Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

If you like your coffee with extra saccharine

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

by 2 Comments

CBR 17 BINGO: Work, because the stories take place in the coffee shop where Kei, Nagare, and Kazu all work Before the Coffee Gets Cold is a collection of four short stories loosely combined into a novel. The characters overlap from story to story, and some incidents in earlier stories come into play later in the book, but for the most part, each chapter stands alone. The Funiculi Funicular, run by husband and wife team Nagare and Kei, appears to be an ordinary cafe, but […]

Left me feeling cold (pun intended)

Before the Coffee Gets Gold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

by Leave a Comment

Having already mistakenly read the sequel to this, not realizing it was part of a series when I caught wind of it on BookTok, I thought it only made sense to pick up the rest of the series and start with the first book that I’d accidentally skipped. Suffice it to say, I think Kawaguchi was still yet to find their footing with this one. Whereas with its sequel, there were multiple moments where I was moved to tears, a rare feat for a book, […]

Might have found my worst of the year with my first of the year

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

by 1 Comment

1.5 stars Warning! This review will contain spoilers, because after my book club discussion yesterday, I’m actually quite cranky about this book, and it’s impossible for me to rant properly if I can’t spoil the heck out of these stories. Don’t worry, you don’t really want to read this book anyway. Also, most of the spoilers are only visible if you go to my blog. In a small, dark basement café in Japan, visitors can travel briefly back in time, if they observe a series […]

If you could go back, who would you want to meet?

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

by 2 Comments

Are you looking for a VERY quick, adorable novel that is perfect for a cozy cup of coffee on an afternoon with nothing much else to do? I know you must be, because we all have Covid (again) right now, so many of us are once again looking at 5-10 days with limited social obligations. I read this book in one afternoon in between loads of laundry and dishes, and it was the perfect afternoon novel. It is sweet tale of magical realism – in […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo