February 2024 Wrap-Up & Favorites

Source: personal collection

Hello fellow readers! I'm still catching up with my monthly wrap-up and we're on the second month of the year now. In February I read more than I did in January which is a good thing. Truthfully, I miss reading so I'm relieved that I could spend more time to read in February. Anyway, here's the books I read in February.

Books read in February

	The Premonition - Banana Yoshimoto (★★★)
	The Premonition tells the story of Yayoi, a 19 years old who seemingly lead a mundane life with her parents and her younger brother. She has a quirky aunt whom she's close to. While she stayed in her aunt's house, she got a weird vision of memories which she couldn't understand. While trying to unravel the mystery of her vision, her aunt went missing. Since her aunt is the one who seems to know the answer to her vision, she went to look for her while trying to reevaluate her life with her family. The Premonition is a short book but it's one of those books which best to be savored slowly. It's a beautifully written book which I recommend to read.
	The Kamogawa Food Detectives - Hisashi Kashiwai (★★★★)
	The Kamogawa Food Detectives follows a father-daughter duo who run a diner in Kyoto which offer special service. They could recreate any dish requested by the customer with no exact recipe required. Often, the customers would request dishes which hold special meaning to them, uncovering touching stories behind the dishes. This book has 6 different stories in it, all still revolve around the Kamogawa diner. I enjoyed reading this book. It brought up many emotions and nostalgic feelings, I recommend it to read.
	So Late in the Day - Claire Keegan (★★★)
	So Late in the Day is a short story which originally published in the New Yorker. It follows Cathal, a mundane office worker who's just trying to get through his routine of the day. As the story progress, we learn about his past relationship as he reflected on what went wrong and what could have been. The story starts slow and unassuming. Cathal seems like your everyman male lead whom you're ready to root for. Later on it gets bleaker and you're willing to slap Cathal in the face. This is the first time I read Keegan's work. Since it's a short story, it's a perfect way to get to know her writing. All in all, I like her writing and I'm intrigued to read her other works.
	Lovesickness - Junji Ito (★★★★)
	This manga collects 10 Junji Ito stories with five of them revolve around the theme Lovesickness and two revolve around the Strange Hikizuri Siblings. Lovesickness sets in a town where there's a rumor if you stand in a crossroad and ask a question to the first stranger who passes by, you'll get some kind of prophecy as the answer. A mysterious handsome man started being seen around the town giving prophecies. However, the people receiving his prophecy always ended up dead because they were obsessed with him and killed themselves. A boy named Ryusuke who used to live in the town moved back and started to chase this mysterious man because of his dark past. Of all Junji Ito's stories I read, Lovesickness is probably the one that I actually enjoyed reading the most. It's still horrifying, but there's a tragic story in there which makes me sympathize with the characters. Often, Junji Ito's characters are so unlikeable that whatever misfortunes coming to them are expected; Almost like they deserve it. With Lovesickness, the main character has a redeeming quality that I can help but root for him. Even the ending is a bit hopeful which I never find in Junji Ito's other stories so far. If you're a Junji Ito's first-timer, I would recommend starting with this collection.

February Favorites

Books

The Kamogawa Food Detectives

Movie

Agak Laen

I rarely watch Indonesian movies at the movie theater. Usually, I'll wait until they come up on the streaming services. I'm rarely interested in Indonesian movies anyway. This movie however, is a different story. The four main cast of this film have a podcast together. I like listening to their podcast because it's funny. One of them is also a host on a talk show which I like to watch also. They are the reason I went to watch this movie. They sure don't disappoint. I'm planning to rewatch this movie once it's available on the streaming services.

I must say, February was uneventful for me. After what felt like a long January, February felt like it went away so fast. I'm grateful that I managed to spent some time to read though. So there you have it for my February. I hope your February was a good one.