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[Carol]

I started an arc of a short story collection: The Lonesome Bodybuilder: Stories by Yukiko Motoya. So far I'm intrigued but not all-in.

[Alan M]

Carol wrote: "I started an arc of a short story collection: The Lonesome Bodybuilder: Stories by Yukiko Motoya. So far I'm intrigued but not all-in."

Oooh, I have that waiting to be read Carol, as well as the new Higashino I was lucky enough to get. That and Murakami next week it's full-on J-Lit for me :)

[Carol]

Alan wrote: "Carol wrote: "I started an arc of a short story collection: The Lonesome Bodybuilder: Stories by Yukiko Motoya. So far I'm intrigued but not all-in."

Oooh, I have ..."

And isn’t that a delightful state, lol? I’m going to hold off on Higashino for a couple of weeks, but couldn’t be happier to have them both in hand. I’ll be interested to hear what you think of the Motoya when you get to it.

[Carol]

I started The Mystery Train Disappears by Kyōtarō Nishimura, for a toppler I’m doing with another group. It is exactly what I needed. I’m only on page six and loving it.

[Carol]

BTW, I loved The Mystery Train Disappears, and I’m annoyed that it’s Nishimura’s only novel available in English. There’s a 50% chance I’ll draft and post a review.

Currently, I’m reading two debuts:
Dorothy B. Hughes’ The So Blue Marble, and
Guy Gunaratne’s In Our Mad and Furious City.

[Bill]

I tried to read that a couple of years ago... the used copy I found got lost in the mail ;_;

Hopefully I'll find another one soon.

[Alan M]

Carol wrote: "Alan wrote: "Carol wrote: "I started an arc of a short story collection: The Lonesome Bodybuilder: Stories by Yukiko Motoya. So far I'm intrigued but not all-in."

..."

So, have now read and pondered The Lonesome Bodybuilder: Stories - what the hell??

Surreal, sometimes disturbing, but it just made sense in a weird way. I know there's probably lots of symbolism stuff that went way over my head (I did find myself digging into what significance the mountain peony might have in Japanese culture, for example...) but I found every story in the collection focused on moments of change or liberation or Kafkaesque metamorphosis. I liked 'Typhoon' and the umbrellas, thought 'An Exotic Marriage' was superb, and found 'The Dogs' - about an unnamed person in an isolated cabin living with a pack of dogs - really atmospheric and unsettling.

Overall I thought it was an excellent collection, well worth a read if you want something a bit different!

[Bill]

I'm looking at a kigo (poetry word meaning) listing for peony, but don't see any "mountain peony" subcategory...

https://worldkigodatabase.blogspot.co...

[Alan M]

Thanks Bill. I was just going by the translation. In my digging I found that a peony in general is also known as the ‘King of Flowers’ and is used as a symbol of good fortune, bravery, and honour. I'm still wondering how the heck that fits in with that particular story lol!!

[Bill]

I'm halfway through The Friends by Yumoto Kazumi. Three sixth-grade boys spy on a lonely old man because they want to observe someone die.

It's certainly not as grim as that one-line description suggests. It's a slice of life story of the boys' experiences while spying on him over a summer. As one might imagine, they get spotted at some point, and start to get to know the old man. I think the novel does a very good job portraying boys that age, to the point where it reminds me of foolish things I did at that age (and which I won't repeat here).

I think the writing and/or translation was a bit better in Yumoto's The Letters, but I am enjoying this novel as well.

[Carol]

I'm (primarily) reading In Our Mad and Furious City by Guy Gunaratne, and The Colour of Murder by Julian Symons, which together present an interesting contrast of Britain past and current.

[J]

Started Strange Weather in Tokyo by Kawakami Hiromi. Hmm... already not quite liking the sensei character in the opening few chapters. Maybe this will change further down the road.

[Bill]

Reading Blade of the Courtesans. It's looking good so far, as a young master swordsman arrives in the newly rebuilt redlight district of Edo (Tokyo) in the mid 17th century. Either the original or the translation does a good job of explaining the specialist terms.

I assume our young master swordsman will become the eponymous character, but he hasn't as of 40 pages in.

[Carol]

I’m still mid-In Our Mad and Furious City, but also am reading Go, Went, Gone by Jenny Erpenbeck, An Armenian Sketchbook by Vasily Grossman, The 10:30 from Marseille by Sébastien Japrisot and I’m a couple dozen pages into Killing Commendatore.

