Name of Captivating Character: Mari
The reason she is captivating: leadership, considerate, loyal, caring
Book and Author: The Amalfi Curse by Sarah Penner
Genre/Categories/Setting: historical fiction
Mood: suspenseful
Content Considerations: none
The Amalfi Curse has a dual timeline between the current era and 1821. Mari was alive during 1821 in Positano, Italy. She was the top sea witch who all of the other streghe (sea witches) looked up to. Mari was also a good mentor to the young girls with the necessary lineage to be a streghe del mare, sea witch. The girls were not allowed to join the group of ladies until they reached the age of seventeen. Even the men in Mari's village respected her. The men knew that their village was never pillaged by pirates because of Mari's incantations. She was responsible for keeping everyone in Positano safe and she did this job well. Mari was also in love and planned to secretly marry and leave the area. She is a fascinating character.
Yesterday I published a post regarding Asian fiction novels that I found on Instagram. Today I am publishing historical fiction novels that I found on Instagram. Several authors and other Instagrammers are known for recommending historical fiction books. Since I need a place to store the list of books that I want to read is necessary, I have decided to list them all here.
I have begun a new social media addiction with Instagram. Several Instagrammers are known for recommending books from Asia. Specifically, there are lists of books from Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and China. Books written in India and Pakistan are also featured. I have always read books translated from these countries but I am fascinated by the lists of books from these places. Needing a place to store the lists is necessary so I have decided to list them all here.
Japan
The Friday Bookshop by Sawako Natori
The Book of Tea by Kakuzo Okakura
The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon
As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams
Abroad in Japan by Chris Broad
Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa
The Lantern of Lost Memories by Sanaka Hiiragi
Before We Say Goodbye by Toshikazu Rawaguchi
Gate to Kagoshima by Poppy Kuroki
The Matcha Maker Cafe by Lily Chen
The Menu of Happiness by Hisashi Kashiwai
Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz
Asleep by Banana Yoshimoto
The Magical Matcha Teashop by Natasha Bache
Goodbye Tsugumi by Banana Yoshimoto
Picnic in the Storm by Yukiko Motoya
In the Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami
Out by Natsuo Kirino
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
Water Moon by Samantha Yambao
The Chibineko Kitchenby Yuta Takahashi
The Healing Seadon of Pottery by Yeon Somin
Letters From the Ginza Shihodo Stationery Dhop by Kenji Ueda
Before We Forget Kindness by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai
Every Bookshop Needs a Cat by Takuya Asakura
Treats From the Osaka Bakery by Usagi Tsuchiya
South Korea
The Vegetarian by Han Kang
Yeonnam-dong's Smiley Laundromat by Kim Jiyun
I Want to Die But I Want to Eat Tteokbokki by Baek Sehee
Almond by Won-Pyung Sohn
The Seoul Letter Shop by Baek Seungyeon
The Hole by Hye-Young Pyun
The Wizard's Bakery by Gu Byeong-Mo
The Memory Bookshop by Song Yu-jeong
Plant Lady by Menyoung Kang
Soyangri Book Kitchen by Kim Jee Hye
Every Day I Read by Hwang Bo-Reum
The Healing Season of Pottery by Yeon Somin
Dallergut Dream Department Store by Miye Lee
One Day a Cat Came to Me by Bokyeong Sunim
Singapore
Of Jade and Dragons by Amber Chen
The Blood Phoenix by Amber Chen
An Auction of Souls by Amber Chen
Land of Sand and Song by Joyce Chua
The Formidable Miss Cassidy by Meihan Boey
City of Others by Jared Poon
The Disappearance of Patrick Zhou by Ally Chua
Dear Darling by Ella King
The Great Reclamation by Rachel Heng
Nine Yard Sarees by Prasanthi Ram
Names Have Been Made by Yu-Mei Balasingamchow
Indonesia
Night of a Thousand Hells by Intan Paramaditha
China
The Republic of Wine by Mo Yan
I Deliver Parcels in Beijing by Hu Anyan
Made in China by Anna Qu
A Rover From the Sky by Ai Jiang
India
Lives Not Lived by Monika Bhatti
The Poison Palace by Shreya Ila Anasuya
Two and a Half Story by Anagha Purohit
Marigold by Heena Singhal
Love at Last Swipe by Preeti Mallapurkar
When the Desert Listened by Maansi Guptey
Whispers of Shiva by Poonam Chatterjee
Course of Destiny by Nandini Dhanani
Love of Apricots by Madhulika Liddle
Pyre by Perumal Murugan
The Dowry Bride by Shobhan Bantwal
The 20th Wife by Indu Sundaresan
Last Queen by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Remnants of Separation by Aanchal Malhotra
Called by the Hills Anuradha Roy
How to be Less Useful by Priyanka Mattoo
The Sharma Sisters by Rachael Fernandes
Have You Seen Romit by Chital Mehta
The Girl With Seven Lives by Vikas Swarup
All Our Evenings by Ruthvika Rao
Musafir Cafe by
More Than Just Biryani by Andaleeb Wajid
Shaadi, Secrets and Second Chances by Rheaa Noor
The Home and the World by Rabindranath Tagore
Kanthapura by Raja Rao
Samskara by U.R. Ananthamurthy
Godan by Premchand
Dark Room by R.K. Narayan
The Ten Percent Thief by Lauanya Lakshminarayan
The First House by Avni Doshi
A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar
The Magnificent Ruins by Nayantara Roy
Ohari by K L. Mohana Varma
Real Life by Amrita Mahale
Mottled Dawn by Saadat Manto
Train to Pakistan by Kushwant Singh
The Shadow Lines by Amitav Ghosh
