It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?
and WWW Wednesdays

BOOKS JUST READ

click on the covers to know more about them

Newcomer

Another cleverly plotted and structured mystery by the Japanese master of the genre! Highly recommended for all lovers of smart stories, and readers interested in diverse and international literature.
I’m doubly excited for this one, because it’s my first review for Criminal Element. I’ll post my review when it’s live on their site

99 Ways to Tell a Story

The Oulipo movement has always attracted me, for instance in the writings by Georges Pérec, Italo Calvino (see my review of his amazing If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler), and obviously its founder: Raymond Queneau and his famous Exercices de Style (Exercises in Style): he takes one short and simple event, and then retells that same thing in 99 different styles.
Matt Madden does a fantastic job by doing the exact same thing, but this time all in different variations with graphics and comics.
For each, you have the genre on the left page, and the variation itself on the right. The Book Inspector has a cool video of it, You can pause to look closer at each page, that will give you a great idea of what this is all about.
So well done. I really enjoyed it a lot.

CURRENTLY READING

BOOKS UP NEXT
same as last week!

CURRENT GIVEAWAYS

2 books for grab for the October books of the month giveaway
And this children book giveaway open until Nov 3

WHAT ABOUT YOUR READING?

22 thoughts on “It’s Monday! What are you reading? October 15”

Your post made me realize that I have not read any books by Japanese authors! I’ll have to change that. I’m excited to see the two new historical releases by Bilyeau and Kostova. Happy reading!

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WordsAndPeace on October 15, 2018 at 11:21 am said:

OMG, you really need to try, there’s something very special and wonderful in Japanese literature, whatever the genre. The place to go is https://dolcebellezza.net/, as she hosts the Japanese Literature challenge. You’ll find a lot of titles and reviews

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Last night I finished Sunburn by Laura Lippman, her latest crime/mystery novel and the first one of hers I have read. I was so impressed! And one of my reading groups will discuss it this week. Today I will start reading Othello in preparation for reading New Boy by Tracy Chevalier who wrote a modern day adaptation for the Hogarth Shakespeare series. This is also for a reading group and will be my first time reading Othello. I am intrigued by the Japanese mystery you read!

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WordsAndPeace on October 15, 2018 at 4:11 pm said:

Hmm, are there a lot of explicit scenes in Sunburn?
Othello is great, I may see what Chevalier did with it.
And yes, you should try Higashino, amazing Japanese author of mysteries

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I just saw that the new Murakami is in at my library. Now that I see how much you are enjoying it, I think I need to read it!

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WordsAndPeace on October 15, 2018 at 3:59 pm said:

I have loved ALL the books by Murakami I have read, so far!

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I am going to take a look at While Beauty Slept, always like one based on a fairytale.

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WordsAndPeace on October 15, 2018 at 3:58 pm said:

so far, really good. In that genre, I also loved a lot Bitter Greens, by Forsyth: https://wordsandpeace.com/2014/10/03/book-review-and-giveaway-bitter-greens-i-love-france-113/

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The newest Murakami is on my wishlist but right now I’m reading through his oldest books. My weekly updates

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WordsAndPeace on October 18, 2018 at 8:18 am said:

sounds great to me! How did you like 1Q84, that’s my favorite by him. Though Killing Commendatore is awesome so far, I’m around page 400

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I hope you enjoy your next reads! I haven’t heard of any of these books. Have a great week.

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WordsAndPeace on October 18, 2018 at 8:14 am said:

I’m really enjoying them, especially Murakami

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Ooh Newcomer sounds good. I don’t think I’ve read a mystery by a Japanese author before, but I’d love to try some!

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WordsAndPeace on October 18, 2018 at 8:12 am said:

OMG, Japanese mysteries are fantastic, and definitely by this author. I suggest you also try The Devotion of Suspect X by him as well

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Have you read other Murakami books? If so, how do they compare to the one you are currently reading? I ask, because I can’t seem to like any Murakami though I have tried many times. I wonder if I am just not reading the right ones. I’ve been wanting to read “The Shadow Land”. Can’t wait to see how you like it. Here is my WWW post if interested: https://greatmorrisonmigration.wordpress.com/2018/10/17/www-wednesdays-october-17-2018/

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WordsAndPeace on October 18, 2018 at 8:03 am said:

OMG, I’m a huge Murakami fan. This one is awesome, I have already devoured 400 pages, with all his typical elements, especially the thin border between real/unreal. My favorite of all is 1Q84: https://wordsandpeace.com/2011/11/15/80-review-1q84/. It’s big, but the way the short chapters are built, it’s actually a real page turner. Have you tried https://wordsandpeace.com/2014/08/25/book-review-colorless-tsukuru-tazaki-and-his-years-of-pilgrimage/? shorter, but his typical writing style as well.

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- sarahrmorrison on October 18, 2018 at 8:12 am said:
  
  Thanks for the recommendations. I did actually make it halfway through 1Q84 and was enjoying it, but I had other books to read so I put it down. I’m not good with long books. I actively didn’t like “Kafka on the Shore” and even more so “Men Without Women”. I’ll definitely take a look at “Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki” though. I am trying hard not to give up on Murakami.
  
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  - WordsAndPeace on October 21, 2018 at 7:56 pm said:
    
    I’m not too much into Short Stories, so Men Without Women didn’t grab me that much. “Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki should work for you, as it has all the hallmarks of a Murakami, AND is rather short
    
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I haven’t read any of these, I hope you enjoy them!

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WordsAndPeace on October 18, 2018 at 7:58 am said:

Thanks, so far so good. I have already devoured over 400 pages of Murakami’s, it’s a delight

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