Here are 20 books that Before the Coffee Gets Cold fans have personally recommended once you finish the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series.
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I think that most writers throughout time have had a relationship with coffee shops. For myself, the shabbier and more run down, the better. One of the first lessons of creative writing is to pay attention to your surroundings. Notice what people are doing and jot down observations or snippets of things that you have overheard, and coffee shops are the perfect place for that. I have been an expat for years and have found that coffee shops are a place where everyone is equal. A transient place where we come together and stay a while, even if we are just taking time out from sightseeing or revealing deep, dark secrets to our friends.
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.
On an island teeming with masters of the short story, Mary Lavin's distinct voice and devoted following set her apart. Before her death in 1996, this Irish writer had received many honors and prizes not only for her luminous short stories but also for several highly regarded novels. William Trevor praised Lavin's ability to "make moments timeless, to illuminate people and places, words and things, by touching them with the magic of the rarely-gifted storyteller." In a Cafe makes available for the first time in the United States a collection of her most beloved pieces as compiled by her daughter.ā¦
I think that most writers throughout time have had a relationship with coffee shops. For myself, the shabbier and more run down, the better. One of the first lessons of creative writing is to pay attention to your surroundings. Notice what people are doing and jot down observations or snippets of things that you have overheard, and coffee shops are the perfect place for that. I have been an expat for years and have found that coffee shops are a place where everyone is equal. A transient place where we come together and stay a while, even if we are just taking time out from sightseeing or revealing deep, dark secrets to our friends.
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!Ā
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.
HUMANS ARE STARS IN THEIR OWN RIGHT, MIZUKI. EVERY ONE OF THEM. The NEXT big read for lovers of BEFORE THE COFFEE GETS COLD set in a cat-run, astrology-themed Kyoto coffee shop
TRANSLATED INTO 20 LANGUAGES #1 STRAITS TIMES BESTSELLER IN SINGAPORE
Heartwarming and magical, THE FULL MOON COFFEE SHOP will remind you that it's never too late to discover your purpose...
Under a glittering full moon, a Kyoto coffee shop with no fixed location or fixed hours appears only where and when it's needed. It is run by talking cats serving the finest teas and coffees, delicious desserts andā¦
I think that most writers throughout time have had a relationship with coffee shops. For myself, the shabbier and more run down, the better. One of the first lessons of creative writing is to pay attention to your surroundings. Notice what people are doing and jot down observations or snippets of things that you have overheard, and coffee shops are the perfect place for that. I have been an expat for years and have found that coffee shops are a place where everyone is equal. A transient place where we come together and stay a while, even if we are just taking time out from sightseeing or revealing deep, dark secrets to our friends.
'Brilliant ... a panorama of a remarkable talent ... McCullers's finest stories' The New York Times
Few writers have expressed loneliness, the need for human understanding and the search for love with such power and poetic sensibility as the American writer Carson McCullers, and The Ballad of the Sad Cafe collects her best-loved novella together with six short stories, published in Penguin Modern Classics.
Miss Amelia Evans, tall, strong and nobody's fool, runs a small-town store. Except for a disastrous marriage that lasted just ten days, she has always lived alone. Then Cousin Lymon appears from nowhere, a strutting hunchbackā¦
I think that most writers throughout time have had a relationship with coffee shops. For myself, the shabbier and more run down, the better. One of the first lessons of creative writing is to pay attention to your surroundings. Notice what people are doing and jot down observations or snippets of things that you have overheard, and coffee shops are the perfect place for that. I have been an expat for years and have found that coffee shops are a place where everyone is equal. A transient place where we come together and stay a while, even if we are just taking time out from sightseeing or revealing deep, dark secrets to our friends.
I read this with a book club, and it did generate a lot of discussion. But I did appreciate the authorās 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.Ā
Iāve spent a lot of time in Japan, and my new novel, Beautiful Shining People, is a direct result of two profound experiences I had there. The first was when I was hiking through the hills of Kyoto late one night and turned around to see a glowing creatureāsome have said they think I saw a kami. The second experience happened when I was in Hiroshima at the Peace Park. I immediately started crying, seeing all the schoolchildren learning about the horrible atrocity committed against their ancestors. I have no idea why it affected me so much, but it was one of the most moving experiences of my life.
This is a book by one of my favorite contemporary Japanese writers.
Sweet Bean Paste is both charming and horrifying. The main character with a criminal past tries to turn his life around by working at a confectionary stall selling sweet pancakes to passersby. At this stall he meets an elderly woman with warped hands.
Through her we learn of the horrors of how leprosy patients used to be treated. Itās an enlightening and, yes, sweet tale and shows that the young have much to learn from those who came before them.
'I'm in story heaven with this book.' Cecelia Ahern, author of P.S. I Love You
A charming tale of friendship, love and loneliness in contemporary Japan
Sentaro has failed. He has a criminal record, drinks too much, and his dream of becoming a writer is just a distant memory. With only the blossoming of the cherry trees to mark the passing of time, he spends his days in a tiny confectionery shop selling dorayaki, a type of pancake filled with sweet bean paste.
But everything is about to change.
Into his life comes Tokue, an elderly woman with disfigured handsā¦
Iām a British Author who spent two years living and working in Tokyo. I have always had a strong love for the country, and while there I observed and experienced daily life while navigating many hardships and overcoming even more life lessons. Upon reflection, I am able to look back on the things I gleaned with a sense of proud nostalgia. The list of books I have compiled all centre around the same warm and familiar theme of nostalgiaāwith a heavy focus on life in Japan.
