Group Read ->August 2019 -> Nomination thread (A book set in, or about, Japan. Joint winners - The Housekeeper and the Professor + The Sound of the Mountain)

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

I don't know if I'll be able to get to the Ogawa, but I have a place for it in the summer challenge and I've penciled it in.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

Somehow I was thinking we had a dedicated Japan thread, but I didn't find it, so, as sometimes happens, perhaps my memory is flawed. Anyway, the following paragraph is at the beginning of my copy of The Sound of the Mountain. I will also be reading The Housekeeper and the Professor, but it occurred to me some of you might be reading only the Ogawa. I don't know if this information is included in that. I don't know about you, but I do mentally pronounce names. (And maybe that is why I'm a slow reader.)

Note on the Pronunciation of Japanese Names

Consonants are pronounced approximately as in English, except the "g" is always hard, as in Gilbert. Vowels are pronounced as in Italian. Also as in Italian, the final e is always sounded. Thus the name Kaname is pronounce d Kah-nah-meh. There is no heavy penultimate accent as in English; it is adequate to accent each syllable equally.