Tag Archives: Japanese Literature Challenge

Japanese Literature Challenge 14

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JAPANESE LITERATURE CHALLENGE 14Japanese Literature Challenge 14 #JapaneseLitChallenge14   #JapaneseLiterature

Thanks to DolceBelleza (@bellezzamjs) who has been organizing this challenge for many years! This is my 6th participation.
Click on the logo to read more about it, and here to see reviews of books read.

The Challenge runs January-March 2021. I’m going to try to read 3 books each month, so that’s a total of 9 books.

📚 📚 📚

Here is my TBR for this event (my recap will be updated at the end of this post):

📚 Books on my physical shelf:

1. The Sound of Waves (1954), by Yukio Mishima (trans. by Meredith Weatherby)
2. N.P. (1990), by Banana Yoshimoto (trans. by Ann Sherif)
3. Some Prefer Nettles (1928),  by Junichirō Tanizaki (trans. by Edward G. Seidensticker)

📚 For my Classics Club list (besides # 1 and 3 above):

4. Kusamakura (1906), by Natsume Sōseki (trans. by Meredith Weatherby)
5. To the Spring Equinox and Beyond (1910), by Natsume Sōseki (trans. by Kingo Ochiai and Sanford M. Goldstein)
6. The Miner (1908), by Natsume Sōseki (trans. by Jay Rubin)
7. Devils in Daylight (1918), by Junichirō Tanizaki (trans. by J. Keith Vincent)
8. In Praise of Shadows (1933), by Jun’ichirō Tanizaki, Edward G. Seidensticker (Translator), Thomas J. Harper (Translator),
9. A Cat, a Man, and Two Women (1936), by Junichirō Tanizaki (trans. by Paul McCarthy)

📚 📚 📚

RECAP FOR MARCH 31

So here are the books I managed to read:

1. The Sound of Waves (1954), by Yukio Mishima (trans. by Meredith Weatherby),
finished on 1/16/21, reviewed here
2. Some Prefer Nettles (1928),  by Junichirō Tanizaki (trans. by Edward G. Seidensticker), finished on 1/22/21, reviewed here
3. N.P. (1990), by Banana Yoshimoto (trans. by Ann Sherif)
finished on 1/25/21

 

 

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Japanese Literature Challenge 13

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Japanese Literature 13JAPANESE LITERATURE CHALLENGE 13

#JapaneseLitChallenge13    #JapaneseLiterature

So glad DolceBelleza (@bellezzamjs) is organizing this challenge again!
Click here or on the logo to read more about it.

Checked my history, and realized this is my 5th participation. I did the Japanese Literature Challenge from 2012-2015, but for some reasons, I stopped after that, even though I regularly read Japanese Lit.

I have currently 13 Japanese novels I mean to read, so this Challenge, running from January-March 2020, is perfect.

Here is my TBR for this event (my recap is at the very end of this post)

📚 Ebooks received in 2019 through Edelweiss Plus:

1. The Ten Loves of Nishino (2003), by Hiromi Kawakami (transl. by Allison Markin Powell) = reviewed on 2/27/20
2. Inhabitation (1984), by Teru Miyamoto (transl. by Roger K. Thomas)
***

📚 Books on my physical shelf:

3. The Sound of Waves (1954), by Yukio Mishima (trans. by Meredith Weatherby)
4. N.P. (1990), by Banana Yoshimoto (trans. by Ann Sherif)
5. Some Prefer Nettles (1928),  by Junichirō Tanizaki (trans. by Edward G. Seidensticker)

***

📚 For my Classics Club list (besides # 3 and 5 above):

6. Kusamakura (1906), by Natsume Sōseki (trans. by Meredith Weatherby)
7. The Book of Tea (1906), by Kakuzō Okakura= (listened to) reviewed on 1/12/20
8. Sanshirō (1908), by Natsume Sōseki (trans. by Jay Rubin) = reviewed on 1/17/20
9. And Then (1909), by Natsume Sōseki (trans. by Norma Moore Field = reviewed on 1/25/20
10. The Gate (1910), by Natsume Sōseki (trans. by Francis Mathy) = reviewed on 2/6/20
11. To the Spring Equinox and Beyond (1910), by Natsume Sōseki (trans. by Kingo Ochiai and Sanford M. Goldstein)
12. The Miner (1908), by Natsume Sōseki (trans. by Jay Rubin)
13. Devils in Daylight (1918), by Junichirō Tanizaki (trans. by J. Keith Vincent)
14. A Cat, a Man, and Two Women (1936), by Junichirō Tanizaki (trans. by Paul McCarthy)

