For commitment-phobes, slow readers, and anyone who just wants one good book.
The rush of December is over. The lights are packed away and suddenly it’s January. The month of goals, resolutions, and fresh starts at full speed. Did you make any resolutions this year? I did. Kind of. 🫱🏻🫲🏻
I want to (re-)learn French. I studied it for three years in school, which, as anyone who’s ever learned a language knows, means I promptly forgot most of it the moment I was out of school. And yes, I’ll be honest: wanting to read some of the amazing manga available on the French market is a very big part of that decision. Could I just learn Japanese instead? Maybe. But I’m really bad with languages, so let’s take this one step at a time. 😅🫣
When it comes to reading, January always sounds so ambitious. Read more. Try something new. Finally get back into books. Everything feels a little slow, a little heavy, and suddenly even choosing what to read feels like work.
Here’s the good news: there is no wrong place to begin. You don’t need to know genres, tropes, or decades of publishing history. You don’t need to commit to twenty volumes. You don’t even need to love manga yet (though I hope you do, if you’re reading my newsletter).
So here are a few gentle starting points. Standalone stories, short series, and easy reads that don’t overwhelm and don’t demand anything from you.
Standalone Manga
Not every reading mood calls for a long series. Sometimes you just want one book. One story. And the freedom to close it without feeling like you’ve signed an invisible lifetime contract.
Mermaid Prince is a wonderful place to begin if even a single continuous narrative feels like too much right now. It’s a collection of short, dreamy, slightly surreal stories that you can dip into whenever you feel like it.
Each story stands on its own. You can read one, put the book down, and come back days later without having to remember anything. The tone is soft and whimsical, sometimes melancholic, sometimes quietly strange.
If you’re looking for something short but emotionally sharper, Goodbye, Eri is an entirely different experience. This one is compact, clever, and emotionally loaded in the best way. It plays with storytelling itself: memory, film, truth, and the way we choose to remember people.
You can read it in one sitting, but chances are you’ll want to flip back a few pages afterward, just to make sure you really understood what you saw.
For something even quieter and more personal, Talk to My Back by Murasaki Yamada is a small, intimate collection of autobiographical short stories. It focuses on everyday life: relationships, work, exhaustion. Nothing dramatic happens here, and that’s exactly the point. All it asks for is a calm moment. It’s one of my favorite reads of 2025.
Short & Sweet Series
Sometimes one book isn’t quite enough, but a long-running series still feels like too much. That’s where short series really shine. They give you room to settle into a world and its characters, without asking you to stay forever.
Run Away With Me, Girl is emotional in a very quiet, very adult way. It follows two women who meet again years after being separated by expectations, fear, and the idea of what a “normal” life is supposed to look like. What unfolds is a story about missed chances, lingering feelings, and the courage it takes to choose yourself, even when it feels late.
The series is focused and honest. Perfect if you’re looking for something complete that still leaves a lasting impression.
The Girl from the Other Side offers a very different mood, but fits this category just as well. With minimal dialogue, haunting artwork, and a fairy-tale atmosphere, it feels both gentle and unsettling at the same time. At its heart, this is a story about care, protection, and quiet affection in a world that doesn’t always make sense.
New on the Shelves
A few new arrivals made their way into the shop, and they’re definitely worth a look. The Art of Witch Hat Atelier is a real treat for anyone who loves the series not just for its story, but for its craftsmanship. I already own the French edition, but I’m pretty sure the US version is just as beautiful. And let’s be honest, the illustrations are the same anyway, so you’re safe either way.
For those already emotionally invested, Lullaby of the Dawn Volume 6 is finally here. It continues the series’ slow, atmospheric storytelling and deepens the emotional threads it’s been carefully weaving. If you’re already following this story, you probably don’t need convincing. You know exactly why this belongs on your shelf.
And then there’s Kingdom. Epic, intense, and absolutely not a soft start. This one comes with commitment. But if you’re ready to dive into a long, ambitious story and really settle in for the journey, it’s incredibly rewarding.
And of course, this is just a small glimpse of all the new things that arrived recently. So feel free to take a look around and see what catches your eye 🙂
I hope one of these stories finds its way onto your shelf and makes your day a little brighter,
Kerstin