Days at the Torunka Café

After a break of well over a year, I am back here with you once again! I thought a calm, sweet book would be a great way to kick off the new 'season.' I invite you all to Torunka Café...

I think we can more or less agree that the essence of being human is hidden in the little moments. Especially those "hopecore" videos we come across—they always warm our hearts. I can safely say that this book made me experience exactly those kinds of moments. The book doesn't revolve around a single event or just one character. Consisting of different chapters, each part tells a story about what happens at Torunka Café or the events concerning the people there. We have a few different main characters: Isao Tachibana, a coffee lover who practically turns coffee-making into an 'art'; his talkative and fun daughter Shizuku, who never drinks coffee herself; and Shuichi, the café employee who is a total overthinker. Of course, as I mentioned earlier, the cast isn't limited to just them; for the rest, you'll obviously need to read the book and meet them yourself.

The book tackles a different event in each chapter, but I think the underlying theme is always the same. Everyone is in search of something. A love, a friend, a connection. You will witness the things people go through during this search, and the feelings they experience for the very first time. As you know, I’m normally not someone who reads much outside of sci-fi and fantasy, but reading this book gave me the calmness I really needed right now. By the end of it, I caught myself saying, "I just want to be at Torunka Café right now, focusing only on the aroma of my coffee and not thinking about anything else." That’s what reading is for me anyway: an escape to a different world. I can proudly say that I found this escape I was looking for, even though its small, in this book. If you feel the same way I do, or if you just want to read a sweet, cozy book, I highly recommend checking it out. See you in the next reviews!

When things don't go well, you might think damn it, but sooner or later what happened to you is going to become something that sustains you in the future.

In life, reunions are the closest thing we get to miracles.