[Bill]

Blade of the Courtesans started out interesting, but then degenerated (in multiple senses of the word). After that it wasted too much time detailing the events of its alternate history. And then it had a weak ending.

Not recommended.

[Carol]

Currently in.a German mood, it seems. I’m reading Go, Went, Gone by Jenny Erpenbeck (with the 21st Century Lit group) and The Black Spider by Jeremias Gotthelf.

[Alan M]

Currently dipping in and out of Foreign Bodies edited by Martin Edwards - I love a bit of Golden Age crime, so I do, and especially enjoyed the 2 Japanese stories in the collection: Koga Saburo's 'The Spider' and Keikichi Osaka's 'the Cold Night's Clearing', both from the 1930s. I would recommend anyone to seek them out. Now I've added The Ginza Ghost to my TBR pile.

Also enjoying The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories - it's funny, for years I never really bothered with short stories but now I find myself drawn to them. They can be a nice break from a meaty novel - and collections like this mean you can pick it up, read a story, then go and do something useful like the hoovering!

[Bill]

I just finished "The Boy in the Earth". Boy would I have been ticked if I'd paid $24 for it (I paid $4 for it used). This 80-90 page novella is stretched out dubiously and listed at 160 pages. I'm now going to be wary of other books from Soho Crime.

Regardless, I enjoyed the book. I found his descriptions of depression and panic attacks riveting, and how the title character's disfunctional relationship improved over the course of the book. Some might consider his life unrealistically violent for a safe country like Japan, but it can't be uniformly safe for everyone.

[Carol]

Bill wrote: "I just finished "The Boy in the Earth". Boy would I have been ticked if I'd paid $24 for it (I paid $4 for it used). This 80-90 page novella is stretched out dubiously and listed at 160 pages. I'm ..."

Wow. I'm generally a fan of Soho Crime, but I agree that's nuts.

[Carol]

I finished The Plotters by Un-su Kim last night. Highly recommended for fans of The Thief. Fairly dark in a great way.

[Alan M]

Carol wrote: "I finished The Plotters by Un-su Kim last night. Highly recommended for fans of The Thief. Fairly dark in a great way."

I enjoyed The Plotters as well, Carol - there's a lot of good Korean lit being made available now, which is excellent news (even if it does add to the pile of books tbr!!).

[Carol]

Alan wrote: "Carol wrote: "I finished The Plotters by Un-su Kim last night. Highly recommended for fans of The Thief. Fairly dark in a great way."

I enjoyed Th..."

My hat's off to Doubleday if they can figure out whom to market The Plotters to, though. Reviewers don't know what to say. I am struggling with that piece, too. It doesn't fit neatly into categories like mystery or LitFic.

It's like an explosion since the two Kang novels hit it big. Very good for us readers. TBRs are meant to be augmented..

[Zak]

The Plotters sounds right up my alley. Thanks for the heads-up, Carol.

[Carol]

Zak wrote: "The Plotters sounds right up my alley. Thanks for the heads-up, Carol."

You’re welcome, Zak.

[Tim]

I’m currently reading The Great Passage (Yes, I know it’s a little early, but... eh, why not). Excellent so far. At times it seems a touch simplistic in terms of character development, but it’s a wonderful slice of novel that I’ll be delighted to discuss later. In terms of other books we’ve read, I’d say it’s closest to The Nakano Thrift Shop, but with more of a driving plot.

[Tim]

Carol wrote: "I finished The Plotters by Un-su Kim last night. Highly recommended for fans of The Thief. Fairly dark in a great way."

I got The Thief as a Christmas gift and it’s on my upcoming read list. If I enjoy it, I’ll make note of The Plotters as well!

[Jeshika]

I’ve just got finished reading Lord of the Flies. I find it very similar in theme to The Sailor who fell from grace with the sea, which was my previous read and it’s making it difficult to rate and review. :(

[Carol]

Tim wrote: "Carol wrote: "I finished The Plotters by Un-su Kim last night. Highly recommended for fans of The Thief. Fairly dark in a great way."

I got The Th..."

The Thief is must-read for a Japanophile who appreciates noir, but it’s not particularly polished. More like a diamond in the rough. The Plotters is more sophisticated, in terms of LitFic, but with that same nihilist perspective, if that makes sense.

[Tim]

Well, I’m a fan of Japanese lit and noir, so I should enjoy it. I’ve actually bumped it up and am starting it tonight!

