Audacity Book Club: May Read

By Nic Daniels

Hello, audacious readers. It feels so good to be back!

I hope you had a book-filled April, whether you read my suggestions, an old favorite or just something that’s been sitting on the shelf for a little too long. This month, we’re jumping right back in with the newest addition to the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series, Before Your Memory Fades by Toshikazu Kawaguchi.

We are back in Japan, but instead of Tokyo, we’re going to Hadokate to a café named Donna Donna, the original time-traveling café run by Yukari Tokita. Unlike her calm and steady son, Nagare—owner of the café in Tokyo—Yukari is impulsive and free-spirited, so much so that she has left Japan with little notice for an unknown amount of time. Keeping the café running are two familiar favorites: Nagare and Kazu, the loyal and ever unfazed barista. Also, along for the ride is Kazu’s daughter, Sachi, and a host of new café regulars.

However, while some things change, some stay the same. In this tale, there are four people who want to go back and tell someone that has died too soon what they have left unsaid. A daughter is ready to confront her parents; a comedian is fulfilling his late wife’s last wish; a woman creates one last memory with her sister; and a dreamer realizes his true feelings for his best friend.

As always, Kawaguchi’s writing is heartwarming and heart wrenching with the reminder to savor our time with people we love while living for the future and Before Your Memory Fades is no different. This book is available wherever books are sold as well as in your local library. I hope you enjoy it, and I will see you at the end of the month for the full review.

Until then, don’t forget to read audaciously!