Author: Karina Tumon

In this lifetime, I'm only interested in two things: to advance human intelligence and to create cool stuff. Follow my [mis]adventures here: smartysquid.com

Book Review – Wrong about Japan

Ok another book review about Japan. This one is written by the Australian author, Peter Carey. To be honest, I don’t think I’ve read any of his books previously. But this one I like because it’s short and he recounts his experience visiting Japan with his son Charley. This trip was for them to see…

Read More

Book Review – Be More Japan

I’m doing my research on Japan as I am planning to go there soon. Ha! Who knows when though! This book has been quite handy in learning more about the country and Japanese culture. Actually, I studied Japanese when I was in college and uni. And despite the intense study of the Japanese language (in…

Read More

Book Review – The perfect world of Miwako Sumida

I heard a podcast (about 43:36) on this book’s author Clarissa Goenawan and found her interesting. She’s an Indonesian-born Singaporean who writes stories based in Japan about Japanese characters. She is an author who is obsessed with Japan but I’m not sure if she has actually lived there. Anyway, the book they were reviewing was…

Read More

Library Visit 2023 – Dickson Library

Did you know that Dickson Library was the first ever public library that I worked in as a volunteer, oh way back in the early 1990’s. So LONG ago! Date of Visit: Saturday 21 January 2023. This visit coincided with our trip to see the Lunar New Year celebration in Canberra at the Dickson shops….

Read More

Book Review – Before the coffee gets cold

This book was recently given to me as a Christmas gift. I have been reading it during my holiday in Canberra. I totally enjoyed it. I cried and laughed. It’s quite a heart-warming story about friendship and love between friends, lovers, husband and wife, sisters, and mother and daughter. Highly recommended! This book was originally…

Read More