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So I started the last short story 인생, 리셋, and it took me a couple of pages to realise that I had already read it: it was featured in the collection of short stories: 밀지 마세요, 사람 탑니다.
It’s very strange, I couldn’t see anywhere that this story (maybe the others too?) had already been published elsewhere, I thought it was a new collection.
밀지 마세요, 사람 탑니다 was so great, featuring stories from different authors with the common theme of Seoul metro. 인생, 리셋 was one of my favourite stories from the collection! I’m not going to re-read it though, so I just finished the book!

I read the book when it came out, and I actually didn’t have a lot of recollection of it. I remember liking it overall, but thinking it wasn’t worth the hype. The idea is good and the plot was entertaining, but there are too many things that are here because the plot needs these elements as devices and foundation, but it just doesn’t make much sense to act like that in the first place. I like when characters and their motivations come first, I want their actions to make sense from their perspective, but in many books, and this one was no exception, they are sacrificed for good tricks and a twisty plot. As a result, some decisions from the protagonists didn’t make much sense imo, and I also found their reactions to be frustratingly unrealistic.

I did enjoy the film much more than the book though, probably because acting was good!
One thing that I disliked though is how over sentimental they made the end, with a stupid piano music in background, like you don’t trust your actors to perform well enough to make the public feel emotional too. I can’t stand this kind of scenes, and it really dragged the film down to me.

Read some pages today (though didn’t have time to go very far). Really loving this novel!

Listened to 玛利亚的手指 a lot today and made good progress. Another really good story!

I finally started Lohen’s SQ! I love it so far! It has good pacing, we spend time with Lohen and we’re learning things about him. I also just reached the point where the plot is becoming really intriguing. There were some funny moments too!

This novel is fantastic, it’s fascinating, suspenseful, sad, and intriguing at the same time. I’m loving the beginning very much.

I’m finally starting 夏と花火と私の死体 today!

I wanted to do things in Genshin this morning, but I spent my time working on the website instead. I’m really motivated to make this crime fiction awards page, it’s going to be so great!!

I want to go back into reading the winners of the Mystery Writers of Japan Award, and more generally, I want to read winners of crime fiction prizes. So I’m working on selecting some awards I want to follow, make a list of winners so I can check the works as I read them. I already did something similar for the MWJA on Notion, but I hated using Notion anyway and stopped updating it at some point. It will be much better when everything is on the website.

Read my daily chapter today!

I’m working on really organising my reading history and maybe doing author cards. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do! I would like to really organise the books I’m reading, and try to explore the bibliography of authors I like, instead of reading book after book, and forgetting who even wrote it or what it was about a couple of months later.

I have read a lot of different Japanese authors, but now I want to focus on reading more extensively the ones I love.

I didn’t read anything else today, but I finished the short story 아름다운 괴물. It was excellent, really felt like a short novel rather than a short story. I really love how the main character is morally grey, doing disgusting and condemnable things, while at the same time being relatable. I couldn’t help but root for her still, despite everything. Overall, all the three protagonists of the collection have had complex personalities, I find all characters are very well written.

아름다운 괴물 is really good! It feels more like a novel than a short story.
I don’t know if I’ll have time to finish it today, but maybe I’ll try to continue it later!