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To be fair I hate rambling and overly describing imagery. (LOTR hater).

I am glad to read your comments on Cult X, Sev. I tried reading it previously & didn't get far; not sure I will be trying it again. I have read a couple of others by Fuminori (My Annihilation and The Gun). I feel like he has a very detached writing style. I really liked My Annihilation but more appreciated (than liked) The Gun. But, both were fairly dark/grim books.

Sev wrote: "I am about to finish Cult X by fuminori nakamura. It has been a slogfest with terrible depiction of women as objects without agency. There’s a lot of rambling about state of the world, religion, at..."
I do like Dark/grim books. Natso Kirino is my favorite author. However, Cult X was an extremely dark and perverse book with very shaky and poor explanation for atrocious acts. I am also getting fed up with blatant depiction of women as simply sexual objects. with that being said, I might check out author's thief book. Because I found his writing easy to read aside from rambling cult leaders part.

As a writer of femdom erotica, I find the femdom undercurrents. There's a scene early on where Naomi rides Joji around like a horse. I did read the plot synopsis before I read the book--as I am researching about ero-guro--so I know what direction it's going to go--and I look forward to seeing how it gets there. You can start seeing certain dynamics taking hold from the second chapter or so.


Link to my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...


Link ..."
skimmed a bit of this last week, the writing style was very intriguing out the gate. waiting for this to come out on bunko, but i didn't realize it was already translated! the subject matter also makes me think of akutagawa nominee suzumi suzuki, who also seems to write from her perspective as a woman on the fringes of society.

Definitely, it's also very distinctive, not sure if you'll enjoy it or not but it's certainly illuminating.

I read an advance review copy so not yet published. Polly Barton seemed an apt choice of translator after her Porn: An Oral History Interesting you compare it to Suzuki, I have a review copy of Gifted so will definitely look out for similarities now!

Link to my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
If there are any librarians around there are two GR catalogue entries for this on GR which could do with merging.

Link ..."
As always, thanks for posting the links to your thoughtful and excellent reviews. I have followed Saou Ichikawa in the news and have Hunchback on preorder.
Here is a short article about the award:
https://english.kyodonews.net/news/20...
You can set the video to auto translate to English.
And a longer profile interview with NHK:
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/ne...

Thanks Jack!


Meiji, 1868;: Revolution and counter-revolution in Japan by Paul Akamatsu, translated by MIRIAM KOCHAN.
also, I am rereading:
The Ink Dark Moon: Love Poems by Ono no Komachi and Izumi Shikibu, Women of the Ancient Court of Japan
See: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/...
and
a lot of manga


An interesting biography is on Wikipedia : https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yei_T...
I have enjoyed rereading this early translation collection of Japanese folktales. I can imagine storytellers reciting the tales to an audience or and elder retelling the tale to the children.
Later ~ 1930 these would be great kamashibai stories:
https://www.japansociety.org.uk/resou...
Watch Mio Shudo and Fergus McNichol with the Kamashibai Momotaro tale.

I just started on our Oct 2024 book club selection but will hold off for a few days. I have both the text and audiobook version. It is pretty interesting and funny, a much easier read as compared to our September’s selection. However, I am still following up with that to learn a bit more about the history and context.

Firstly, it's mostly very short sketches of people (a page or less) ridiculing them for either being financially irresponsible or obsessively frugal. I would have appreciated more middle-of-the-road people in the mix.
Secondly, this translation has a copyright date of 1965, but feels even older. Some of the turns of phrase seem off, and too many Japanese words that wouldn't be translated these days are replaced with only moderately appropriate English equivalents.

Link to my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Link to my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Link to my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Link to my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

A 30-year-old layabout thinks he's a rebel (of sorts) for doing nothing with his life after getting out of university. He goes through convoluted self-justification for this that makes no sense to anyone else, and wouldn't make sense to him, either, if he thought it through objectively. His family is on his case to get married or do something with his life every time he goes to hit up his father or elder brother for spending money.
If there's any redeeming social commentary in here, it's lost on me.

1) Longing and Other Stories by Jun’ichirō Tanizaki;
2) The Paper Door & Other Stories by Naoya Shiga;
3) Ground Zero, Nagasaki: Stories by Yūichi Seirai;
4) The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories; and
5) Things Remembered and Things Forgotten by Kyōko Nakajima. Reviews on my goodreads page, and blog: https://thoughtsonpapyrus.com/2024/10...
All collections are worth reading, haven't found a weak spot.

Link to my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I'm just starting Goodnight Tokyo.

I'm just starting ..."
What did you think about She and Her Cat: Stories?
Goodnight Tokyo is in my tbrs. pls let me know if you liked it. I might need to move it up the pile. Haydn Trowell, translator, also did High School DxD (silly light novel yes, but I liked it) among many others.
Goodnight Tokyo had a good review in Asian Review of Books last July: https://asianreviewofbooks.com/conten...