[Carol]

Tim wrote: "Well, I’m a fan of Japanese lit and noir, so I should enjoy it. I’ve actually bumped it up and am starting it tonight!"

You may be staying up late :) it’s a finish-in-one-sitting book. Good luck!

[Ian]

I’m currently reading The Pornographers by Akiyuki Nosaka. I’ll see how it pulls together in the end, but... considering all the children’s books he wrote, this one is especially unsettling.

[Carol]

Josh wrote: "I’m currently reading The Pornographers by Akiyuki Nosaka. I’ll see how it pulls together in the end, but... considering all the children’s books he wrote, this one is especially unsettling."

I loved The Cake Tree in the Ruins. Only the whale story, my least favorite, was supposedly for children. If you give The Pornographers the thumbs-up, I’ll go for it.

[Bill]

Thanks, Josh! I saw the Imamura film of The Pornographers, but didn't know it was based on a novel (and translated, no less).

[Tim]

Carol wrote: "You may be staying up late :) it’s a finish-in-one-sitting book...."

Wasn't able to pull that off because of a combination of the nihilistic nature of the story getting to me and a toddler requiring constant attention when I was actually home. But it was excellent!

I'm currently reading Dune... because I'm in the mood for something that's just a long but fun read.

[Agnetta]

I listened to A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman as a german audiobook, something light to compensate for the Changeling. Then I listened it again. I enjoyed this SO MUCH I think I will start learning Swedish tonight to try and read the original ! it ain't to different from my mothertongue dutch they say so maybe I now know the story so well I can just read it in swedish.

I laughed out loud while cleaning the kitchen with this book on speaker, and despite the story being rather tragic. Really great story.

[Jeshika]

Agnetta wrote: "I listened to A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman as a german audiobook, something light to compensate for the Changeling. Then I listened it again. I enjoyed this SO MUCH I think I..."

I've heard so many good things about his books lately. I really want to give them a go. :)

[Carol]

Tim wrote: "Carol wrote: "You may be staying up late :) it’s a finish-in-one-sitting book...."

Wasn't able to pull that off because of a combination of the nihilistic nature of the story getting to me and a t..."

What did you think of it, Tim? Yes, it doesn’t go well with parenting, as I recall, lol.

[Carol]

I’m reading Nicolás Obregón’s Sins as Scarlet: An Inspector Iwata Novel, the follow-on to Blue Light Yokohama. It takes place in LA, and I didn’t read Blue Light, but I’m enjoying it.

[Bill]

I'm reading The Showa Anthology. For an anthology published in 1985, when Japanese literature wasn't yet popular and there was lots to choose from for licensing, the first half of the book is quite lackluster. It picks up in the second half, so there's still 200+ pages of quality reading here. If you give it a try and don't like it at first, don't give up!

[J]

Started Mishima's Spring Snow. Only one chapter in so far, but it looks interesting.

[Bill]

I've got the next four group reads sitting on my bookshelf. Alright, I lie. Great Passage is in my briefcase and I'm on chapter two.

Reading chapter one makes me want to list all the wonderful dictionaries I bought while studying Japanese and that I still use from time to time. But I don't know how many of you study Japanese, and if using paper dictionaries makes me an old fuddy-duddy. People might only use free ones like jisho.org these days.

[Christian]

Bill wrote: "Reading chapter one makes me want to list all the wonderful dictionaries I bought while studying Japanese and that I still use from time to time. But I don't know how many of you study Japanese, and if using paper dictionaries makes me an old fuddy-duddy. People might only use free ones like jisho.org these days. "

I love paper dictionaries! Please list them Bill!
I probably use jisho the most. It's convenient, but it definitely has its flaws. Sometimes the kanjis are wrong/non-exhaustive, and the definitions... well they're more translations than definitions. I do use the physical ones sometimes, mostly one that's aimed for Japanese kids (called チャレンジ小学国語辞典). The definitions are simple to understand :P And they have tidbits of info on the bottom of all pages. For kanjis words I have no idea how to pronounce, I have the Nelson 'Modern Reader's' character dictionary. Also, hardly ever useful except as a brick: Kenkyusha's J-E dictionary. Again, it's more aimed for translation work: mostly example sentences.

