Before The Coffee Gets Cold is a story about what it means to hold a memory, and how to make the most of one while you’re in it. Vanessa has been a star employee at The Book Jewel. She has represented the traits of a hard worker, a team player, and most importantly a person of distinct honorable and artistic character. Vanessa loves books. There isn’t a day that goes by where she doesn’t have a book in her hand without an outrageous unique story, and Before The Coffee Gets Cold is no exception. Set in modern-day Japan, the story is broken up into 4 stories following the events of a series of customers who rotate in and out of the store all sharing their life endeavors over a good cup of coffee. "I gravitated to this book because I have read Western stories my whole life growing up in the American school systems, and I wanted a new perspective from eastern literature” Vanessa responded. She explained to me that eastern literature highlighted magical realism in a more poignant way to her. Vanessa explained that she enjoyed having to research some of the words in the book that were designated toward Japanese culture, and through this book she was able to peek into a world other than her own. “I gravitated to this book because I wanted something short and impactful” and boy is it, within this short read, Japanese author Toshikazu Kawaguchi takes you through an emotional rollercoaster filled with life’s most pressing questions. In the beginning, Vanessa explained that in this short story, she felt excited and filled with anticipation, and at the end of the book she was left feeling sad, but came to a form of acceptance. Vanessa learned how hard it is to accept the past, and although you can’t change what happened you can always change what's going to happen, a beautiful message that was learned over a few short pages. Overall this book was a beautiful read according to our book-loving employee Vanessa Sanchez, discovering through our loss this book allows us to gain what we need most; forgiveness.
Vanessa's April Pick:
Before the Coffee Gets Cold By Toshikazu Kawaguchi