The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa was recommended by my writing group. It's very popular in Japan where it was published in 2012 and has been translated into many languages, including English (2017). If you're worried that the cat will die, rest easy. The main character, Nana, is not in danger.

Nana begins life as a stray, but is adopted by his owner, Satoru, who takes him in after Nana is hit by a car. Satoru begins travelling around Japan meeting with people from throughout his life and Nana learns about his owner's past as well as the friends'. Often, Nana is a comfort and some sort of emotional wound is healed with each stop. However, Nana soon realizes that Satoru must have a reason for all this travelling, and it is perhaps in Nana's best interest to not get close to Satoru's many friends.

This was a very cute book told from the POV of Nana, which I thought would get old but stayed cute. The way it built our understanding of Satoru was well done. The ending was so beautiful that I ugly cried.

On the downside, I ugly cried. Thankfully, I saw it coming and finished the book at home and not on my commute.

This book is for you if you love cats or pets in general (remember: Nana does not die!), bittersweet endings, contemporary Japan, or if you have something in your eye and need to cry to get it out. This book is not for you if you'll be reading in public or away from tissues, if you hate cats or pet ownership, or if you are not in the headspace to read about death (this is not a spoiler: Satoru's parents died, when he was a child, which is discussed when he visits his friends). 


Have you read The Travelling Cat Chronicles? Did it make you sob too? Let's discuss in the comments!

I was recently scrolling on Instagram and was shown an add for a barrette with little books on it. I liked the concept, but the books had plain leather covers without titles. I've seen tiny books in other places; some people make tiny books of every book they read for the year, there's a mindfulness toy where you put tiny books on a tiny bookshelf, etc. So I thought, why not make tiny books of books I love and put those on barrettes instead. I made them and I LOVE them! I didn't take many photos during the process, but here's how I did it:

I followed this guide initially, but ended up having to make lots of adjustments.

Materials: 
2 ~4inch long barrettes with a nice wide surface area for gluing
​Several sheets of plain paper
Scissors and/or a paper slicer
Needle and thread (color doesn't matter)
Glue (I used both rubber cement and super glue for different portions)
Printer
Microsoft Word
Measuring tape (ideally with inches and cm)

Step 1: Make the Pages
You don't necessarily need to have real pages in your books, you can replace them with a little rectangle (2cm wide, 3cm tall, 1cm deep) of foam or cardboard. However, if you want pages, here's how:

• Cut 3cm by 4cm rectangles from plain paper. You'll need 10 for every book you make, and 4 books per barrette. 
• Fold each rectangle in half so they look 2cm by 3cm (aka hamburger style) and really press that seam with whatever you have handy. I used the flat butt of a pen and it did fine. 
• Nest five of these folded pages together.
• Sew along the fold. Keep the knots on the outside edge, rather than the inside of the book, to allow the pages to close better. This will take 2-3 stitches, so don't feel intimidated if you aren't into sewing.
• Do this until you have two bundles for every book you plan to make.

Step 2: Make the Covers

• Select the books you want to recreate. 
• Use Google images, Amazon, Goodreads, etc. to find images of the front cover, back cover, and spine. (The spines were trouble for me, see below to help if this plagues you too.)
• Copy the image and paste into Microsoft Word. In Word, change the size of the images (and deselect the option to maintain the current aspect ratio):
  • Front/back covers: 1.33 inches tall, 0.95 inches wide
  • Spine: 1.33 inches tall, 0.19 inches wide. 
• Arrange the images to that the back cover is on the left, then the spine, then the front cover, and all are touching.
• If you struggle to find an image of the spine alone, crop an image of the book from a bookstack. If no images of the spine exist (maybe it's a super new book) just crop the title from the cover image. These will end up tiny, so imperfections aren't a huge deal. 
• Print your images. 

My barrettes turned out so cute and I cannot wait to wear them to the conference I'm attending later this month. I think they're great conversation starters. One features comps for the book I'll be pitching and the other features books I love to chat about. Because I owned all of the supplies except for the barrettes, this project only cost me $3.

If you try this craft, let me know how it goes! 

Wild and Wicked Things by Francesca May came up in my search for 20th century secondary worlds, even though it technically takes place in our world, just on a fictional island off the coast of England.

The 1920s prohibition in this book isn't against alcohol, but magic. Annie comes to Crow Island to take care of her late father's estate, and doesn't care much for the illegal magic parties at the house next door. However, the witch in residence, Emmeline, catches her eye. As Annie uncovers her father's surprises, she also reconnects with a friend who moved to the island, who happens to owe Emmeline a lot: the life of the husband she enchanted into loving her. However, the debt is costing Emmeline's life, bit by bit, and the husband is not just unwilling to pay, he's willing to fight over it. Annie makes choices that continue to wrap her up in the whole business, and eventually she must come to terms with not only who she's become, but who her father was. 

This book's twist with prohibition was cool, and I liked that the location was confined to the island to limit the amount of worldbuilding required. The story kept a good momentum and never really languished anywhere. It gave Practical Magic vibes in terms of the magic system, very herbal and soft.

Hurdle number one is that I dislike The Great Gatsby, and only after buying this did I learn it's a Gatsby retelling. I thought it was just the 1920s. (Let me have the 20s without Jay Gatsby barging in PLEASE!) I wasn't a fan of the flashbacks purposefully hiding who the flashbacks were about, then resolving that with a character being forced to change her name. I felt the author messing me with there, and I never like to notice the author while reading.

This book is for you if you like The Great Gatsby, if you want a sapphic romance in the 20s, or if you enjoy Practical Magic. It's not for you if you dislike The Great Gatsby or if you aren't in the headspace to read about fertility problems or abusive partners.

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Have you read Wild and Wicked Things? Let's discuss in the comments!