You cannot get anymore Japanese than a central storyline surrounding the daily life of a stray cat. The attention to detail is my favourite thing about this book as it turns the simple and mundane aspects of daily life into poignant moments to cherish. I really appreciate the translation of this book as it offers a unique side into Japanese life not well known to the west.Ā
A bestseller in France and winner of Japan's Kiyama Shohei Literary Award, The Guest Cat, by the acclaimed poet Takashi Hiraide, is a subtly moving and exceptionally beautiful novel about the transient nature of life and idiosyncratic but deeply felt ways of living. A couple in their thirties live in a small rented cottage in a quiet part of Tokyo; they work at home, freelance copy-editing; they no longer have very much to say to one another. But one day a cat invites itself into their small kitchen. It leaves, but the next day comes again, and then again andā¦
Iām a British Author who spent two years living and working in Tokyo. I have always had a strong love for the country, and while there I observed and experienced daily life while navigating many hardships and overcoming even more life lessons. Upon reflection, I am able to look back on the things I gleaned with a sense of proud nostalgia. The list of books I have compiled all centre around the same warm and familiar theme of nostalgiaāwith a heavy focus on life in Japan.
This book is very personal to me as I have so many special memories rummaging and exploring through the shelves at Nakano Broadway during my time living in Japan. Each gossip-themed chapter had me laughing at points as I discovered more about the characters through their habits and charms. This cozy book is one for that nostalgic, Sunday afternoon feeling.Ā
Among the jumble of paperweights, plates, typewriters and general bric-a-brac in Mr Nakano's thrift store, there are treasures to be found. Each piece carries its own story of love and loss - or so it seems to Hitomi, when she takes a job there working behind the till. Nor are her fellow employees any less curious or weatherworn than the items they sell. There's the store's owner, Mr Nakano, an enigmatic ladies' man with several ex-wives; Sakiko, his sensuous, unreadable lover; his sister, Masayo, an artist whose free-spirited creations mask hidden sorrows. And finally there's Hitomi's fellow employee, Takeo, whoseā¦
I learned early that information doesnāt change peopleās minds and that we canāt lecture our way into peopleās hearts. Real change comes through building empathy, and we do that through compelling, personal storytelling. Iāve been working on disrupting bias and building empathy my whole life. Itās why I write, and why I teach, and why I travel to speak with different groups. Itās my theory of change in the worldāthe first step towards moving us to a more caring, kinder global society.
I have never read a book like Babel, that is so deeply entrenched in histories of colonialism, and also sheds so much light on the inequities of our world today.
We see how well-meaning people get sucked into power, and it causes each reader to reflect on how the decisions we make daily can put us on different trajectories.
Babel is such a forceful vision, with beautiful writing and inspiring imagination.
I am interested in social justice issues, and the books in my list deal with these issues. My background is in finance, but Iāve tried to use this knowledge to help others. I serve on the board of two not-for-profit organizations, one a dance company that works with at-risk teens in various countries, and the other is an animal sanctuary that takes in farm animals that have been abused. I consider myself very fortunate and privileged, and it's important to remember not everyone has had the opportunities I have had. I feel itās crucial to connect with others, understand where theyāre coming from, and help if you can.
I like the psychological nature of this book. It pits human beings against an ideaāa computer model of society. Having a degree in economics the concept particularly intrigued me.
It showed no matter how big and important we think we are there are forces outside of our control. This was one of the most innovative books I have read.
The first novel in Isaac Asimovās classic science-fiction masterpiece, the Foundation series
THE EPIC SAGA THAT INSPIRED THEĀ APPLE TV+ SERIES FOUNDATION, NOW STREAMINGĀ ā¢Ā Nominated as one of Americaās best-loved novels by PBSās The Great American Read Ā For twelve thousand years the Galactic Empire has ruled supreme. Now it is dying. But only Hari Seldon, creator of the revolutionary science of psychohistory, can see into the futureāto a dark age of ignorance, barbarism, and warfare that will last thirty thousand years. To preserve knowledge and save humankind, Seldon gathers the best minds in the Empireāboth scientists and scholarsāand bringsā¦
The beauty of time travel stories is that under the tech, or the supernatural, they can be anything. And for me, they are everything. Paradoxes, puzzles, that oh-so-delicate space-time continuum: an infinite blank canvas for exploring human emotion, psychology, and choices. Just like everyone else, I have regrets, big and small, things that I wish I could change, sliding doors that may have taken me down the wrong fork in the road. With these books, each deeply personal and therapeutic in their own way, you may be able to see your own life choices anew, just like I did. Enjoy!
Friendly tip: I do not recommend reading this novel while isolated from your family due to travel and illness, because this book hits hard in all the right ways.
It invites both the protagonist and the reader to explore the deepest wells of regret and the branching infinities that our life choices produce. In doing so, the novel beautifully confronts the seductive lure of āwhat could have beenā while reminding us of the quiet beauty in what is.
As someone whose mind is often lost in the past or gazing into the future, this ultimate lesson of the book provided a much-needed sense of clarity.
The #1 New York Times bestselling WORLDWIDE phenomenon
Winner of the Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction | A Good Morning America Book Club Pick | Independent (London) Ten Best Books of the Year
"A feel-good book guaranteed to lift your spirits."-The Washington Post
The dazzling reader-favorite about the choices that go into a life well lived, from the acclaimed author of How To Stop Time and The Comfort Book.
Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story ofā¦
