Library Loans

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The Kamagawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai
Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons on February 13, 2024
Age/Genres: Adult, Fiction

Goodreads

The Kamogawa Food Detectives is the first book in the bestselling, mouth-watering Japanese series for fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold.

What’s the one dish you’d do anything to taste just one more time?

Down a quiet backstreet in Kyoto exists a very special restaurant. Run by Koishi Kamogawa and her father Nagare, the Kamogawa Diner serves up deliciously extravagant meals. But that’s not the main reason customers stop by . . .

The father-daughter duo are ‘food detectives’. Through ingenious investigations, they are able to recreate dishes from a person’s treasured memories – dishes that may well hold the keys to their forgotten past and future happiness. The restaurant of lost recipes provides a link to vanished moments, creating a present full of possibility.

A bestseller in Japan, The Kamogawa Food Detectives is a celebration of good company and the power of a delicious meal.

Kamogawa Diner – Kamogawa Detective Agency- We Find Your Food.

Confession: The cover made me read this book. I have a thing for cats, and Drowsy sure is a cute kitty. But this book had a really beautiful premise, and I found these food searches to be touching as well as delicious.

This book is comprised of a series of vignettes focusing on each person's search for a particular dish. These seekers were driven by nostalgia, the need to access a certain memory, or simply comfort. When those seeking finally found this unmarked restaurant, they were welcomed with a fixed menu. Each item was described in great detail, and I have to say, my mouth was watering.

Following their meal, the client then moved to the office where Koishi attempted to gather as many details as possible about this dish they wish to recreate. From there, former police detective, Nagare, would set out on his search. The end of each vignette had the client returning to taste the dish, but we also got to hear all about Nagare's search and what he learned. 

Again, mouth watering, but also sweet and touching. Nagare always returned with details that filled in those gaps for the clients. Some were bittersweet, some revealing, and others were moving. I loved the structure of the book and the way each story touched me.

Overall: These short tales were packed with details that took me on a physical and culinary tour of Japan while filling my heart with so much warmth. I look forward to reading more of the Kamogawa Food Detective stories.

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The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
Published by Random House on July 24, 2012
Age/Genres: Adult, Fiction

Goodreads

Meet Harold Fry, recently retired. He lives in a small English village with his wife, Maureen, who seems irritated by almost everything he does, even down to how he butters his toast. Little differentiates one day from the next. Then one morning the mail arrives, and within the stack of quotidian minutiae is a letter addressed to Harold in a shaky scrawl from a woman he hasn't seen or heard from in twenty years. Queenie Hennessy is in hospice and is writing to say goodbye.

Harold pens a quick reply and, leaving Maureen to her chores, heads to the corner mailbox. But then, as happens in the very best works of fiction, Harold has a chance encounter, one that convinces him that he absolutely must deliver his message to Queenie in person. And thus begins the unlikely pilgrimage. Harold Fry is determined to walk six hundred miles from Kingsbridge to the hospice in Berwick-upon-Tweed because, he believes, as long as he walks, Queenie Hennessey will live.

Still in his yachting shoes and light coat, Harold embarks on his urgent quest across the countryside. Along the way he meets one character after another, each of whom unlocks his long-dormant spirit and sense of promise. Memories of his first dance with Maureen, his wedding day, his joy in fatherhood, come rushing back to him - allowing him to also reconcile the losses and the regrets. As for Maureen, she finds herself missing Harold for the first time in years.

And then there is the unfinished business with Queenie Hennessy.

After receiving news that his old friend Queenie was ill, Harold penned a reply. But on the way to post the note, he decided it must be delivered in person. Inspired, he sets out on a 600 mile journey which led to more than just Berwick-upon-Tweed.

What a lovely story! I won't say it was without many tears, but it was a rather beautiful tale of love, loss, and friendship. The main gist of this story is Harold's trek to find Queenie, but it was the things that happened along the way that really tugged at my heartstrings.

On his journey, Harold met many people and rediscovered things that delighted him and made him feel alive, but he also reflected on his past and his marriage. I learned that twenty years ago, things changed drastically for Harold and resulted in his wife emotionally leaving him.

For the past twenty years, Harold and Maureen shared a home but not a life. There was a huge rift between them. When Harold left to find Queenie, he put a physical distance between him and his wife, and it was this space that allowed them both to contemplate their lives together and apart and helped them find their way back to each other.

In addition to the exploration of Harold's life and regrets, there were a myriad of encounters with strangers as he marched his way across the country. These contacts highlighted the kindness of strangers as well as our humanity. I rather enjoyed these connections throughout the story because I often need my faith in humanity restored.

Overall, I loved the concept of this man making an unlikely pilgrimage to say goodbye to his old friend. Joyce did a beautiful job executing the tale which ultimately brought me great joy.

Do you have food memories?
Let us know in the comments!