Publisher: Hanover Square Press

Creatively whimsical, The Dallergut Dream Department Store fits nicely into the cozy magical realism/fantasy-feel genre that admittedly is normally not my thing. Lee’s debut novel follows a similar formula of other Asian-translated cozy reflective stories in a similar style of Kawaguchi’s Before the Coffee Gets Cold or Aoyama’s What You Are Looking for is in the Library. However unlike many books it’s drawn similarities to, The Dallergut Dream Department Store is presented in a far more whimsical manner that focuses on the Dream Village and the inner workings of how dreams are created, sold, and used by sleeping customers. Like those other novels, there isn’t much of an overall plot or storyline as the main character Penny serves as a surrogate for the reader experiencing and learning about the Dallergut Dream Store. While I wasn’t necessarily hooked by this book, I was impressed by its creativity and appreciative of how well it accomplished what it was trying to do with its premise. At just over 200 pages, it’s also an incredibly easy and breezy read that you can pick up and put down casually without sacrificing details or the reading experience. Cozy reads are typically not my go-to genre, and…

Easily one of the most creative and whimsical novels I’ve read in many years. Simon Stephenson’s Set My Heart to Five is a thoughtful (and occasionally edgy) commentary on human behavior and societal culture wrapped up in a seemingly light-hearted, meandering AI bot adventure. Despite being compared to Vonnegut’s ideologies and writing, the book’s content reminded me a lot of Daniel Keye’s Flowers for Algernon (which is one of my all-time favorite novels) in which both stories feature an innocuous narrator who does not understand the complexities of human behavior and terrible people around them. Set My Heart to Five’s premise of an AI bot developing feelings admittedly isn’t new territory, but the style of delivery and humorously dry character voice puts it in an entirely new area. First and foremost, Set My Heart to Five is not going to be for everyone, nor does Stephenson make an attempt to be mass-appealing. Jared’s character voice is somehow both frank and dry, yet also entirely comical in a witty, dark humor kind of way; you know that one friend who always talks about the unspoken elephant in the room that’s not socially acceptable, yeah that’s Jared. Full of fun wordplays and…

Told in a simplistic and understated tone, What You Are Looking For Is in the Library is a collection of short stories that focus on self-reflection, perceived happiness, and purpose. Consisting of five largely self-contained stories that average around 60-70 pages each, each story focuses on characters of a variety of ages and backgrounds whose only commonality are feeling unfulfilled with their current life. There’s a young retail worker fresh out of university, an office worker with a dream to open an antique shop, a young mother torn between her editorial work and her child, a NEET unable to find where he belongs, and a recent retiree left without a purpose. Each story follows the focal character through their usually monotonous days, finding the local library, and receiving an unusual book recommendation from the librarian Ms. Komachi. Through this seemingly random book recommendation and a few open-ended questions from Ms. Komachi, each character goes on a quiet journey of self-discovery as they seek what they’re subconsciously looking for; happiness and fulfillment. “For fans of The Midnight Library and Before the Coffee gets cold”, I curiously picked this up as I loved The Midnight Library and largely disliked Before the Coffee…

Book #2 in the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series, I picked this up with the hope that it would be a more refined and improved version of the stellar premise introduced in book #1 of the anthology series that I felt was hindered by lackluster execution. While I did find that it introduced more creative and ambitious stories, ultimately it largely feels like the same misguided experience which I’m unfortunately not a fan of. Much like Before the Coffee Gets Cold, Tales From the Cafe feels like a slow and thoughtful reflection on one’s regrets and “what if’s”. Similar to book #1, the cafe Funiculi Funicula’s timeless setting is still quite an aesthetic location that lends itself perfectly to the premise of time travel. Based on context clues and the presence (or lack of) of certain characters, Tales From the Cafe takes place roughly seven years after the events of Before the Coffee Gets Cold. I found that the four short stories were at their best when it connected the four focal time-travelers to characters featured in previous stories, particularly when it involved guests seeking to speak with characters who are no longer alive. On the flipside, stories that…

Note: My original review for this book is old and does not meet current review standards. A fully rewritten review is planned.