Group Reads

[Lori]

How about us picking a book of the month to read and discuss? Maybe each member could pick a book every month or maybe our readers have some ideas on how.............What do you think?

[Mindy]

I think it's a great idea! But maybe we need to get some more people in here?

[Lori]

How? Any ideas?

[Claire]

Hi Lori and Mindy, this is a great idea. Are you still interested?

[Dioni]

we can start by throwing a few book ideas that we have in mind, and see if there are overlaps, or if some books gain more interest than others?

[Mindy]

I'm open. I'm in the middle of a really long novel right now, though -- it might take me two or three more weeks to finish it.

[Claire]

Mindy wrote: "I'm open. I'm in the middle of a really long novel right now, though -- it might take me two or three more weeks to finish it."

Mindy, same here. Others might also have other reading plans and priorities so instead of doing a monthly read we could probably start with doing just one book for the first two months of the next year, discussion at the end of February. Is that something feasible?

[Claire]

Dioni wrote: "we can start by throwing a few book ideas that we have in mind, and see if there are overlaps, or if some books gain more interest than others?"

I was planning on reading The Tale of Genji in January on my own, but if anyone's interested in reading it I can postpone to any time next year, even over a period of months so we can read together.. it's long!

Dioni and I are also planning to read Spring Snow (Sea of Fertility 1) by Mishima in July (planning way ahead) and if we like it maybe move on to the rest of the books in the series.

Another series I'm interested in is Dream of the Red Chamber (or The Story of the Stone). Would anyone be interested in that?

Other suggestions:
Lust, Caution by Eileen Chang
Kusamakura by Natsume Soseki
Kokoro by Natsume Soseki
Botchan by Natsume Soseki
Waiting by Ha Jin
Ilustrado by Miguel Syjuco
The Real Story of Ah-Q and Other Tales of China by Lu Xun
The Sound of the Mountain by Yasunari Kawabata
Palm-of-the-Hand Stories by Yasunari Kawabata
The Silent Cry by Kenzaburo Oe
The Painted Veil by W Somerset Maugham

Do any of the above titles appeal to you? Feel free to throw in your own suggestions. Sorry my list is Chinese and Japanese-heavy, but I don't know many titles from other countries, though I can suggest titles from the Philippines as well. (There's one above: Ilustrado.)

If you can suggest non-fiction titles as well, that would be great.

[Claire]

Oh, and something by Mo Yan would be fitting next year.

[Mindy]

Ilustrado by Miguel Syjuco is on my to-read list already.

[Claire]

Mindy wrote: "Ilustrado by Miguel Syjuco is on my to-read list already."

That's great, Mindy! Let's put that title in as one of the possible reads for Jan-Feb? Anyone else up for it?

[Claire]

Dioni suggested adding Tan Twan Eng's Garden of Evening Mists to the list of possibles. Plus permit me to add a Canadian book, Ru, which is partly set in Vietnam, partly in Malaysia, and partly in Canada. It's translated from the French and won the GG's Literary Award in French in 2010, and shortlisted for the 2012 Giller Prize in English.

So far, our shortlist:
1. Ilustrado by Miguel Syjuco
2. The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng
3. Ru by Kim Thuy

Any more additions to the list?

[Dioni]

Claire, which copy of Tale of Genji are you using? Is there only one edition for English? I don't think it'll be my year for it, but let us know it goes for you! :)

Personally I won't be able to join a monthly reading. I could probably commit to 2 East Asian books per year, so quarterly works better for me. So I won't mind if there's a group reading for books I already read. Though from your long list I've only read Waiting by Ha Jin, which I'd love to see you read :D

In my (more immediate) reading list right now are:
Yoko Ogawa (either The Housekeeper and the Professor or Hotel Iris - I have both)
Quicksand by Junichiro Tanizaki
I think I also have something by Fumiko Enchi, but I have to double check.

But those are all Japanese. It would be nice I guess if we go for non-Japanese, since Japanese books generally have got lots of love :D

My more-immediate reading list also includes The Wild Swan - Jung Chang, though I know you already read this Claire.

I agree that something by Mo Yan would be great. Red Sorghum seems to be the one to read!

[Claire]

Di, I won't be able to commit to a monthly read as well, quarterly is a good idea. Maybe we can make plans to read one book for the first three months, discussion will be the end of March instead of February.

I haven't read Wild Swans yet. I started it a long time ago but left my copy in the Philippines and wasn't able to finish.

I'll add Red Sorghum to the list of possible reads.

So far:
1. Ilustrado by Miguel Syjuco
2. The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng
3. Ru by Kim Thuy
4. Red Sorghum by Mo Yan

I have the Royall Tyler translation of The Tale of Genji. There's another translation by Edward Seidensticker.

[Dioni]

My copy of Wild Swans is not here too :(. Oh I didn't know you didn't finish. Does that mean you didn't like it?

[Claire]

Dioni wrote: "My copy of Wild Swans is not here too :(. Oh I didn't know you didn't finish. Does that mean you didn't like it?"

No, I really liked it but things got in the way (job, wedding, kids, etc.) and then I just forgot to go back to it. I hope to finish it sometime in the future. :)

[Hock]

I just read Mo Yan and loved it. There are some pretty graphically, horrific scenes and the timeline is "intuitive." I also reviewed it here and on my blog hockgtjoa.blogspot.com