The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide Translated by Eric Selland The Japanese write a lot of books about cats, don’t they? Being a cat lover, these books are irresistible to me, I couldn’t resist the green foiled eyes glinting out at me on the cover of The Guest Cat, a book I’ve seen glowingly reviewed Read More
Tag: Japan
Reviews catch-up: Harris, Murata, Daré & Wigglesworth
My pile of read but not yet reviewed books runneth over, so some shorter notes follow, plus some Shiny linkiness. The Book Lover’s Quiz Book – Novel Conundrums by Gary Wigglesworth My full review of this fun book is over at Shiny, but I’m writing about it here too as it’s an ideal Christmas present Read More
Shiny Linkiness
Today over at Shiny New Books is my review of the wonderful third novel from Natasha Pulley: The Lost Future of Pepperharrow Pulley’s third novel revisits the characters of her first, The Watchmaker of Filigree Street (reviewed here) and takes them back to Japan in the late 1880s, where the clairvoyant Keita Mori will be Read More
Japanese Literature Challenge 13: The Pain of the Clown
Spark by Naoki Matayoshi Translated by Alison Watts Just fitting in at the end of the season of the Japanese Reading Challenge 13, hosted by Dolce Bellezza, here’s my second contribution. (See here for my first.) In recent times, having read several Japanese novels which are understated but still thought-provoking comedies such as The Nakano Read More
Japanese Literature Challenge 13
The Cake Tree in the Ruins by Akiyuki Nosaka Translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori It’s the 13th year of the Japanese Literature Challenge, hosted by Meredith of Dolce Belezza – it runs from January through to the end of March – find out more here. I hope to read more than one book for it, Read More
Novellas in November – Part 3
Although my normal reading contains a fair smattering of novellas anyway, I’ve loved concentrating on reading novellas this November – here’s my third and final selection for this month: Poor Cow by Nell Dunn Published in 1967, Dunn’s novella is a ‘classic of 1960s London life’ and was her second work of fiction after her Read More
An understated but moving novel with the cutest cover ever!
If Cats Disappeared From the World by Genki Kawamura Translated by Eric Selland I think the little kitten on this book must rank amongst the cutest cats ever to grace a cover. What you can’t see from the picture above is that his eyes are highlighted with gold, glinting at you, and daring you to Read More
20 Books of Summer #4 & #5 – Hamid and Miralles
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid Hamid’s 2017 Man Booker Prize and Rathbones Folio 2018 shortlisted novel is difficult to categorise. At face value it is a classic boy meets girl, boy loses girl variant, a fable-style romance set in a contemporary Asian city that is not yet at war. On another level, it is about Read More
Review Catch-up…
Life is rather busy, and I’m terribly behind on my reviews. So here is a batch of reviews and links for you… Educated by Tara Westover This memoir of growing up in an unconventional setting and how the author escaped to discover the world outside was absolutely compelling reading, Westover grew up off-grid in Idaho, Read More
A Japanese Nightmare
Republished into its original place in my blog’s timeline from my lost posts archive Fear and Trembling by Amélie Nothumb Translated by Adriana Hunter This unsettling novella has an apt title. When I looked it up to see where it might have come from, I found a bible quote (also the source for a work Read More
A May to December romance with strings…
Hotel Iris by Yoko Ogawa Translated by Stephen Snyder Only reading from my TBR, I searched my shelves for books so that I could join in with January in Japan hosted by Tony’s Reading List. I could have chosen Murakami – but have had both good and bad experiences with him. It ended up being a choice Read More
Live for the moment – forget everything
The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa translated by Stephen Snyder When I spotted this book, with its quote from my literary hero Paul Auster on the cover, I was hooked. Having read it, I’m delighted I chanced upon it, for I loved this gentle tale of the Professor, his Housekeeper and her son. Read More
