What A Cool Idea For A Book Club!

 

The Redondo Beach walking club turns audiobooks into group activity!! I love audiobooks. I also love walking for fitness and book clubs. What a great way to combine one's love for reading, fitness, and book clubs! It would be wonderful if they had something like this in our area.

Colorful by Eto Mori

 

I'm always on the lookout for new to me authors and books to expand my reading horizons. One never knows when they'll discover their next favorite author or book!

I decided to listen to the unabridged audio version of Colorful by Eto Mori, which is well narrated by Brian Nishii. I've never read anything by Eto Mori before, let along heard of her before. Eto Mori is a Japanese writer.

I liked this coming of age novel. It deals with the topic of teenage suicide in a unique way. The topic of suicide is depressing, of course, but the storyline itself makes you think about suicide in a different way... Colorful is about second chances... I felt like Colorful is about hope... Or at least gives one hope that things in life will not always remain the same, which is an important concept for youngsters going through tough times.

Below is the publisher's summary for Colorful by Eto Mori from the Goodreads website:

A beloved and bestselling classic in Japan, this groundbreaking tale of a dead soul who gets a second chance is now available in English for the very first time.

"Congratulations, you've won the lottery!" shouts the angel Prapura to a formless soul. The soul hasn't been kicked out of the cycle of rebirth just yet—he's been given a second chance. He must recall the biggest mistake of his past life while on 'homestay' in the body of fourteen-year-old Makoto Kobayashi, who has just committed suicide. It looks like Makoto doesn't have a single friend, and his family don't seem to care about him at all. But as the soul begins to live Makoto's life on his own terms, he grows closer to the family and the people around him, and sees their true colors more clearly, shedding light on Makoto's misunderstandings.

Since its initial release over twenty years ago, Colorful has become a part of the literary canon, not only in Japan—where it has sold over a million copies—but around the world, having been translated into several different languages. Now, Eto Mori's beloved classic is finally available in English.

I am giving Colorful by Eto Mori a rating of 3 stars out of 5 stars.

Until my next post, happy reading!!

Secret Agent Granny Cozy Mystery Series - Books 1-3 Mini Review

I enjoy reading cozy mystery novels every now and again. 

Recently, I'd finished reading a few nonfiction books and decided I needed a change of pace. Cozy, mystery novels make for fun, light reading. So, I listened to the first three cozy mystery novels in the 'Secret Agent Granny' cozy mystery series by Harper Lin. Harper Lin is not a new to me author. I've enjoyed a couple of her previous books and reviewed them here on my blog. 

I'm glad I decided to give the first three novels in the 'Secret Agent Granny' a try as they were a delight to read. I listened to the unabridged audio versions of Granny's Got a Gun, Granny Undercover, and Granny Strikes Back. All three novels are short, quick fun reads. I enjoyed the writing, the humor, the characters, and the storyline. I especially loved the main character, Barbara Gold, who is a 70 year old retired CIA agent and is feisty as heck. Barbara is a widow and she lives in a small town to be closer to her son, daughter-in-law, and grandson. Barbara is trying to stave off boredom and in the process stumbles upon crimes that need to be solved.

If you're into fun, light, cozy mystery reads, then the 'Secret Agent Granny' cozy mystery series may be for you. As of this writing, there are 11 books in the series. I haven't decided quite yet if I will continue with the series or not as I have so many books in my 'tbr' pile as it is right now.

I am giving all three novels a rating of 3 stars out of 5 stars.

Until my next post, happy reading!!