TW Book Club 2022

TW Book Club
(Tokyo Weekender)
January to December 2022
details | Goodreads
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JANUARY:

The Easy Life in Kamusari
by Shion Miura
translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter
YA, Contemporary, Japan | Published: 2021 (first 2009) | Goodreads | my rating: 5
FEBRUARY:

Colorful
by Eto Mori
YA, Fantasy, Japan | Published: 2021 (first 1998) | Goodreads | my rating: 5
MARCH:

March Was Made of Yarn
edited by David Karashima, Elmer Luke
Short Stories, Japan | Published: 2012 | Goodreads
APRIL:

Moshi Moshi
by Banana Yoshimoto
translated by Gala Maria Follaco
Literary, Japan | Published: 2012 (first 2010) | Goodreads
MAY:

The Woman in the Purple Skirt
by Natsuko Imamura
translated by Lucy North
Literary, Japan | Published: 2021 | Goodreads | my rating: 4
strange, living vicariously, stalker-ish

JUNE:

There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job
by Kikuko Tsumura
translated by Polly Barton
Contemporary, Japan | Published: 2020 | Goodreads | my rating: 5
try as she might...

JULY:

The Cat and The City
by Nick Bradley
illustrated by Mariko Aruga
Contemporary, Short Stories, Japan | Published: 2021 | Goodreads
AUGUST:

Before the Coffee Gets Cold:
Tales from the Café
by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
translated by Geoffrey Trousselot
SciFi, Fantasy, Japan | Published: 2021 | Goodreads | my rating: 4

SEPTEMBER:

Terminal Boredom
by Izumi Suzuki
translated by Polly Barton, Sam Bett, David Boyd, Daniel Joseph, Aiko Masubuchi, Helen O'Horan
SciFi, Short Stories | Published: 2021 | Goodreads | my rating: 4
OCTOBER:

Diary of a Void
by Emi Yagi
translated by David Boyd, Lucy North
Contemporary, Japan | Published: 2022 | Goodreads

NOVEMBER:

Where the Wild Ladies Are
by Aoko Matsuda
translated by Polly Barton
Short Stories, Feminism, Japan | Published: 2020 | Goodreads | my rating: 4
non-traditional female routes, sad and dark alternatives

DECEMBER:

n/a

Blog All About It: Luck

Lucky to get a hopeful fortune after experiencing a recent string of bad luck.


READ:

Hardboiled & Hard Luck
by Banana Yoshimoto
translated by Michael Emmerich
-Short stories, Japan | Goodreads
Something luck related from one of my favorite authors.


WATCH:

Just My Luck
Director: Donald Petrie
Screenplay: I. Marlene King, Amy Harris
Story by: Jonathan Bernstein, Mark Blackwell, James Greer, I. Marlene King
Stars: Lindsay Lohan, Chris Pine
-Comedy, Fantasy, Romance | imdb
my review | my rating: 5
Looks like a cute one with a young Lindsay and Chris.

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* part of the Blog All About It Challenge (here)

Giveaway: Asleep

Sleeping beauties of another sort in Japan...

Asleep
by Banana Yoshimoto
Description from the amazon:
The New York Daily News has called Asleep "enchanting, surreal ... Yoshimoto brings readers to another powerful, atmospheric place." Demonstrating again the artful simplicity and depth of her vision, Banana Yoshimoto reestablishes her place as a writer of international stature in a book that may be her most delightful since Kitchen.

In Asleep, Yoshimoto spins the stories of three young women bewitched into a spiritual sleep. One, mourning for a lost lover, finds herself sleepwalking at night. Another, who has embarked on a relationship with a man whose wife is in a coma, finds herself suddenly unable to stay awake. A third finds her sleep haunted by a woman against whom she was once pitted in a love triangle. Sly and mystical as a ghost story, with a touch of Kafkaesque surrealism, Asleep is an enchanting new book from one of the best writers in contemporary international fiction.

*** Book Giveaway ***

Open to all.

Offer ends: August 30, 2010

TO DO (2-parts):

1. Sign guestbook (if you haven't already).

2. Read about Banana and tell me one thing you learned about her.

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Contest has ended - winner is here

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***~*~* Fairy Tales in Bruges schedule *~*~***

Asleep by Banana Yoshimoto

Asleep
third novella from Asleep
by Banana Yoshimoto

Published: 1989

Translated: 2001

Hardback: 192 pages

Genre: Ghosts

Description from book:

Banana Yoshimoto has a nuanced and magical ability to animate the lives of her young characters, and here she spins the stories of three women, all bewitched into a spiritual sleep... one who has embarked on a relationship with a man whose wife is in a coma, finds herself suddenly unable to stay awake.

