In Meiji-era Japan, sixteen-year-old Maria wishes she can change her appearance. If only her eyes and hair were different, maybe she wouldn’t be met with such fear, and maybe her own mother wouldn’t be so ashamed of her. But when Maria encounters a handsome yet mischievous boy named Rintarou, her understanding of beauty-and herself-begins to change. To him, Maria’s not just pretty; she’s straight out of a fairy tale! A historical romance unfolds on the streets of Yokohama...
Hoping to marry despite their families’ wishes, Maria sneaks out in the middle of the night to run away with Rintarou. But unbeknownst to her, Rintarou’s father has suddenly fallen ill, and it’s the playboy Chiaki who arrives to take her back home. Although heartbroken by Rintarou’s unexplained abandonment, Maria-with some teasing encouragement from Chiaki-resolves to continue her English practice. She’ll show her former fiancée that under her “catskin coat,” she’s the girl he let get away!
When Rintarou asks Maria to accompany him to his family’s next party, it’s like something out of a dream. But as Maria’s feelings for him only grow stronger, she worries that Yokohama high society is no place for the daughter of a lowly Mayuzumi family helper. Can Maria overcome her self-doubt and the class divide-especially when there’s a romantic rival who’s ever so eager to remind Maria of her station?
Maria’s diligent training to become a proper lady is interrupted by Rintarou’s sudden return from abroad. Somehow, her Prince Charming is even dreamier than before-and now he’s inviting her to accompany him to a ball. But when his mother and the womanizing Chiaki attempt to redirect their affections, Maria and Rintarou’s first dance as a couple may very well be their last...!
THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP…AND BL! Comitia is well underway, but Ichinoi is getting overheated and they have yet to sell a single thing! Urara is just about to throw in the towel when a certain someone from the publishing industry shows up at her table! Can true friendship make dreams come true? Find out in the final volume of BL Metamorphosis! The final volume!
After being confessed to by both Haruma and Touya, Yoh’s heart is in turmoil. Meanwhile, Wakana, showing her true colors, reveals her plan to trap Yoh…? In an amusement park where each of their expectations clash, what will Yoh decide!? The story reaches a new stage with the conclusion of Wakana's arc!
Thanks to Rintarou, Maria now sees both herself and the world around her in a new light-and is even entertaining thoughts of a genuine courtship! But as the two seriously consider taking the next step, not everyone is eager to see it happen. Between Maria’s worried mother, stifling social mores, and a suave womanizer ready to ruin a storybook romance, can Maria and Rintarou’s love over come all obstacles ?
The dapper staff of The Watering Hole are always eager to serve their clientele with grace and charm. But little do the patrons know that these handsome gents are actually penguins in disguise! The sharply dressed flightless birds love all that the human world offers, but as the saying goes: “You can take the penguin out of the Antarctic, but you can’t take the Antarctic out of the penguin!”* *Not all penguins come from the Antarctic.**** Yes, this actually matters in the world of Penguin Gentlemen.
Emma Karas was raised in Japan; it's the country she calls home. But when her mother is diagnosed with breast cancer, Emma's family moves to a town outside Lowell, Massachusetts, to stay with Emma's grandmother while her mom undergoes treatment. Emma feels out of place in the United States.She begins to have migraines, and longs to be back in Japan. At her grandmother's urging, she volunteers in a long-term care center to help Zena, a patient with locked-in syndrome, write down her poems. There, Emma meets Samnang, another volunteer, who assists elderly Cambodian refugees. Weekly visits to the care center, Zena's poems, dance, and noodle soup bring Emma and Samnang closer, until Emma must make a painful choice: stay in Massachusetts, or return home early to Japan.
A New York Times Top Ten Book of the Year and National Book Award finalist, Pachinko is an "extraordinary epic" of four generations of a poor Korean immigrant family as they fight to control their destiny in 20th-century Japan (San Francisco Chronicle). NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2017 * A USA TODAY TOP TEN OF 2017 * JULY PICK FOR THE PBS NEWSHOUR-NEW YORK TIMES BOOK CLUB NOW READ THIS * FINALIST FOR THE 2018DAYTON LITERARY PEACE PRIZE* WINNER OF THE MEDICI BOOK CLUB PRIZE Roxane Gay's Favorite Book of 2017, Washington Post NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * #1 BOSTON GLOBE BESTSELLER * USA TODAY BESTSELLER * WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER * WASHINGTON POST BESTSELLER "There could only be a few winners, and a lot of losers. And yet we played on, because we had hope that we might be the lucky ones." In the early 1900s, teenaged Sunja, the adored daughter of a crippled fisherman, falls for a wealthy stranger at the seashore near her home in Korea. He promises her the world, but when she discovers she is pregnant--and that her lover is married--she refuses to be bought. Instead, she accepts an offer of marriage from a gentle, sickly minister passing through on his way to Japan. But her decision to abandon her home, and to reject her son's powerful father, sets off a dramatic saga that will echo down through the generations. Richly told and profoundly moving, Pachinko is a story of love, sacrifice, ambition, and loyalty. From bustling street markets to the halls of Japan's finest universities to the pachinko parlors of the criminal underworld, Lee's complex and passionate characters--strong, stubborn women, devoted sisters and sons, fathers shaken by moral crisis--survive and thrive against the indifferent arc of history. *Includes reading group guide*
