The best books to sip, savor, and soak up life: the coffee shop book list

To be honest, I initially picked up this book just for the title; the idea that a café could sing a sad ballad fascinated me; it also showed me how important a title is! There is a line in the book that I feel perfectly sums up the need for cafés in our lives, ‘for people in this town were then unused to gathering together for the sake of pleasure.’

The idea that cafés allow us a place for pleasure; to come sit together or apart, they are valuable sanctuaries where everyone is welcome. This story made me consider how much is said and revealed in the walls of cafés throughout time. This story is told beautifully, there are multiple layers of things said and not said, of jealousy, loneliness, consequences, all themes that I love. 

I read this with a book club, and it did generate a lot of discussion. But I did appreciate the author’s tenacity to write about living and working in Afghanistan and base it in a coffee shop that was filled with an incredible array of figures. I loved how the characters interacted with each other, and even though the story was told through a Western perspective it highlighted important issues that affected women in Afghanistan.

I enjoyed the idea of the coffee shop being used as a refuge for those who were in danger and exploring the idea that despite our location, we can come together to help each other and make the best out of life. 

I loved everything about this book, the cats, the magical realism and the everyday struggles of people, especially the first character who is a writer at a crossroads in her career and struggling, it was very relatable! 

This book is about hope and how strange unforeseen forces play a part in our everyday lives, whether we pay attention to them or not. I especially loved the connections made at the end when all the characters are aligned, like the stars and fates that are above us.

Unforeseen forces, mystery, and time travel in the confines of a coffee shop, what isn’t to like?

I read this book when I was in the middle of moving countries. The book helped me to slow down amongst all the turbulence of movers and then the dreaded Covid vaccination certificates. But with moving, I had to say goodbye to friends, and there was one close friend who did not like the fact I was leaving and, therefore, refused to see me before I left. There are many reasons why people react in certain ways, but I was hurt during that time and hoped that our friendship was more than that. 

This book made me think about what I would say to her in the future—hindsight is a great gift if only we could activate it in the present.

This short story is one of those that has always stuck with me. There is so much story within these few pages that center around a meeting in a simple café. It explores how meetings can cause submerged feelings to arise within us and provoke us to react out of character. I was struck by the sense of loneliness and how the protagonist places certain constraints on themselves, fearful of exposing who they really are and how they feel in case of mockery. 

This story is filled with observations, judgments, and highlights the awkwardness of being a foreigner, something I know well. But it also entices the classic conundrum of what if we did say the thing we wanted, what if we had stayed instead of running away.