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Before the Coffee Gets Cold - January 2026 Book Club Reading

Alex said:
I wonder how much of the stiffness is related to the translation from Japanese to English? The dryness is very similar to another translated novel I read, the Tokyo Zodiac Murders.
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I doubt it's a translation issue. The job of a translator is to represent not just the author's words but also their intent and voice; there's more of an art to it than just literally translating the words on the page. Plenty of translated literature out there feels lively and vibrant. I'd put this one on the original text.

Nodal said:
the mom is told that she will die if she has kids and chooses to do so anyway, basically choosing to abandon their future child.
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Saying she has a "weak heart" was too vague and hand-wave-y to be an effective plot point to me. The whole time I was reading that part, I was going "so, maybe she wouldn't survive childbirth? But what if she just had a C-section though?" Like, "a weak heart" is not an actual medical condition (at least not that I'm aware of as a layperson).
 
I finished the book a few days ago. Rather than rewriting my review in different, less formal words, I'll just post the link to it here. I've marked major spoilers, but there are likely minor spoilers that aren't marked. (Anybody who is also on GR, feel free to friend me! I hope you like manga.)

In general, I agree with others in this thread. There's a lot to like here, but the writing sets it back a bit.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8218632363
 
Finished it. Enjoyed it overall. Had some things holding it back but that didn't detract from the experience too much. I liked how the cafe is a character in itself.
 
I'd definitely be interested in reading the sequels, even if they do follow the same format and don't necessarily develop into a larger narrative overall.
 
With fewer than ten seats in the joint, the cast aside from the staff would have to rotate out. Kind of a drag
one of them was fridged in v. 1
. I agree that the café itself is a cool "character" in its own right. And a demanding one! Do this, don't do that...
 
You have to wonder how anyone at the cafe managed to figure out the time travel part was even possible, given how strict (and seemingly arbitrary) the rules are. Doesn't seem like the kind of thing you could stumble across by accident!
 
I'd agree that magical realism and magic systems aren't a good match. Now that I typed it out, it feels contradictory.
 
I know in one of the sequels (third or fourth book I think?) there's a patron who really digs into how things work and the history a bit more. I wouldn't say it answers things but it definitely fleshes it out.
 
I don't necessarily need an explanation, I just think it's funny to imagine how the cafe employees somehow discovered it.
 
Oh, I wasn't responding to any particular question, just that there is a guest who specifically digs into a lot of things people are bringing up. I only own the first book and have read the rest through the library so can't check or anything, but I also want to remind myself what he does and doesn't answer.

There's also a sequel set in a different cafe and one does add more backstory to the ghost too.
 
I finished this over the weekend. I really enjoyed it. I haven't read much Japanese contemporary literature and so was wondering if the straight forward storytelling was the author or the translator but the style of this book reminded me of Uketsu's Strange Pictures and Strange Houses which are also straight forward, simple, and to me, compelling. It reminds me of Hemingway, Williams, or Munroe. When my backlog is a littler thinner I think I'll pick up the next one in the series!
 
I can recommend (exactly) one, mainly because most of my Japanese reading in translation is more YA than adult.
 
lincolnic said:
I can recommend some more if you're interested in that sort of thing!
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Rosewood said:
I can recommend (exactly) one, mainly because most of my Japanese reading in translation is more YA than adult.
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I'd be interested to hear more! My other book clubs very often share a list of similar books and that's something I've never thought about trying to do here but would be cool.

For me Murakami is the obvious Japanese contemporary author to cite but his writing isn't like this at all. Still would seem weird not to throw his name out there. I appreciate his style but his treatment of female characters tires me out and I need to have the energy to put up with it. My weirdo recommendation of his is What I Talk about When I Talk about Running, but if you've never read anything by him don't start there ha.

A book similar to this that I adored is What You are Looking For is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama. Stories from a small community tied together by the local library. Not just about books and wonderful variety of characters. I bought a copy of this for myself.

I also really liked Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa. A few bits that are slow but overall a lovely book I definitely recommend.

Another popular one is The Convenience Store by the Sea by Sonoko Machida. Something about it just didn't come together for me. Still fine and I finished it, and I think it might be more popular than the two above so I'd still recommend it.

Finally, a Korean author, not a Japanese one, but Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-reum is great and similar to all of these in style. I actually thought about nominating that one for this club but my library hold list for it is still pretty long so maybe next year.
 
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Violentvixen said:
I'd be interested to hear more! My other book clubs very often share a list of similar books and that's something I've never thought about trying to do here but would be cool.
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None of the books/authors I'm about to recommend are similar to this one, hopefully you don't mind.

Haruki Murakami of course must be mentioned, like you said. For anyone who hasn't read him, Kafka on the Shore is probably the easiest/most engaging place to start.

Sakaya Murata is a big one in contemporary Japanese literature, she's most known for Convenience Store Woman and that's what I'd recommend as well (I think she only has one other book translated into English at the moment, but I didn't enjoy that one as much). She writes a lot about challenging taboos, conformity, and the pressures that society puts on single women. The writing style is kind of dry and similar to Kawaguchi's, but I'd argue that it's more intentionally done to drive home her points. There's also a healthy dose of the "something here isn't quite right" that you get in a lot of Haruki Murakami as well.

The Factory by Hiroko Oyamada is another one I really liked. This is a Kafkaesque novella about three people who work in a gigantic factory. What does the factory make? Unknown. What are their jobs? Unclear. It's honestly pretty tough to describe this one, but if you're intrigued at all, I recommend it. My one caveat is that for @Violentvixen in particular and anyone else who sometimes has trouble following books with multiple narrators, this book may be a little challenging in that regard. But I think that's part of the point.

Scattered All Over the Earth by Yoko Tawada -- I'll be honest, I read this a few years ago and I don't remember it super well, but I thought the concept was interesting enough to mention: in the near future, after Japan is wiped from the face of the earth (and the memories of most people) in an unspecified climate disaster, a woman who was born there now speaks her own invented language and travels around looking for anyone who can still speak Japanese. Apparently it's the first book of a trilogy, though I haven't heard anything about the other books being translated yet.
 
lincolnic said:
None of the books/authors I'm about to recommend are similar to this one, hopefully you don't mind.
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I actually realized a couple hours later that the question was more about exposure to Japanese contemporary writing styles, in retrospect not sure why I focused on the similar writing style thing. Discussion of any books related to the one featured in the club made anyone think of is what we do in my other clubs, I'm thinking I wasn't fully awake yesterday whoops. More books being discussed is good!

lincolnic said:
Scattered All Over the Earth by Yoko Tawada -- I'll be honest, I read this a few years ago and I don't remember it super well, but I thought the concept was interesting enough to mention: in the near future, after Japan is wiped from the face of the earth (and the memories of most people) in an unspecified climate disaster, a woman who was born there now speaks her own invented language and travels around looking for anyone who can still speak Japanese. Apparently it's the first book of a trilogy, though I haven't heard anything about the other books being translated yet.
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Oh yes, I've read this one, it's very odd but in a good, surreal way. I had forgotten or maybe never knew it was going to be a trilogy. Just checked and it looks like the second one, Suggested in the Stars came out in 2024!
 
Convenience Store Woman was the one I was going to suggest!

Banana Yoshimoto's Kitchen was one I considered suggesting, but I read it a couple decades ago and suspect its LGBT+ rep is not up to today's standards.
 
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