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The Convenience Store By the Sea by Sonoko Machida - This is an international best seller about a convenience store in the seaside town of Mojiko, Japan that dishes out food, conveniences and life-changing advice and actions. The book is divided into multiple sections, each focusing on a different worker or customer but with previous characters popping up here and there. It's quirky and charming (like pretty much every book I've read that was written by a Japanese author...I'm starting to wonder if there's any other genres in Japanese fiction <g>) and feel-good. Solid A.

A Street Cat Named Bob by James Bowen - I had no idea when I picked this one up that it was the book that sparked an entire series of "Bob" books, plus a movie. It's the true story of a down on his luck recovering drug addict (Bowen) who takes in a feral (abandoned?) cat that changes both their lives. I was a little worried as I got further into the book, expecting a "Marley and Me" type ending, but fortunately, the book ends with Bob being very much alive. I *did* regret looking up what happened to Bob, as the book was written in 2012, about events that took place several years earlier, and I figured Bob would be either very old or no longer with us. And that's all I'll say about that...the book was heartwarming and encouraging, if a bit repetitious. A-

Magpie by Elizabeth Day - A taut, tense, well-paced thriller about a woman who buys a home with her boyfriend and then agrees to take in a lodger to help with the expenses. Honestly, to say much more would be to give everything away...suffice it to say I *thought* I'd keyed early on to what was going on and I was (mostly) wrong. A-, only because for once, I thought the book could've been a bit longer.

Reports of His Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated by James Goodhand - I'm cheating a bit here...normally in a monthly book post, I only include books I actually finished in that month. RoHDHBGE is not a particularly long book but I started it at the very end of November and finished it last Friday. However, I'm breaking my own rule because I enjoyed the book that much. It's the story of an elderly man, Ray, who invites a neighbor into his flat when the neighbor's power goes out. Our hero goes out for takeaway while the neighbor is enjoying a hot bath...he returns to find his neighbor collapsed in the hallway, so he calls an ambulance, but alas, the neighbor doesn't make it (this all happens in the first chapter, so I'm not giving anything away really). Unfortunately, the hospital thinks it's our hero who has shuffled off this mortal coil. From there, the book progresses, weaving skillfully between Ray's meager attempts to get things sorted and his reflections on his one true love, over 60 years in the past. It's a lovely, lovely look at what we leave behind and the impact we might not even know we had on others. I cried happy tears at the end of the story-A+ for me.