My thoughts:

In-a-word: companionship

Main character, Terako, has trouble dealing with grief from the death of a friend and with her situation with her boyfriend. She spends the day away sleeping. She sleeps so much that she reaches the edge between life and death. In a state of limbo, Terako meets a spirit. After the encounter, Terako starts to make a life for herself in the land of the living again.

I liked how this one ended with fireworks bursting in a dark sky. Full of hope.

Novellas in Asleep:
Night and Night's Travelers - my review
Love Songs - my review
Asleep

*part of my Japanese Lit3 challenge

*part of my November Novella challenge

Japanese Treats

The Hello Japan! mini-challenges
hosted by In Spring It Is The Dawn
November mini-challenge
Eat Japanese food

Easy-peasy.

I usually have sushi for lunch at least once a month from the nearby Safeway market. Yes, Safeway. Hey, don't knock it 'til you try it. They have sushi chefs who do a really good job of making fresh sushi everyday.

Above is lunch with my current Japanese read, Asleep by Banana Yoshimoto.

As for sushi restaurants, our current favorite in San Francisco is Oyagi restaurant. When we lived in Southern California, San Clemente, Nobu Sushi was the best hole in the wall located in a strip mall. And, when we lived in Connecticut, the place we frequented was Matsu Sushi in Westport.

I started my love of sushi when I went beyond the California Roll and tried other rolls during my college years. The soft-shell crab hand-roll is the bestest! Such flavors and textures delight!

For the challenge, I wanted to try something new along with the . I took a trip to Japantown over the weekend to check out the sweets and confections at Nippon-ya.

Based on the wrapping and interesting descriptions, I picked out two treats. When I got home I brewed some green tea and shared my goodies with the hubby, daughter and daughter's playdate.

Yummy-ness all-around.

Something savory:
The first treat was a box wrapped with a bunny image on the cover. The name of the product is in Japanese which I do not know. Let me know if you can translate it.

The box housed little bunnies made of a pastry mix with a sweet cheesy flavor. Inside the bunny shell was a subtle sweet white bean paste.

Something sweet:
The green wrapped box named Hokkaido Higumi contained cookies shaped as bear paws with a peanut buttery filling.

Amusing blurb on the wrapper:
Appear and Disappear Care!

Blogosphere bit:
Apparently, the boxed treats I got are known as omiyage which are regional Japanese edible snacks, in nice pretty wrappers given as gifts or sourvenirs.

*thanks Tanabata for the translation of the bunny treats

The writing on the bunny box says 'marui usagi' which translates as 'round rabbit'.

*part of my Hello! Japan mini-challenges

Love Songs by Banana Yoshimoto

Love Songs
second novella from Asleep
by Banana Yoshimoto

Published: 1989
Translated: 2001
Hardback: 192 pages
Genre: Ghosts

Description from book:

...a ghost story where a woman finds her sleep haunted by another woman whom she was once pitted against in a love triangle.

My thoughts:
In-a-word: frenemy

Like the first novella in the book, Night and Night's Travelers, death is present.

When inebriated or asleep, the main character, Fumi, experiences strange visions. She decides to visit a midget psychic for answers. The psychic enables Fumi to communicate with the ghostie to resolve unsettled issues.

I left the story with the "if only" feeling. If only we could all resolve issues before death comes upon us.

Novellas in Asleep:
Night and Night's Travelers - my review
Love Songs - my review
Asleep - my review

*character mentions ghost reference from Hoichi, the Earless (my review)

*note: interesting how midgets and dwarves are stereotyped in stories as a device for surreal or dream sequences - I remember this brought up in the movie In Bruges by the dwarf character, Jimmy. His character is an actor in a film (yes, a film within a film) and after a film shoot, he laments about his plight.

*part of my November Novella challenge

Night and Night's Travelers by Banana Yoshimoto

Night and Night's Travelers

first novella from Asleep
by Banana Yoshimoto

Published: 1989
Translated: 2001
Hardback: 192 pages
Genre: Ghosts

Funny I should choose this in the second half of the read-a-thon. Ha! can barely laugh. Feeling tired. (yawn)

OK, snapping out of it. snap-snap. On to the review...

Banana's stories always have this charming surrealistic feel to them. This novella is no different. I love her style. Thus, I was not disappointed.

This tale dealt with love and death. A gentle sadness is felt throughout the story but by the end the characters start to heal.

An amusing bit about the narrator is that she goes on a shopping spree. She is a woman after my own heart. She blows her wad on books and cds!

Novellas in Asleep:
Night and Night's Travelers - my review
Love Songs - my review
Asleep - my review

*part of my Read-a-thon challenge

*part of my November Novella challenge

*total pages read: 65