Book 20 of 2026

‘Before the Coffee gets Cold’ by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

Really liked this book.

It sounds a bit weird but it works. The story is set in a small cafe in Tokyo, its speciality is coffee. But this coffee offers its customers the chance to travel back in time.

We meet four visitors to the cafe who each have a reason to make use of the cafe’s time-travelling. But there are rules: customers must sit in a particular seat, they cannot leave the seat, and they must ensure they return to the present before the coffee gets cold.

The story explores the age-old question: what would you do if you could travel back in time? But, maybe more importantly, who would you choose to meet?

Definitely worth a read.

Book 15 of 2026

‘Dear Martin’ by Nic Stone

Teenage fiction – although it might actually be adult fiction – it was in the book cupboard at school. Feels like teenage fiction.

It follows Justyce, a black high school student from Atlanta, who gets shot by a white officer duty police officer. Justyce survives but his best friend is killed.

He starts a journal to Dr Martin Luther King Jr, to try to make sense of everything that is happening.

It’s a good read. Apparently based loosely on the murder of Jordan Davis in 2012.