A Delhi Obsession by M.G. Vassanji
Equations by Shivani Sibal
Jaipur Journals by Namita Gokhale
Bombay Balchao by Jane Borges
Milk Teeth by Amrita Mahale
The Half Mother by Shahnaz Bashir
The Henna Start Up by Andaleeb Wajid
Rumours of Spring by Farah Bashir
Afghanistan
City of Widows by Nadia Hashimi
Dancing in the Mosque by Homeira Qaderi
Pakistan
The Centre by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqui
Thailand
Jasmine Nights by SP Somtow
Taiwan
Cafe Waiting Love by Giddens Ko
.Banana King by Lee Wong-Tai
The Boy From Clearwater by Yu Pei-Yun
American Panda by Gloria Chao
The Balance Tips by Ren Iris
Weeb by Lin King
Synopsis
Young widow Sharon Raber has been feeling hopeless. Still restless after a visit to her parents, she decides to retreat from Indiana to Sarasota, Florida, for some solitude in the sun. Finally drawn out of her grief by an older widow in the Pinecraft community, Sharon meets Peter Stutzman, who is helping his aunt make home repairs. Could a second chance at love be possible for Sharon, or will the courage needed to release her heart be too much for her. . .and Peter?
My Thoughts
The Prologue was enchanting. Sharon and Mark haven't been married but a year but are still madly in love with each other as they were on their wedding day. The Prologue ends with Sharon learning that Mark has been involved in a traffic accident. I never expected Mark to die. It didn't seem possible that this great love could be over. It was shocking when I began reading the first chapter and discovered he had been dead for nine months. I was sorry to see the passionate story ending.
Sharon spent the next year just going through the motions of life. She sold the marital home and moved back in with her parents. I think Sharon made a mistake here. She should have continued being independent from her family. Moving back home gave her the opportunity to mope around the house for as long as she wanted. I don't believe that she could move forward in her life when she knew that her parents would always take care of her.
I was thrilled to see Sharon become friendly with Iva. Iva was my favorite character. She is lively and always cheerful. I wish I personally knew her. With Iva's appearance the story perked up.
The author usually writes about Amish romance that has a modern problem connected to it. In this novel she has written strictly a romance story. Since Brunstetter usually includes a modern dilemma in her plots I was a little disappointed in this story. That said, it was well written with interesting characters.
3 out of 5 stars.
Writing a book is mysterious to me,” she said. “The first and last line come first, so I had the first line of chapter 1 and the last line of chapter 12, connected with 12 colors. I really wanted to finish chapter 12 when I started writing.”I was into drawing with pastels when writing this book. The challenge with drawing this way is that when you use different types of material to color on, there are different ways it can come out. One color I used was called “skin color,” though it’s closer to beige. I didn’t use that name for the color because all skin colors are different.The publisher asked me to do some drawings for the book, so I started drawing something quickly with pastels, but it wasn’t used.
Synopsis
A fantastical coming-of-age graphic novel involving love, loss, and found family, centered around a determined autistic heroine who refuses to make herself fit neatly into other peoples’ space
Wherever she is, Olive has never quite fit in, and living in a dorm room for the first time is no exception. To get away from the bullies, annoying teachers, and her parents, Olive escapes alone into her own vast world of vivid landscapes and fantastical inventions—until she gets an unexpected visit from a mysterious astronaut.
Could the astronaut in her inner world be the same astronaut who recently crash-landed on earth without a trace? Night by night, Olive watches his health fade and becomes more and more certain that she has to take action.
When no one believes that she knows how to save him, she joins forces with her plucky new roommate to unpack the clues from her inner world and venture on a journey to real-life countries she’s never been to before—all to save an astronaut who, as far as she can recall, she’s never met.
My Thoughts
I enjoyed reading this story. It captivated my imagination and kept me reading until I finished it in just one sitting. I didn't quite understand that Olive was autistic though. It makes alot of sense now that I have finished reading the book. Olive's character was presented as a loner which I readily accepted. My thoughts were that Olive was introverted with a severe social phobia. I should have realized that she was autistic given her inability to be around other people.
Olive felt the need to escape the pressures of school bullies and daily life so she frequently retreated into her head, which she populated with a rubber duck named Noel and a transparent whale named Rose. I am not autistic but believe that the story realistically shows an autistic person's lived experience. We see Olive retreating daily into herself. When reality overwhelms her, she goes to her safe space, the world she created in her mind. The school Olive attends is located in Paris. The school accommodated her disability by allowing her to live in a room by herself. When Olive’s grades plummet the school forces her to have a roommate. Charlie is the roommate's name.