During the holidays, in anticipation of reading The Great Passage and as a gift to myself, I ordered some second-hand Japanese ones. Older editions of the 広辞苑, the 日本語大辞典 and Kenkyusha's E-J (which will probably be even less often used than the J-E, but maybe they'll feel less lonely together!) I know languages evolve fairly rapidly, but I don't feel the need for anything up to date. I'm guessing that most new words since the 90s are katakana transliterations of English words anyway.

[Ian]

In my opinion, if you can read/understand an older style of Japanese, you understand Japanese.

Japanese changes (as English does, though less politically in my experience) but I would say that it simplifies in many ways. So, older Japanese is more difficult (does everyone agree, or feel free to disagree :)

I read the first chapter of TGP (did anyone finish January’s book?) and it seems like a fun read.

BTW, they just announced that the translators last lesson (retiring as a teacher, not translator) will be open to the public, so if anyone is in Kyoto 2/6 at 2pm, ask me for details.

[Bill]

In kanji dictionaries I have Old Nelson, but some of the pages are falling out with age, so when I found a copy of New Nelson in a used book store a couple of years ago I picked it up. I also got Hadamitzky & Spahn when it came out; it has slightly different usages and allows you to look up words based on any kanji in them. Then there's the specialized O'Neill's Japanese Names, because names are read like nothing else.

There's A Dictionary of Japanese Culture which is more like a little J-E encyclopedia. And a J-E dictionary written for Japanese users, because they're more complete Kenkyuusha Lighthouse College J-E; it's not that exact edition, but it's the same editors. I never did get around to buying a 国語辞典 (a J-J dictionary for Japanese users). A Japanese friend bought me The McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Physics and Mathematics, J-E and E-J, which unfortunately has never seen much use; it was expensive. I also have a J-J haiku term dictionary, which I can't find in the Goodreads database; it's for looking up the implied meanings of words used in traditional poetry.

I guess I can list A Dictionary of Japanese Grammer (3 vols), too. It has "dictionary" in the title :)

[Christian]

Bill wrote: "I guess I can list A Dictionary of Japanese Grammer (3 vols), too. It has "dictionary" in the title :)
"

Oh! I have those too... I rarely use them though, the Basic one is the most useful I found. The others are often more about words than grammar... like just by flipping through the advanced one, I see there's an entry for 思えば = come to think of it... with a bunch of example sentences. Not sure how that counts as grammar lol. They're interesting to browse through!

I guess the same can be said about paper dictionaries in general... they might have lost their former glory, but you can't really browse an electronic dictionary for fun. Plus it's nice to be able to hold an entire language in your (very strong) hand. I was recently reading Shōgun and the main character is an Englishman in Japan. He is given a Japanese-Portuguese dictionary and it's obviously an amazing treasure, but it was funny how he thought he now would be able to understand everything in no time ;P

Interesting about the name dictionary... man is Japanese difficult. You need a dictionary to even just have an idea of the possibilities on how to pronounce someone's name. At least in books it's often given with furigana. Otherwise I'll try the kun reading if I know it and hope for the best lol.

[Tim]

Currently reading Audition... I have mixed feelings thus far.

[Carol]

Tim wrote: "Currently reading Audition... I have mixed feelings thus far."

Oh, man. That’s one wild ride. After you get past your desire to keep yelling at the MC: “bad idea! Run!!!”

[Bill]

Thanks to a power outage at work, I read half of I Want to Kick You in the Back today. It's a quick read about an anti-social high school girl and the nerdiest guy in the class. I hope for both their sakes that the author doesn't put them together.

It does a good job portraying the boredom, awkwardness, and insecurity of being in high school.

[Tim]

Carol wrote: "Tim wrote: "Currently reading Audition... I have mixed feelings thus far."

Oh, man. That’s one wild ride. After you get past your desire to keep yelling at the MC: “bad idea! Run!!!”"

Yeah... finished it tonight. I've written up a review, but for some reason Goodreads won't let me post it, so I've saved it in a word document and will try later. It's certainly one of the most uncomfortable reads I've ever had and the last 20 pages or so were difficult to finish (and I'm a fairly hardened horror fan). Honestly, and I rather hate saying this, but I think it's one of those rare examples where the movie is better than the book... but that's just my opinion.

*Edit* Never mind, my review went up literally right after I posted this. There must have been some sort of sight glitch where there was just a delay in it.

[Jeshika]

I have yet to watch the film of Audition, I bought it straight after reading the book as well. I might make a weekend of rereading the book and watching the film, because I honestly can't remember anything about the story at all.