Monitor readers share their favorite book picks.
Picking Bones from Ash, by Marie Mutsuki Mockett, is a wonderful first novel. Quite unusual and written beautifully, it is set primarily in Japan and depicts the interpersonal struggles of two generations of mother and daughter.
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The number of tourists coming to Japan dropped dramatically after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011. But between the weak currency and fading memories of the disaster, tourism saw a record high last month.
Let me know about a good book you've read recently, or about the book that's currently on your bedside table. Why did you pick it up? Are you enjoying it?
Doing Good
What happens when ordinary people decide to pay it forward? Extraordinary change...
Scott Budnick works in the dining room as customers arrive for a free meal at the Mathewson Street Friendship Breakfast in Providence, R.I.
Scott Budnick serves breakfast – with a side order of respect – to the homeless
Sunday breakfast at a Providence, R.I., church is more than a free meal. Half the volunteers are homeless themselves: 'It's their [own] breakfast that they're putting on.'
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