Our Book of the Week this week is Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata (published by Portobello Books). For nearly twenty years Keiko (like the author of this book) has been working in a convenience store, a role that both gives her purpose in life and, after initially allowing her to pass as a 'normal' person in a very conformist society, gives her a place from which to defy conformist expectations, especially concerning personal relationships, and to isolate herself from the pressures of social life. 
>> Read Stella's review. 
>> Odd is the new normal. 
>> An interview with the author. 
>> A love story between a misfit and a store. 
>> Rescuing us from mundane existence by looking at mundane existence. 
>> Loitering. 
>> A clean marriage.