Talking about books I recently bought
Good evening. This is Manon.
To start, a quick gripe. I went to the hospital this morning to get a prescription, and the doctor was a bit high-handed... I'm the type who tends to get down about other people's unpleasant attitudes, so it really got to me. I only chose that hospital because it was close to home, so maybe I should look for one near my office...
Since my spirits were completely dampened, I bought a small pudding à la mode on the way home under the guise of cheering myself up. Delicious, genius. By the time night came, I had almost forgotten the unpleasant feelings.
Pulling myself together, it's time fora talk about the books I recently bought.
The other day, the book I was looking for was released, so I went to a bookstore on my way home from work. I couldn't decide between the bookstore 10 minutes away or the one 16 minutes away, but I decided to head to the slightly further one because I like the atmosphere. I prefer bookstores that aren't noisy in the surrounding area or inside the store, and have a rich selection.
Here is what I bought this time:
Misaki Tanaka and Naoki Matayoshi's "Heartbreak Karuta" and the 2026 Summer issue of "GOAT".
The book I was aiming for was "Heartbreak Karuta." As someone who loves Misaki Tanaka's illustrations and is a fan of Matayoshi-san's YouTube channel, I really wanted to get my hands on a work they collaborated on...! So I was targeting the release date.
I just skimmed through it, and the karuta cards, manga, and short stories, all spelled out with illustrations and short phrases from 'a' to 'n', were all wonderful. Since the illustrations and the reading card phrases are on the front and back of the pages, it's fun to read while imagining what kind of heartbreak is being depicted from the illustrations.
And then, GOAT. I had seen someone recommend it on note, and I was curious about it when I found it in the store. Apparently, the theme of this issue is food. It's my first time picking it up, but I like food essays, so I'm a little interested.
While wondering whether to buy it or not, I flipped through the pages and found that it was filled with colorful paper and ink pages, which was a bit different from what I had imagined in a good way. I thought literary magazines were more stiff.
Looking at the names on the cover and table of contents, there were people I know, such as Jane Su, Sakiko Hirano, Da Vinci Osan, Sakura Inoue, Rena Yamazaki, and Machi Tawara. I'm a little intrigued.
Even so, I thought, 'It's probably expensive, right?' and based on the thickness of the book and the paper quality, I guessed it was about 1,800 yen... but it was a shocking 510 yen!? Why is it so cheap...? I was curious, so I later searched for 'GOAT why is it cheap.' In this day and age of inflation, that's an amazing corporate effort...
They happened to have a limited edition with a Goat-kun bookmark, so I thought it might be fate that I became interested in it at this timing! So I took GOAT to the register as well. I'm glowing with happiness to have gotten the book I wanted and to have had a new encounter.
As for GOAT, I've only read the page with Machi Tawara's tanka selection and Dekami-chan's food diary, but the others seem to be quite worth reading too. (Dekami-chan's episode about forgetting her curry at the curry shop was too funny.)
I've increased my book collection again, but no matter what I do, books read < books to be read. There are so many things I have to read before adding more, but I end up adding more whenever I stop by a bookstore.
I'm just letting them pile up and can't keep up, but I'd like to read them little by little on my commute.
Well then, until next time.
Good night.