Six Degrees of Separation

Six Degrees of Separation is hosted by Kate at booksaremyfavoriteandbest. A book is selected each month as the starting point for us to link to six other books. I go a bit rouge by selecting my own book from the previous months’ Five Star Friday, but still maintain the spirit of the meme.

This Month's Book

The Curious Kitten at Chibineko Kitchen by Yuta Takahashi
Published by Penguin Books on February 4, 2025
Age/Genres: Adult, Fiction

Goodreads

Your table awaits at the Chibineko Kitchen, where a soul-nourishing meal in the company of the resident kitten will transport you back in time to reunite with departed loved ones—for fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold and The Midnight Library.

In a remote seaside town outside of Tokyo, Kotoko makes her way along a seashell path, lured by whispers of an enigmatic restaurant whose kagezen, or traditional meals offered in remembrance of loved ones, promise a reunion with the departed. When a gust of wind lifts off her hat, she sees running after it a young man who looks like her recently deceased brother. But it’s not her brother; it’s Kai, the restaurant’s young chef, who returns her hat and brings her to the tiny establishment, where he introduces her to Chibi, the resident kitten, and serves her steaming bowls of simmered fish, rice, and miso soup—the exact meal her brother used to cook for her. As she takes her first delicious bite, the gulls outside fall silent, the air grows hazy, and Kotoko begins a magical journey of last chances and new beginnings.

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The Curious Kitten at the Chibineko Kitchen

In this book, people visit this seaside restaurant to eat a meal in memory of someone they lost. They also get to visit with this loved one until the food grows cold.  

Before the Coffee Gets Cold

This book was name dropped in the synopsis for Kitchen, and I immediately thought of Before the Coffee Gets Cold, not only because it is set in Japan, but also because the time is limited to the cooling what is being served. But this book differs from Kitchen in that it's a time travel book which brings me to...

Oona Out of Order

This was different from most of the time travel books I have read in that Oona traveled to random points in her timeline and had to figure out where she were in her life. This was sort of like...

Skip to the Good Part

In Skip to the Good Part, nothing seemed to be going right in her life when Lucy wakes up older, married, and successful thanks to a time jump. In her life "before", Lucy was an aspiring TV producer which made me think of...

The Love We Found

Not only is the main character in this book a TV producer, but her name was also Lucy. This book takes place in New York City which made me think of...

Promise Me Sunshine

In Promise Me Sunshine, Lenny was a nanny for an NYC mom, and she was struggling with the loss of her best friend. Another book where a character was dealing with grief was....

PS: I Hate You

In PS: I Hate You, Maddie was having a hard time with her brother's death and was tasked with scattering his ashes, and one stop during her healing journey was NYC. 

What books can you connect to the starter book?
Let us know in the comments!