2025 & 2026 Reading Challenge discussion

This is where we will discuss the book after we start reading it in October .

Please remember to mark spoilers by using spoiler tags: [spoiler]...[/spoiler], but replace [ by < and ] by >

This is your space to chat about this month's book selection with other readers. There is no set schedule to follow, and no discussion leader is assigned. Everyone should feel free to post comments, share pertinent articles or interviews, ask questions, share likes or dislikes, etc. Most importantly, enjoy reading together!

What character or ideas do you relate to the most and why?
Do you have any favorite quotes or scenes?

Hello everyone! I was able to borrow the audiobook from my library. Just curious, would this book be considered “Healing Fiction”? I’m completing the 2025 Pop Sugar Challenge and that is one of the prompts that I haven’t checked off yet. Happy reading!

Stephanie wrote: "Hello everyone! I was able to borrow the audiobook from my library. Just curious, would this book be considered “Healing Fiction”? I’m completing the 2025 Pop Sugar Challenge and that is one of the..."

Stephanie, I've always felt that phrase was open to a broad interpretation. My opinion - if the book at all makes you feel "warm and fuzzy" and/or just a little bit better than before you read it, I would count it. By the same token - what is "healing fiction" for one person may not be the same for another...

I wasn't sure where to post - here or the completion - but I have finished the book. I could not put it down, including reading the ending in the middle of a hair salon this afternoon. I also recognized that had I started to read this last year, if I had finished it, I would have felt very different about it. I'm a mood reader. And my mood needed this book right now!

I just finished reading these reviews, that I am sharing here. Neither gives anything away, but it does put some things into persepective.

* https://tonysreadinglist.wordpress.co...

* https://motherbookerblog.com/2024/06/...

I finished listening to this book last night while driving home along foggy, curvy mountain roads. It was not the best time to get weepy, but I certainly did so. I should have stopped the book until I reached home, but I could not.

I adored Nana and Saturo and their journey. I will be thinking over their exploration of past relationships and brand new discoveries for quite some time to come. 💕

I am almost finish listening to this book and the voice actor / narrator has such a calming voice. My favorite character is Nana, the cat. The author does an amazing job giving Nana human qualities. I can't remember the word for this...anthropomorphizes? Any rate, my favorite scene so far was when Nana escapes the basket in front of Saturo and responds to Saturo's disbelief with typical cat-like sassiness.

I am just short of half way through the book. My favourite character is Nana the cat. But I do like Satoru and would suggest that Nana is expressing some of the things that Satoru is feeling. I love the snippets we get into Satoru's early life - the two school trips and the events surrounding them in particular.

I have read this before and am sure that anyone reading it for the first time is doing what I did then and trying to guess what initiated this journey to re-home Nana. TBH I am still guessing as my memory is a bit rubbish of what happens.

This is a feel good book with a strong narrative, a bit of high emotion and a spoonful of fun.