Tales From The Cafe is a collection of 4 short stories featuring the same cafe as in Before The Coffee Grts Cold. Which is one of my all time favorite books. In this cafe you can sit in a particular seat and be served coffee that will take you either back in time or into the future, though most go back into the past. There are rules that must be followed, such as you can't change the past and most importantly, you must finish the coffee before it gets cold.

The stories feature themes of love, loss, grief, and survivor's guilt. They are eloquently written and you get to know the main characters in this Cafe in Japan better as the stories progress. It's a short read at less than 200 pages, but they still pull at your heart. I will be recommending both books to everyone I meet!

My appreciation to Hanover Square Press, Toshikazu Kawaguchi, and NetGalley for gifting me a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

ARC Copy...read the first one in prep and did like the sequel still retains the warmth and magical realism of the first book. Highly suggestible as a short coozy read.

This was an interesting book, to say the least. The concept was intriguing, the initial story drew me in quickly. I immediately saw the need to go back into the past, despite the reality of not being able to change things (not a spoiler...it's part of the rules discussed in the book). I enjoyed the heartfelt emotion of why the characters needed to go back.

I believe a native speaker will get more out of the stories than I did, but I enjoyed them. Be advised, however, that you will be looking at the characters through an omniscient narrator's lens. It took a while to get used to the head-hopping, but once I got settled, I enjoyed knowing what everyone was thinking.

I liked this little book, which is a sequel and follows a similar style and pattern to the first one. There are four stories in the book, each about an individual who wants to re-visit the past (and one who visits the future). The language may sound a bit unnatural or stilted to some readers, but I think this is a function of the Japanese and the translation of expressions or conventions that don't easily translate to English. Some natural Japanese conversations would also sound odd to the American ear because of differences in style and communication. The stories themselves may also be more appreciated by a reader who is familiar with Japanese culture. That being said, it's clear that Kawaguchi's books have appealed to people from many countries. The stories of wishing for forgiveness, wanting to show love and be loved and overcoming regret, are universal.

One of my favorite authors is Murakami so I am very familiar with the surrealistic style and almost dispassionate voice of the Japanese novel. This sequel to "Before the coffee gets cold" continues the stories of the customers who go to this small coffee shop to travel to the past (or the future) to revisit important people in their lives and try to make things right. Of course, rules apply and they are stringent-the harshest being that you will not be able to change the past. The characters weave in and out of this story collection, and by the end you know them well. Their situations are touched with poignancy, and are, as the novel states, bittersweet. But hope and rebirth are reoccurring themes and they touch the reader's heart. An unusual and lovely book.

In a Tokyo café, you can go back in time but you can’t change anything. I liked the premise of this novel and the first story was intriguing. The other tales in the book didn’t grab my interest.

I received this for an honest review. This book is so interesting and good I can’t put it down. I haven’t finished it yet but will shortly. The book is about sitting in a chair while drinking coffee and seeing people from the past that have passed away. It is about basically going back in time.

Despite it's name, Finiculi Finicula sits in a Tokyo alley .It's been in the same location for 100 years and brews wonderful coffee from freshly ground beans. The cafe is also known to assist customers who want to go back in time. This can be arranged at a specific time and under specific rules; the most important of which is that the trip must end before the coffee gets cold!
This charming sequel to Before the Coffee Gets Cold finds four new customers who want to right wrongs to those they feel they hurt but who are now dead. Characters from the first book are still cafe mainstays - the staff and the woman who sits in the magical chair all day reading a novel.
The stories are heartwarming and like much Japanese fiction they subtly teach a lesson about recognizing priorities and connecting with friends and loved ones.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

This is a continuation of Before the Coffee Gets Cold with four more stories. The stories involve:
The man who goes back to see his best friend who died 22 years ago
The son who was unable to attend his own mother’s funeral
The man who travelled to see the girl who he could not marry
The old detective who never gave his wife that gift.
I love the idea of a coffee shop where you can time travel in the time before your coffee gets cold..

I love the premise of this book. I went into it not knowing this was the second in the series, but I came out of it a fan! I plan on purchasing the first volume and the rest of the series, should we get more than two books. It’s such a beautiful book with a beautiful concept. I found myself crying in some parts. It’s definitely worth a read, even if you haven’t read the first book.

I enjoyed the premise of this book. I enjoyed the various stories of the many characters and I liked the idea that you could go back in time, with a couple caveats. I think my middle school students might also enjoy this book too.

This book makes me look forward to number 3! Can’t wait to continue the journey with the characters i’ve come to know.

Softly, softly….this one is subtle and sweet and makes me want to drink coffee………………………………………………………………………………….

I didn't realize it when I started this book but it is book 2. While I wasn't confused, I think it would have meant more to me if I had read book 1 first. From what I understand, this book follows the same format as the first one. Through a magical cafe, people are able to go either to the past or future but there are very strict rules you must follow in order to this. I think this book is so original and well done. I enjoyed reading all the different stories on all kinds of people. I definitely recommend this one, just be sure to read book 1 first!

Re-visit Cafe Funicula Funicula, where time travel is possible, nestled unobtrusively in a Tokyo alleyway. Toshikazu Kawaguchi delivers a wonderful, warm follow-up to "Before the Coffee Gets Cold". While the cafe's customers cannot change their past or future, they all return changed from their journey. Readers unfamiliar with the first novel, a collection of loosely related tales, will have little trouble connecting with the dying man, struggling potter, retired detective, and father of a soon-to-be bride. All of their friends and family seek solace at the famed café, adding to the novel's emotional depth. Kawaguchi's prose is sensitive without becoming saccharine, drawing forth a satisfying emotional arcs. Readers also become privy to more information about the café and its staff. As Kathleen Kelly ("You've Got Mail") would say, read this one with a box of tissues.

"Tales from the Cafe" is the follow up to "Before the Coffee Gets Cold," where four new customers travel through time to meet loved ones in the past or future. I love the premise of the story, as well as the new characters, absolutely sobbing my way through the Best Friend story and Married Couple story. I enjoyed that the book referred to characters from the first book and how they changed their lives after visiting the cafe, and do wish that we found out more about what happened next with the characters in this one, especially for the Best Friend story. All in all, I really enjoyed reading and highly recommend.

Highly recommend this book. Interesting premise with good character development. A satisfying ending.

I REALLY enjoyed the first book in this series about a little known Japanese cafe where patrons can travel back in time. I was excited for this new installment but I just didn't find the characters as memorable or the storytelling as compelling as they were in the first book. This one wasn't a win for me. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my advance review copy.

There is a cafe, which, if you know where it is, and are patient, you can travel to the past. There are many strict rules about how this works. There is only one chair in the cafe that you can sit in, and it is occupied except for one, unknown time each day. You cannot change the present, no matter what you do or say the the past.. And if you do not finish drinking your coffee before it gets cold, you will not return.

Nevertheless, people find the cafe, and they wait for their chance...

These are four of their stories.

I found the book slow moving and the style very literary and a bit obscure; I'm not sure if that is the style of the author or the work of the translator, but it grew on me. The stories are connected to each other and to the workers in the cafe in unusual and unexpected ways.

Oh, and you can travel to the future, too.

Tales from the Cafe is a wonderful follow-up to Kawaguchi's Before the Coffee Gets Cold. Just as the stories and characters in the first volume were skillfully woven together, so too are the stories in the sequel. Not only that, but reference is made in volume two to characters in volume one. Recurring protagonists are given their due, reminding the reader that they are not merely tools for progressing the story, but also characters deserving of their own closure and happiness.