It's coming soon!
"The Devil's Flute Murders, translated by Jim Rion

Another fiendishly complex mystery from the master of locked room murders, Seishi Yokomizo, The Devil’s Flute Murders revolves around the murder of a composer in post-war Tokyo. Yokomizo’s iconically scruffy Kosuke Kindaichi is called in to solve the murder, and finds himself racing to find the killer as the body count grows. Atmospheric, chilling, and structurally complex."
#Bookstodon #JapaneseLit #Translation #Mysteries

https://crimereads.com/best-international-june-2023/

Don't suppose anyone else read 方舟 by 夕木春央? There's something about it that really bothered me, but I might just be too picky. #JapaneseLit #Mysteries

This is a great list of releases for #JapaneseBooks coming to English this year. Lots of different genres on the list, so there's probably something for anyone interested in #JapaneseLit!

I already have few of the books listed in Japanese, so I'll probably read the originals instead, but others I've been looking forward to the English release for years!

Overall another really exciting year for books in Japanese translated into English!

https://readjapaneseliterature.com/2022/12/01/2023-upcoming-japanese-fiction-releases/

#TranslatedLit #日本文学 #読書

Today's #BookHaul is full of awesome books from #China, #Japan, and #Korea. I haven't been reading as much as I like lately, but I couldn't help but pick these up!

積読中の本たちには申し訳ないけど、今日も本屋に行ってきました！本を買うのも趣味なんですね。いつ読むかわかりませんが、とりあえず嬉しい気持ちになっています。

#JapaneseLit #ChineseLit #KoreanLit #BL #danmei #積読

First #BookHaul of March! I basically haven't finished any of the books I bought in January and February, so apparently buying books is also a serious hobby of mine. Hopefully I get to them eventually...

I'm particularly interested in reading 'Heaven' though, ironically because I've been lukewarm about Mieko Kawakami's other novels available in English. Maybe I'll like her style more in the original Japanese.

#JapaneseLit #読書 #積読 #JapaneseBooks

From Soseki Natsume's "I am a Cat" (1905/6): "A man who sees himself magnified by his display of determination is, in fact, diminished in the public estimation by that demonstration of his crass willfulness... to his dying day, the mulish bigot regards his dull opinionatrety as somehow meritorious... he never realizes he has made himself a despised laughing stock..."
#books #japaneselit #JapaneseLiterature #readingnow #satire #夏目漱石 #Cats #猫

I joined a #JapaneseBook subscription service and my first book came today! The theme for this month is 'Reading By Moonlight.'

Basically, you choose a book from preselected options. The name and author of the book are kept secret and you choose based on a description, illustration, genre, and reading difficulty.

When the book comes, you can match with people who chose the same book and talk to them!

#Chapters書店 #JapaneseLit #読書

I started my fourth book in Japanese of the year today! It's been sitting on my shelf for years and I'm finally getting to it.

I'm not usually a huge mystery fan, but the characters and fantastical(?) elements make these books a lot of fun for me to read.

今年日本語で読む本の4冊目！積読でなかなか読めていなかった小説が登場！ミステリー小説はあまり読まないけど、幽霊との関わり方が面白すぎて楽しく読めているシリーズです！

#JapaneseLit #JapaneseBook #BooksInJapanese #読書 #読書感想文 #CurrentlyReading

I put aside the Japanese book I was originally going to read and started 改良 by Haruka Tono instead. It's the author's debut work and also won the Bungei Prize in 2019.

On one hand, the writing style is really easy to read and understand. On the other hand, the themes are extremely complex.

To be honest, I'm still not sure what I think of it even though I'm almost half done.

#Japanese #JapaneseLit #日本語 #読書 #文藝賞 #bookstodon

I spent this afternoon at my two favourite bookstores again and of course I couldn't leave without picking up some new books!

I got one book in English and four books in #Japanese, with all but one being #HistoricalFantasy. That remaining book is #ModernFantasy lol

Really excited to read all of these books (eventually) and hopefully share my thoughts!

