Translated from the Japanese by Alexander O. Smith with Elye J. Alexander Five words from the blurb: Tokyo, ex-husband, shattered, Police, genius I hadn’t heard of this book until one of my sister’s friends recommended it to me, but I love Japanese thrillers and so decided to give it a try. I’m pleased that [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Japan’
Things I Love From Japan
For the last two days I have been glued to the TV and Internet, watching the horrific events unfolding in Japan. It doesn’t feel right to let the situation pass without mention, but I don’t feel I can add much to the extensive media coverage that is already out there. Instead I’ll briefly explain why I [...]
Paprika – Yasutaka Tsutsui
Translated from the Japanese by Andrew Driver I bought this book because I saw the following phrase on the cover: A Japanese master to be ranked alongside Haruki Murakami I hadn’t heard of the author, but I’m afraid I have no self control when I see the word Murakami – I just have to see [...]
The Japanese Literature Challenge IV
I love Japanese Literature and so enjoy browsing the reviews on the Japanese Literature Challenge site. Bellezza has done a fantastic job promoting Japanese fiction and now that my Booker reading is coming to an end I’ll be spending more time reading books in translation. I don’t think I’ll be able to read that many [...]
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet – David Mitchell
David Mitchell is one of my favourite authors, so I was very excited about the release of this new book. Unfortunately I think that David Mitchell has matured as an author very quickly and so this book will disappoint much of his broad fan base. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet is set on [...]
The Woman in the Dunes – Kobo Abe
Translated from the Japanese by E. Dale Saunders The Woman in the Dunes is a classic of Japanese literature. It was first published in 1962 and immediately received critical acclaim. It is said to have influenced Murakami and the new Penguin classics version has an introduction written by David Mitchell, so perhaps you can see [...]