***

📚 Book on my e-shelf:

15. Norwegian Wood, by Haruki Murakami (trans. by Jay Rubin) = read with the online Murakami Book Club (through Discord). = reviewed on 2/19/20

📚 Books checked out at my library:

16. Selected Poems (1902), by Masaoka Shiki (trans. by Burton Watson) reviewed on 2/9/20
17.  The Essential Haiku: Versions of Basho, Buson, and Issa, ed. by Robert Hass = reviewed on 2/23/20

You notice several books by the same authors, it’s just that these have been on my TBR for a long time. Thankfully, most are rather short, so I should be able to read at least 4 per month, besides other books. And I’ll try to listen to some!

NB: there are some other huge Japanese authors not on this list: my favorite, Haruki Murakami, Ishiguro, and many more, because I have already read many by them, or mostly because I don’t need to read them urgently if I don’t have an egalley of them waiting; if they are not collecting dust on my shelf; or they are not on my Classics List to read in 5 years. But your recommendations are welcome for later in the year or this challenge another year!

1/12/20 update: I just discovered that Sanshiro is actually the first volume of a trilogy, so I’ll read And Then and The Gate after it.

2/2/20 update: In Soseki’s books, I found reference to the great master of Haiku Masaoka Shiki, who was actually born the same year as Soeseki and spent some time with him. So of course I had to read that!

RECAP ON MARCH 31

So here are the books I managed to read:

  1. The Ten Loves of Nishino (2003), by Hiromi Kawakami (transl. by Allison Markin Powell) = reviewed on 2/27/20
  2. The Book of Tea (1906), by Kakuzō Okakura= (listened to) reviewed on 1/12/20
  3. Sanshirō (1908), by Natsume Sōseki (trans. by Jay Rubin) = reviewed on 1/17/20
  4. And Then (1909), by Natsume Sōseki (trans. by Norma Moore Field = reviewed on 1/25/20
  5. The Gate (1910), by Natsume Sōseki (trans. by Francis Mathy) = reviewed on 2/6/20
  6. Norwegian Wood, by Haruki Murakami (trans. by Jay Rubin) = read with the online Murakami Book Club (through Discord). = reviewed on 2/19/20
  7. Selected Poems (1902), by Masaoka Shiki (trans. by Burton Watson) reviewed on 2/9/20
  8. The Essential Haiku: Versions of Basho, Buson, and Issa, ed. by Robert Hass = reviewed on 2/23/20

And I’m currently reading Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, with my online Murakami book club.

I’m happy with what I managed to read, though disappointed I didn’t get yet to Inhabitation, received in 2019!, nor to the 3 physical books waiting on my shelf.
So I I’ll definitely be reading more Japanese books this year!

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Japanese Literature Challenge 2015

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Japanese Lit Challenge 9Click on the logo to join.

Dolce Belleza has been graciously hosting the Japanese Literature Challenge for 9 years! This year,  it runs from June 1, 2015 until January 30, 2016. It requires the reading of at least one work of Japanese literature (or poetry) written by a Japanese author (or poet).

I’m posting this super late, but I have already read 3 since June, and plan to read possibly 2 more.

So my list may be something like this:

  1. In a Grove, by Ryunosuke Akugatawa
  2. Rashoumon, by Ryunosuke Akugatawa
  3. The Buried Giant, by Kazuo Ishiguro – listened to, really cool!
  4. The Face of Another by Kobe Abe
  5. Grass on the Wayside, by Soseki

NB: to my immense regret, I had to DNF Wind/Pinball, the most recent volume by my favorite Japanese Haruki Murakami. The volume contains two stories, actually the very first he ever wrote, but only now translated in Engligh.
I only read the first, I felt it was all over the place and I was not able to recognize in it the themes that I enjoy in Murakami’s other books. Maybe one day I’ll dare try the second story, which I heard is actually better!
But all lovers of Murakami should read the introduction by the author. It’s a neat sharing of how he started his writing life. This was the best part of the book for me.

Possible alternative titles for Challenge 9

“Strangers”/or In Search of A Distant Voice, by Taichi Yamada

An Artist of the Floating World, by Ishiguro

Manazuru, by Kawakami

Volcano, by Shusaku Endo

I Am A Cat, by Soseki

The Sound of the Mountain, by Yasunari Kawabata

Kitchen, by Banana Yoshimoto

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