Welcome to Literary Travels — an ode to the art of armchair exploration. Here, books become passports, carrying us across continents and centuries to lands we may never step foot in, yet come to know by heart. Through the pages, we wander bustling souks and misty moors, ancient cities and distant shores — discovering the world as much as ourselves. It’s an exquisite pleasure: to travel without leaving your reading chair, to let stories expand your imagination, and to learn from voices, people, and civilizations that quietly enrich your inner life.
I think of Italy and words just start to appear : Buonissimo… Auguri… Signorina… Buratta… Ciao ragazzi ! The melody of the Italian language always brings a smile to my face. But sometimes, I need a little more. I admit…
I couldn’t have ended my Japanese reading month without preparing something that makes me travel far far away. And how could I have resisted the urge of cooking when reading Ito Ogawa’s bestselling novel The restaurant of love regained. This…
風物詩fuubutsushi The things – feelings, scents, images – that evoke memories or anticipation of a particular season.Nostalgia that occurs when something triggers memories from a specific season. I have lived all of my life thus far in countries with 4…
As you all know by now, I’ve decided to dedicate my month of April 2022 to reading and celebrating Japanese culture. So when I saw the big announcement over on Jack and Shelly’s channels of a Picture Book Readathon in…
Cultivating Presence through Poetry: A Japanese-Inspired Reading Ritual
Lessons in Patience from Gail Tsukiyama
The Philosophy of Kaizen: Finding Patience in The Tsubaki Stationery Store There is a Japanese concept called kaizen—改善—the philosophy of continuous improvement, of becoming one percent better every day. It is not about dramatic transformation or sudden genius. It is…
Each day you can admire the moon, the snow and the flowers. Japanese Proverb And sometimes it all happens in the same day. One day I was filming the flowers and preparing my monthly ritual for you, and the next…
A celebration with more than 3000 years of history, the Persian New Year is one of the rare feasts still observed today that appeal to the whole of humanity.Even if it is frequently associated with Zoroastrianism, historians believe that the…
Silence can be a form of protest. It can be a means of survival. But it can also be a school of poetry—one with its own meter, tropes, and conventions. One that needn’t be written with pencils or pens; but…
