Reads and Needs

I finally finished reading Our Happy Time right before the holidays and I am SO glad my friend recommended it to me. As one of her favourite books she also told me about the Manga and film based on the novel which I will definitely check out in the near future. Our Happy Time follows two characters, an inmate on death row (Yunsu) and a woman that visits him at her aunt's request after her third suicide attempt (Yujeong). The novel is written from Yujeong's perspective and alternates with "Blue Notes" that are written from Yunsu's perspective, both giving insight on their mysterious pasts and developing connection.

I was really ecstatic after reading Our Happy Time and thought  "hmm why not read another translated novel?" 

Seeing as I've been eyeing books by Haruki Murakami for a long time, I thought I'd finally read something by him. Sadly, it was a grave mistake to start with Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage. I cry just thinking about how I should have picked a different novel to read over the holidays. Actually, I made very bad selections over the break....More on that later.

Tsukuru Tazaki is shafted by his circle of 4 high school friends during his time away at a different university. One day he was told to stop contacting them, and Tsukuru accepts the request. Years later he starts his journey to discover the reason behind why his friends abandon him. While the story does keep me interested until the very end, I felt as though I wanted more out of it.

I also recently finished Allegiant by Veronica Roth. I was binge reading the Divergent Trilogy last month until I hit the final book. It was written in the perspective of both Tris and Tobias which completely threw me off. I also accidentally read a one lined spoiler for the novel and didn't have the heart to devour it like I normally would. Don't you hate it when that happens? 

I think it's time to read something new. Perhaps I should do a little bit more research before picking up another book and investing so much time into it.