Short Stories

She and Her Cat: Stories / Makoto Shinkai, Ginny Taplet Takemori (Translator), Naruki Nagakawa

/ Alisha Helms / Leave a comment 
She and Her Cat: Stories
By: Makoto Shinkai, Ginny Taplet Takemori (Translator), Naruki Nagakawa
Genre: Short Stories
Number of Pages: 144
Published: January 23, 2024 (1st Published June 21, 2012)
Publisher: Washington Square Press
Dates Read: December 31, 2025
Format: Paperback

She and Her Cat is a collection of four interrelated short stories about four women and their feline companions.

Of course I grabbed this book. It’s not only about cats, but the cover alone has a woman reading in her bed with her cat on her chest (which is literally how I read this book myself).

The first story is about Chobi and being rescued from a soggy, wet box in the pouring rain by Miyu. Chobi cares about his human more than anything and watches over her as she goes through the ups and downs of a relationship. He loves her so much that he even calls her his girlfriend! When Miyu is heartbroken, Chobi is stressed he can’t help her, but he knows he can live his days by her side and everything will be okay.

The second story is about Mimi, a stray cat who was abandoned as a kitten. She was the runt of the litter and hard of hearing, but she’s determined to make it on her own. She meets Reina, an art student who is struggling on her own. We also meet a few more neighborhood cats, Kink Tail, whom Mimi has a romantic encounter with (after Chobi denied her since he already had a girlfriend). 

The third story is about Aioi and Cookie, Mimi’s kitten. Aioi is grieving the loss of her best friend, Mari, and her mother gets her the kitten, Cookie, to keep her company. At first Aioi’s grief is all consuming, but Cookie wiggles her way into her heart.
She and Her Cat are about the comfort a pet, especially a cat, can provide and how adopting a stray will not only change your life but theirs as well. I loved how they were all connected and how cats from one story would show up in another. Any cat lover is bound to smile while reading these stories.

The Answer Is No / Fredrik Backman, Elizabeth DeNoma (Translator)

/ Alisha Helms / Leave a comment 
The Answer is No
By: Fredrik Backman, Elizabeth DoNoma (Translator)
Genre: Short Story
Number of Pages: 68
Published: December 1, 2024
Publisher: Amazon Original Stories
Dates Read: November 10, 2024
Format: eBook

Lucas knows the perfect night needs just three things: video games, wine, and pad thai with peanuts. Oh, and of course, no other people in sight – why complicate things?

Things were going great until one day, a trio from the housing authority rang his doorbell, demanding to see his frying pan. Someone left one next to the recycling room overnight, and instead of simply removing the item like Lucas suggests, they insist on finding the culprit. But, their plan backfires, and Lucas somehow ends up in the middle of it.

As per usual, I absolutely love Fredrik Backman and anything he writes. His humor and wit can always make me laugh out loud, especially when it’s about the human experience or connections to one another.

After hearing Backman speak at the Simon & Schuster centennial, I really heard his voice coming through on these pages.

It’s all a bit silly and though some of the conversations between Lucas and his neighbors seem like they could be unrealistic, I can promise you, I have had a very similar version of conversation with patrons at my library.

If you liked Backman before, you’ll love him again with this novel. And, anyone whose day has been ruined by a frying pan (or a piece of trash/rubbish), you’ll also enjoy this witty story.

The Collectors / Edited By: A.S. King

/ Alisha Helms / Leave a comment 
The Collectors
Edited By: A.S. King
Genre: Short Stories, YA
Number of Pages: 272
Published: September 19, 2023
Publisher: Dutton Books for Young Readers
Dates Read: October 23, 2023 - October 25, 2023
Format: Library Book / Hardcover

The Collectors is an anthology of stories by well known young adult authors about characters and their strange collections.

I haven’t really reviewed an anthology of stories from different authors before, so here’s my doing my best.

Play House: Took me a minute to get into it, but then enjoyed it.

The White Savior Does Not Save the Day: This was okay for me – it delivered a well written story, but I don’t know how I feel about it still, even two days after reading it.

Take It From Me: I can still actively “see” scenes from this story even now. The banana stickers on the wall, the locked box of doubts – it was a vivid story.

Ring of Fire: Metaphor about grief, but was kind of left confused a little at the end.

Museum of Misery: Impactful. A big punch with little words but pictures said everything.

La Concha: I couldn’t always follow this one. I felt like there were some big pieces missing from it.

Pool Bandits: One of my favorites just because of the length these boys went to to skate. My partner is a skater and I understand that culture a lot.

We Are Looking For Home: Another story I didn’t quite understand and even in the end, I don’t know what it was about??

A Recording for Carole Before It All Goes: This was beautiful and heartwarming. I feel like everyone nowadays possibly knows someone who has Dementia or Alzheimer’s. My grandmother had dementia and just passed away at the beginning of this month and these stories will always make me think of her.

Sweet Everlasting: A crazy and kind of scary concept of being stuck in the “moment they wish could last forever”

The ones I loved: Take It from Me / David Levithan, Pool Bandits / G. Neri, A Recording for Carole Before It All Goes / Jason Reynolds, and Sweet Everlasting / M.T. Anderson

Overall, there were some wonderful and great stories, and others that I just couldn’t get into – doesn’t mean they weren’t good and others wouldn’t enjoy them though!

*Thank you Dutton Books for Young Readers and NetGalley for a digital advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review