Currently Reading & Overthinking

  There’s a very specific kind of magic you find in a Ghibli movie. Not the loud, world-ending kind of magic. The quiet kind. The kind that lives in small places. A hidden café. A mysterious shop. A strange doorway that appears when life feels overwhelming. In a Ghibli story, characters are often a little lost at first. They wander into unusual places, meet unexpected companions, and slowly find pieces of themselves along the way. Nothing feels rushed, but everything feels meaningful. Some books capture that exact same feeling. Soft fantasy. Dreamlike settings. Gentle healing. Stories that feel less like adventures and more like memories you somehow lived through. These books feel like rainy afternoons, warm drinks, glowing lanterns, and walking home at sunset thinking about your life.

  There’s something oddly comforting about people who recommend books like they’re prescribing medicine. Like: You look sad. Here, take this novel twice a day and call me in the morning. That’s basically the energy of The Bookshop Woman by Nanako Hanada, a quiet, slightly chaotic, and very human story about a bookseller who tries to fix her life one recommendation at a time. And honestly? It feels less like reading a book and more like wandering into a tiny bookstore when it’s raining outside and you don’t have anywhere else to be.

  There’s a specific category of books that aren’t exactly “fun” but still live rent-free in your brain forever. The kind you close slowly, stare at the wall for a bit, and then immediately Google other people’s interpretations at 2 a.m. These six books fall perfectly into that zone. They’re heavy, introspective, uncomfortable, and somehow still impossible to put down. If you like stories that dig into identity, loneliness, messy relationships, and the strange corners of being human, welcome to the club. My Dark Vanessa – Kate Elizabeth Russell This book is basically a deep dive into manipulation and memory. It follows Vanessa, who looks back on a relationship she had with her teacher as a teenager and struggles to define what really happened. What makes it intense is how it explores grooming and consent through Vanessa’s own perspective, which isn’t always clear or reliable. It’s uncomfortable in a very intentional way, forcing you to sit with questions instead of giving easy answ...

 There’s a very specific kind of tired that isn’t about sleep. It’s the kind where your life feels like a browser with 47 tabs open and none of them are loading. You’re not in crisis exactly, just… buffering. Existing in lowercase. Waiting for something to click. And when you feel like that, people usually recommend productivity hacks. Wake up at 5. Journal. Fix your life in six steps or less. Become a morning person. Become a different person entirely. Or. You could read a book where someone else is also confused and lost and trying their best. Which is honestly way more comforting. Lately I’ve been thinking about stories that feel like sitting on the floor of someone’s room while the world sorts itself out in the background. The kind of books that don’t yell at you to change your life, just gently suggest that maybe you’re not the only one winging it. The cozy ones. The found-family ones. The quiet “everything might be okay actually” ones. Because sometimes the most reassuring th...