The outer space setting was beautiful. It was colored in dreamy bright blues which is not what space actually looks like. The school setting was similarly nice, however, the dorms were untidy. Students tried to fit all the comforts of home into their dorm rooms and consequently they were cluttered. I liked this setting because it was cozy. I can remember my own college dorm looking the same way.
Parents, there are no sexy drawings or scenes so I can recommend the book for kids as well as adults. It's simply a great story. 5 out of 5 stars.
As I Dream of You was recently published on May 5,2026. The graphic novel is somewhat dark as it deals with grief and finding the strength to let go in order to keep on living. I would call it a romantic tragedy.
Synopsis
Franny and Sam are each other’s entire world. So what do you do when your world ends? Frozen’s Jennifer Lee and Lunar New Year Love Story’s LeUyen Pham deliver a tour de force young adult romance with a supernatural twist.
Falling in love is supposed to hurt. That’s what Franny and Sam, two cynical teenagers raised on tales of heartbreak and loss, have come to understand. Yet when they fall for each other, they find the reality of love is something else entirely: it’s electrifying, all-encompassing, and easy. Theirs is a love that can conquer anything…perhaps even death.
But Franny and Sam’s quest to stay together—no matter the cost—soon blurs the line between reality and fantasy, and their shared dream threatens to turn into a nightmare.
My Thoughts
My initial thought concerning the book is for parents. There are many sexy scenes and drawings that they may not want their kids exposed to.
Franny and Sam had a romance for the ages. They are high school juniors. Halfway through the story Franny dies in an accident. Sam cannot handle his grief and he descends into darkness where he believes he is meeting Franny in person. He also wants to kill himself so that they can be together again. A new friend talks him through his feelings.
The drawings match the grief Sam feels. I thought they were dark, not pretty at all, but this seems to be a minority opinion among book reviewers.
While the book has received high praise I did not care for it. The storyline was written well though. It just wasn't my cup of tea. 3 out of 5 stars.
This week I am featuring the latest novel by Bonnie Garmus who wrote Lessons in Chemistry. This novel is set in the publishing world of 1980s New York City. It's about a young man whose life turns upside down when he is hired by the most prestigious, secretive, and dysfunctional poetry journal in the world: the renowned Peck & Peck.
During 1982 in New York City Batter Gray had a skill that no one wants. He has an “ear” for poetry. He is worried about his future. While all of his friends have real jobs, he’s folding T-shirts at the Gap while he waits for the perfect job.
But when Batter gets a dream job at Peck & Peck, the most prestigious poetry quarterly in the world, his life moves into the literary fast lane. Soon Batter is knee-deep in the secret war between the two Editors in Chief, the famous Peck brothers—twins and enemies—as well as being privy to the private affairs of their thirty-nine editors, whose professed mission is the same: Find originality. Reward creativity. Burn the rest.
I am interested in reading the book for two reasons. It was written by Bonnie Garmus but also has a fascinating plot. The book will be published soon, on October 13, 2026.
What book(s) are you anxiously awaiting to read?
Until We Meet Again by Lily Kim Qian is her debut graphic memoir about a young woman's search for identity and belonging as her family moves between Canada and China. The book was recently published on April 21, 2026 and is geared toward kids aged 14 - 18.
Synopsis
Lily isn't sure where home is anymore. Her family is constantly on the move, resettling in different towns across Canada and, eventually, in Shanghai, China. Her father plays the role of primary caregiver while her mother is absent for long periods of time. When she reappears, her strange behavior turns Lily's life upside down. As Lily enters her college years, she strives to better understand her family and her place in the world. But can she escape the inherited trauma passed down by her immigrant parents?
My Thoughts
Lily did not like living with her mother who had schizophrenia. Her mother was always screaming and created a hostile home environment. After her father filed for divorce there was a custody battle which he won. Lily was thrilled not to have to live with her mom but there still wasn't much stability. Her father was constantly moving them to new cities in Canada. It is easy to see why Lily became accustomed to making friends easily but not really feeling like she belonged anywhere.
Both parents had immigrated to Canada from China. Eventually Lily moved with her father to Shanghai where her mother was living with her parents. She was in the eighth grade at this time. Throughout all of this upheaval Lily found a way to express her thoughts about her life via drawing. She decided to pursue illustration as a career. Lily eventually created this graphic memoir to confront the trauma and parental abandonment that she experienced.
Lily seemed to adjust well to all of the situations that she was thrown into. She made a stable life for herself but I am sure that she suffered in some way from her childhood. When her grandparents passed Lily wished that she knew them better. She felt a loss here.
Until We Meet Again is a lovely memoir of the author's life. It has beautiful drawings colored with bright colors. The pages contain more drawings than narrative. Most pages just have one sentence. Parents, note that there are no sexy scenes or drawings. I enjoyed reading this graphic memoir and am rating it 5 out of 5 stars.
