Introduce yourself, at your option

[Mathew]

Native English, I also read slowly, but confidently in Japanese. I've actually resisted reading translations for a long time, but I've grown to appreciate the art and variety that translations are capable of beyond the original language.

[Jo]

Wow, that's great! you can compare and contrast the Japanese original text and the English translation. Hope i could do this some day in the future. Also, yes, translations sometimes are Beyond the original. it's amazing.

[Akito]

Hello everyone—this is my first post. My name is Kai, a Japanese living near Richmond in the UK. I’m both surprised and delighted to see how many people here are interested in Japan. A Japanese neighbour of mine recently published a Kindle book that vividly captures the hurdles Japanese people face when living or investing overseas. I’d love to share it here, and I’d really appreciate your thoughts.　

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FSLTCTTG/...+

[Mathew]

Hey Kai, Welcome! Are you much of a reader as well as a writer? Your book looks like a personal experience? Sounds like a sticky situation. GL!

[tb-or-not-tb]

Hullo~

I'm Vi from Aotearoa (NZ) and I'm an otaku! But also Japanese literature is very cool! Glad I found this group~

[Mathew]

Hi Vi! You're not alone! Welcome!

[Bill]

J-Lit weaned me off of being an otaku ^_^

Or did it? I still read plenty of manga, too.

[tb-or-not-tb]

Bill wrote: "J-Lit weaned me off of being an otaku ^_^
Or did it? I still read plenty of manga, too."

Oh, very cool~! What's the most recent manga you've read? Would you give it an elevator pitch? ^^

[Bill]

The last manga I read was Chitose, etc by Yoshizumi Wataru. I'd read a lot of her stuff a long time ago, and especially liked Marmalade Boy and We Are Mint.

I read her Caramel Cinnamon Popcorn (a terrible title, but a good story) earlier this year. The series stopped partway through, two years ago, and there hasn't been anything else from her. I hope she's okay.

Chitose, etc. was disappointing. The pacing was erratic and unsatisfying. It would spend time on needless detail, and then there would be a sudden change that happened more quickly than is realistic, and also would have benefitted from slowly down to give us more detail. I don't recommend it, despite the high ratings.

[Mathew]

@Bill, I haven't done anything by her, not since Marmalade Boy, back in the dark ages. I haven't seen any news, so I assume she is still working.
@tb-or-not-tb, I'm usually pretty comfortable with my classic showa works and or stuff from the 90's. I'm currently re-reading a crappy paperback version of Yu-yu-Hakusho, which is a lot of fun to see in large format again. More recent publications include
Tower Dungeon
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
which has some great ink work, and potential for a really interesting story
and
Beast King and Medicinal Herb (also a dumb title)
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
Which is a dungeon crawl story, but done in reverse, it's a fun concept and is my favorite manga publication this year.
PM me if you want more. I'm always happy to nerd out!

[Stuart]

Hi
I’m Stuart. I’m Canadian and pretty eclectic in terms of my reading.
My exposure to Japanese literature is very narrow—basically just Haruki Murakami and Snow Country (Kawabata) and And Then (Soseki) all in translation.
Currently halfway through Murakami’s Killing Commendatore.

[Mathew]

Stuart wrote: "Hi
I’m Stuart. I’m Canadian and pretty eclectic in terms of my reading.
My exposure to Japanese literature is very narrow—basically just Haruki Murakami and Snow Country (Kawabata) and And Then (S..."

Sounds like you're making some great progress! Welcome! I've found our monthly reads to be a great way to expand horizons and challenge oneself with things not necessarily in your wheel house!

Kawabata is one of my all time favorites!

[Bill]

Welcome, Stuart!

We also have a thread of recommendations for new J-Lit readers: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Kira]

Hi my name is Kira! My interest in Japanese literature started a decade ago, thanks to my stepmother who is from Nagoya. I really love Natsuo Kirino, Haruki Murakami, and Osamu Dazai. I also love Kanae Minato and really wish more of her books were translated into English. But maybe that is also my cue to become more fluent in Japanese. Anyway, I look forward to being a part of the group!

[Mathew]

Welcome Kira! I'm not familiar with Minato's work. I'll check her out!

[Paige]

Hi all I'm Paige! I'm a big otaku but I did come across Keigo Higashino's books a few years ago and started with The Miracles of the Namiya General Store and have since been making my way through the Detective Galileo series. I am from the U.S. so I primarily speak English but have been trying to learn Japanese on and off. I would like to dive more into some good Japanese literature as it has peaked my interest so I welcome recommendations especially good audiobooks so I can multitask throughout my day!

[Mathew]

Hi Paige! Japanese literature is a wide field, I'm sure you'll find something to your taste. I do content swapping throughout my day as well.

If you're looking for a good audio book, things narrated by Brian Niishi tend to be of top quality.