#BookHaul #danmei #BL #JapaneseLit #ChineseLit #TranslatedLit #読書

I fell into a bookstore again despite my efforts to reduce my book spending. Well, at least all the books seem interesting and my collection of books in Japanese continues to grow!

積読の問題がなかなか解決しないという証拠…

#JapaneseLit #JapaneseLanguage #Japanese #BookHaul #積読 #読書 #bookstodon

New post from my blog, this time talking about #japaneselit subgenre #iyamisu! A stunning combination of #thriller #mystery and #horror these books are perfect for the #HorrorFam folks looking to broaden their #book horizons!

https://snuffoutthelight.com/iyamisu-guide/

Idol, Burning by Rin Usami and translated into English by Asa Yoneda is a novella about obsession and mental health. The teenage narrator and online slang made this translation a challenge that I think Yoneda handles fantastically.
#translatedlit #japaneselit
https://j-entranslations.com/idol-burning-translation-review/

I'm reading this collection of stories Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (tr. Jay Rubin). There's a combination of darkness, wry humour and unreliable narrators that I really appreciate.

#JapaneseLit #Books #Bookstodon

Just finished Shiori Ito's essay collection 裸で泳ぐ and was very impressed by her essays.

For my second #Japanese book of the year though, I'm jumping back to fiction and reading ライオンのおやつ by Ito Ogawa. The basic premise is that the protagonist is dying and moves to a hospice where they can choose their own special food every Sunday.

I expect to cry buckets, but it's been on my list for a long time, so really looking forward to it.

#JapaneseLit #bookstodon #CurrentlyReading

Japanese readers who live outside of 日本: where do you buy most of your books? I’m lucky to live in NYC with a great used bookstore (BookOff! Yes!) I always leave with lots of cheap great paperbacks but if I’m looking for a specific title by a current author it can be hit or miss.
#JapaneseLit #日本語 #LearningJapanese @languagelovers #langtoot

I started reading Inio Asano's "bakemono recchan/kinoko takenoko". I've read three short stories so far and I'm so glad I bought it, it's a wonderful manga collection.

#JapaneseLit

These came from Japan today! My reading for 2023 ^_^

小川洋子さんの博士の愛した数式
"Hakase no ai shita suushiki",
"The doctor's beloved equation" by Yoko Ogawa (English translation title is "The housekeeper and the professor")

川上 未映子さんの夏物語 "Natsu monogatari", "Summer story" by Mieko Kamikawa (English translation title is "Breast and eggs")

浅野いにおさんの短編集ばけものれっちゃん/きのこたけのこ"tanpenshuu bakemono recchan/kinoko takenoko", Collected short stories by Inio Asano
#JapaneseLit

The first prompt for the #TranslatedLitChallenge in 2023 is 'Book intended to read in 2022' and I decided to read 'Solo Dance' by Li Kotomi and translated from the #Japanese by Arthur Reiji Morris.

I've already finished it and it has definitely left me with some things to consider. I really hope to see more from both author and translator in English in the future!

#JapaneseLit #WorldLit #TranslatedLit #Bookstodon

I finally finished #reading "センセイの鞄" ("Strange weather in Tokyo"), and very near the end there is a beautiful poem by Seihaku Irako (伊良子清白) 1877–1946

旅路はるけくさまよへば
破れし衣の寒けきに
こよひ朗らのそらにして
いとゞし心痛むかな

To appreciate the structure, this is the hiragana divided in lines of 7 and 5:

たびぢはるけく
さまよへば
やれしころもの
さむけきに
こよひほがらの
そらにして
いとどしこころ
いたむかな

I would translate it as

"wandering aimlessly on a journey far away,
cold in my torn clothes,
though the sky this evening is so clear,
my heart hurts even more"

In the English translation of the novel, it reads as follows:

“In loneliness I have drifted this long way, alone.
My torn and shabby robe could not keep out the cold.
And tonight the sky was so clear it made my heart ache all the more.”

#Japanese
#JapaneseLit