Another solid review! I would like to read this when I get on post WWII history in Japan. Yūko Tsushima/Satoko Tsushima has an fascinating personal story and NYTimes called her "one of the most important Japanese writers of her generation" in their July 1988 review of her novel The Shooting Gallery.
I don't know if this is paywalled but the link is: https://www.nytimes.com/1988/07/24/bo...
they wrote,
"Born in 1947, she is the daughter of the well-known novelist Osamu Dazai, who committed suicide in 1948. Not surprisingly, the recurring theme in Ms. Tsushima's work is that of abandonment: parents abandoning children; children abandoning parents; and, of course, parents abandoning each other. And in Japan, since abandonment carries a special onus - the victim, through perverse custom and inverse logic, is not only treated as damaged goods but is also expected to accept responsibility for his or her condition -Ms. Tsushima's stories evoke a special pathos and poignancy."

1) Longing and Other Stories by Jun’ichirō Tanizaki;
2) The Paper Door..."
Thank you for posting the link for your review of these short stories. After I read your reviews and the other older review of additional short stories on your site, I pulled my copy of The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories to read one that you reviewed. It was The House of Physics by Ogawa Yoko (pp. 202-216) What a fantastically good short story. I may have never got there without the review. Thanks much, r/Jack

Thanks Jack, thought The Shooting Gallery was a bit uneven, like most collections, but some great stories. I've read everything available in translation now, with the exception of Laughing Wolf which I'm hoping to get to soon-ish.

I..."
I did enjoy She & Her Cat. Kind of light, simple reading. I hope to get into Goodnight Tokyo more this weekend. Of course, it's short, so as long as I find the time should be a fairly quick read. I'll keep you posted.

thanks! as you have time. :) jack!

I really enjoyed She and Her Cat, wasn't as keen on Goodnight Tokyo, although if you like shows like Midnight Diner then you should be okay with it, as there are some similarities.

Link to my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Link to my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Link to my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...


This is one of those books (and one of those authors) that you inevitably keep seeing when you're interested in Japan/Japanese literature, but I have to confess I never really read up on its author or the book itself. The odd transcription (Kwaidan instead of Kaidan) also put me off. However, I spent a few days in Kumamoto earlier this month and visited Hearn's former residence (one of the few things to do in Kumamoto), and what an interesting person!
Also fascinating to read that, according to the introduction, Kwaidan in Japanese translation has been one of the most prominent collections of Japanese ghost stories in Japan itself and continues to be read to this day?

Audiobook: Lonely Castle in the Mirror, by Mizuki Tsujimura
Novel(la): Pan, by Knut Hamsun ( this is for November in Norway - a different reading activity - thanks Emma!). I will be starting Mina’s Matchbox in a few days…
History: Meiji 1868: Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Japan, by Paul Akamatsu
J-Lit history: Seeds in the Heart: Japanese Literature from Earliest Times to the Late Sixteenth Century, by Donald Keene
The history books take me months…
Manga is fleeting but I am reading the last volume of Homeland Dropout: The Time I Was Reincarnated as the Fourth Enchanter in the Entire World

This is one of those books (and one of those authors) that y..."
I enjoyed that book. Isaac Meyers had an early podcast on Hearn and the Kwaidan: https://sites.libsyn.com/43266/episod...
In the podcast episode Meyers reads the Snow Woman (Yukiona) from the collection.

Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

It is an interesting short story collection so far.
..
Complete
Revenge: Eleven Dark Tales became better and better as I listened to the audiobook version of the text. I was to read the print version in the future because I think it will be just as good on a reread.

Link to my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...




Non-Fiction: Lonely Planet Journeys: Lost Japan
Light Novels: Black Summoner Volume 1
Manga: too many

My current audiobook is Set My Heart on Fire.
I wonder how the publishers match up eng translators for her works. This is Helen O’Horan. Hit Parade of Tears is Sam Bett, David Boyd, Helen O’Horan, and Daniel Joseph Sam Bett. Terminal Boredom is Sam Bett and Polly Barton.
Cindy Kay is the narrator of the Tantor Media audiobook that I am listening to. release date is 12 Nov 2024.
It feels immediate and also a time warp. The book was originally published 1983. Over 40 years ago. I wasn’t really young even then. It helps to know a good number of the music references.
It had a weird echo in the reading then I realized that part of the story sounded vaguely similar to another Suzuki story, It was “ “HEY, IT’S A LOVE PSYCHEDELIC!” From Hit Parade of Tears: Stories. What is the timeline? The short story was originally published in 1982 and Set My Heart on Fire was 1983.
I will go back and read the short story after finishing the novel.
(Completed novel 14 Dec 2024)
I am not sure I have any insightful comments on Set My Heart on Fire (ハートに火をつけて! だれが消す). I listened to the audiobook performance and read the text.
“Some things you only understand once you’ve tried living. By the time you understand them, it’s too late. That’s in fact the reason why – no, I don’t have the spirit to say that’s what makes life spectacular. If I had enough initiative for that, then I wouldn’t have gone through what I did. It feels like a punishment for my lack of courage. Even so, it’s excessively cruel. Way out of proportion. For now, I accept the absurdity.”
The titles of the chapters and the chapter contents have deep ties, although you need to know the song lyrics. The title is just a lead into the connection.
I liked her short stories better but that is because it is easier to have some distance reading them.
We should probably have an Izumi Suzuki group read or a discussion on her works.
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I hadn't seen the comparison to Christie. The cover made it look like a comfort read—which it's clearly not. I'm pretty sure earlier publisher's copy I saw made it sound more high brow. Trowell normally translates more high-brow fiction, too. It honestly sounds almost like Morimi, without the random tengu. I wonder if the publisher didn't know how to position this one?