot more about this book that I couldn't explain here. I have written a full review of this book on this blog. In short, this book is unexpected and I highly recommend it to read.
	Mind the Gap, Dash & Lily - David Levithan & Rachel Cohn (★★★)
	This book is the third book in the Dash & Lily series. I must say this book was unexpected. I thought it was going to end with the Twelve Days of Dash & Lily, but no. In fact, they adapted the book into a Netflix series too. Although I'm not sure if the series include the second book too or not because I haven't watched it. I know I might come off as if I don't like the whole franchise, I do. It's just this third book is ... unexpected. Since it's the third book and the series is about Dash & Lily, even if you haven't read the first and the second book, it's safe to assume that the two end up together. However, will they survive this book? Mind the Gap is a cute fluffy coming of age story and it's timely to read in December because the books always set during Christmas time. They are in College now, well at least one of them is because Lily is taking a gap year. In this book they're trying to figure what they really want to do with their life after high school. There are details about the characters that I forget because I think I read the second book almost 2 years ago. Still, I find this book entertaining. Dash loves books which I could relate to. That's the initial attraction of the series for me. The first book mostly set in the Strands New York. With this one, Dash moved to England to study in Oxford and Lily went to visit him. So that's what's new with them. All in all, it's a cute and fun book to read during the holiday season. If you're looking for that kind of book, you could check this one out.
	Rave: Vintage Minis - Irvine Welsh (★★★)
	Okay, I don't know where to start with this one. Rave is a part of Vintage Minis collection centering on the theme of Rave. Actually, I don't really know which rave this book refers to. Is it the rambling one or the party one. But after finishing this book, I'd say either one fits the book just fine. Rave is definitely nothing like I've read before. It's full of drugs and people messing around and it's written in Scottish dialect, which somehow I found funny. It's already hard for me to understand what people are saying when they are speaking with Scottish accent. English is not my first language to begin with. It's even harder for me to understand it in writing. When I was reading, I literally had to read it aloud to understand what it means. I found that funny. The protagonist in this book is a drug addict who (from what I read) loves to party around all the time. I believe I haven't encountered that many drugs related words before this book. I had to have both urban dictionary and the Oxford dictionary on ready while I was reading. Looking back on this, I find it funny too. Anyway, by the end of the story, he found out that all his life he hasn't experienced love and might be experiencing one at the time. He contemplated on this revelation with his friend who then suggested that it might be the drugs talking. That's the story. I only heard of one work by this author which was already on my wish list. The book's title is Trainspotting. I know that Trainspotting is about heroin addicts and whatnot. What I didn't know was it's also written in the Scottish dialect. After what I experienced with this book, I don't think I want to read that one going forward. Maybe I'll just watch the movie instead. Not to mention, the whole experience of reading this book was ... trippy. It's like everything is happening at the same time. It's confusing. It took a while for me to realize what's happening. It scared me. If you're not being put off by those, then you're welcome to try reading Welsh's books. As for me, I think I'll watch Trainspotting and I'll be done.

December Favorites

Book

Before the Coffee Gets Cold

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

TV shows

Sex and the City

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Never knew that I'd get addicted to this show. I was randomly browsing HBO and found that this show is available to stream. I never watched the show before even though this show was so popular back then. I think it's become a recurring theme in my watchlist in 2020, old popular TV shows that I haven't watched previously. So I tried watching one episode and figured that I'd decide from there. Well, I was hooked. The show is funny and some relationship insights which Carrie talk about in the show are intriguing to think about. This show is what I need to wind down after a day of working. By the time I wrote this wrap-up I'm already on the last season, season 6.

Movies

Our 30 Minute Sessions

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This movie is one of the lineup in Online Japanese Film Festival 2020. When they announced the lineup and I saw this movie, I already had my eye on it. First, because of Mackenyu Arata (I know I'm biased) and second it's been a while since I watched a lighthearted Japanese romance movie and I need some hopeful romance in my life. The opening sequence of this movie is *chef kiss*. I also love that it's not a high school romance. Though I don't mind that kind of romance, God knows I'm too old for that sometimes. However, the romance in this movie is so subtle and sweet, exactly what I like. In some movies, especially Asian romance movies, the romance can be dramatic it's too much for me. Anyway, if you're curious I suggest watching the opening sequence of this movie (about the first 2 to 3 minutes I guess) and see if you're interested to continue watching.

Cafe Funiculi Funicula

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Cafe Funiculi Funicula is a movie adaptation of the book Before the Coffee Gets Cold which I read in the beginning of December. This movie is also part of the lineup in the Online Japanese Film Festival 2020. I was excited to watch this movie especially after finishing the book. There are differences between the book and the movie. The movie still manages to capture the spirit of the book though. I don't mind the differences. It's almost like experiencing the story for the first time all over again. I recommend this movie to watch whether you've read the book or not.

Soul

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I watched this as soon as it's available in Disney+. All I can say about this movie is it hits hard. It's not your fun children movie. It's about finding joy in the littlest things in life. It's about exploring your passion and purpose in life. No more words, I highly recommend this movie to watch.

So there you have it! The last wrap-up and favorite post for 2020. I originally want to write a wrap-up of the wrap-ups of my 2020. But I don't know, I'll do it if I'm not too lazy or actually have the time. We'll see. I spent my new year's eve watching movies with my roommate and binge on chocolate. We wanted to buy something and eat something special but because of the pandemic, the local government adjusted the operational business hours for the day so we didn't have time to buy or have anything special delivered to binge on while watching the movies. Nothing special but at least I'm still healthy and I wasn't spending it alone. I'm grateful that I survive the year. That's good enough for me. How about you? What did you do during New Year's Eve? I hope you all stay healthy and happy new year!