#BlogPost

Now that I am more or less done migrating to the new site, I should catch up with posting book reviews. I hope I can go back to posting regularly…

This one is 乱れからくり by Tsumao Awasaka. It won the #MWJAward in 1978. This book has overall good reviews, but it didn’t work for me. It is certainly one of my least favourite books of the prize so far.

https://notes.inhae.blog/review/book-review-『乱れからくり』by-tsumao-awasaka/

I finally finished 伝説なき地 by Yoichi Funado.
CW for the book: violence + depictions of rape.

Suspenseful from beginning to finish, great cast of characters, a lot of action and unexpected turns of events, I loved it more than I expected.

It won the #MWJAward in 1989, so I’m now done with the 80s. There were a lot of hardboiled novels during this decade!

I’ll take a break with the prize to go back to detective series I started and want to continue :)

Finally reached the halfway point of 伝説なき地 by Yoichi Funado. The first half was fast paced with a lot of action, and it looks like the second half will not slow down, on the contrary!

It won the Mystery Writers of Japan Award in 1989, and got the first place in the ranking このミステリーがすごい! in 1988. I would not classify it as a mystery novel though, it’s more action/adventure.

I’m not a fan of adventure novels, but I’m enjoying this one. Still 500 pages to go!

#JapaneseBook #MWJAward

Two novels have won the Mystery Writers of Japan Award in 1989:

- 雨月荘殺人事件 by Shunzō Waku (和久峻三): this one is unavailable, so I won’t be able to read it.

- 伝説なき地 by Yoichi Funado (船戸与一). It is the third book in a trilogy of novels set in South America, but apparently, the stories can be read independently. Given that they are all very long (this one is 1000 pages), I think I’ll skip the first two novels for now and only read the prize winner.

#MWJAward #JapaneseBook

https://booklive.jp/product/index/title_id/220452/vol_no/001

I read『絆』by Kenji Kosugi (小杉健治). It won the Mystery Writers of Japan Award in 1988.

It is a legal thriller that entirely takes place in the courtroom (with some flashbacks). We follow the trial of a woman accused of murdering her husband.

I found this novel very engrossing (a mix of murder case and family drama), but unfortunately, the motivation of the characters appeared a bit weak in the end. I still enjoyed reading it and liked it more than 父からの手紙 (same author).

#JapaneseBook #MWJAward

The book that won the Mystery Writers of Japan Award in 1988 is 『絆』by Kenji Kosugi (小杉健治).

I’m very excited for this book, because it is a legal thriller, one of my favourite genres when it comes to crime fiction. I just started it and the story opens right in the courtroom :)

It’s not available in paper unfortunately, so I bought the digital version on Booklive.

#JapaneseBook #MWJAward

https://booklive.jp/product/index/title_id/225701/vol_no/001

Finished 『カディスの赤い星』by Go Osaka (逢坂剛) (The Red Star of Cádiz, translated by Usha Jayaraman). It won the Mystery Writers of Japan Award in 1987.

I liked the historical setting (it partly plays in Spain, 1975) and the presence of flamenco music in the story, but I’m overall not a fan of the hardboiled/action/adventure genre, so I enjoyed less the many action scenes of the second half. Still a great story and one of the few winners of the prize available in translation!

#JapaneseBook #MWJAward

#CurrentlyReading

I’m reading 『カディスの赤い星』by Go Osaka (逢坂剛). It won the Mystery Writers of Japan award in 1987, the same year as 『北斎殺人事件』.

It has been translated into English by Usha Jayaraman: The Red Star of Cadiz.

It’s the first Japanese novel I read that is set (at least partly) in Spain. I only read 100 pages (the Japanese edition is 1000 pages long), and I like it so far, despite hard-boiled not being my favourite genre.

#JapaneseBook #MWJAward

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6747414

I finally finished 『北斎殺人事件』by Katsuhiko Takahashi (高橋克彦).

(It is the 2nd book in the ukiyo-e murders trilogy, and it is important to read them in order.)

I really loved this book, but it asks a lot from the reader. Our protagonist tackles the mystery of Hokusai’s life: could Hokusai have been a spy? While the topic is engrossing, the way it is delivered is very dry, and similarly to the first book, it contains a lot of names. 1/2

#JapaneseBook #MWJAward

I made it through the first chapter of 『北斎殺人事件』(the Hokusai murders).
I have decided to look up everything (especially names of artists and critics) and take as many notes as possible.

The author makes us read a passage from Kyoshin Iijima’s 葛飾北斎伝, first biography of Hokusai dating from 1893, and it is difficult to read and very discouraging 😔.

But, I feel that to fully enjoy the novel, I must actively participate in the protagonist’s research on Hokusai.

#MWJAward

I just started『北斎殺人事件』by Katsuhiko Takahashi (高橋克彦), the second book in the Ukiyo-e murders trilogy and the one that won the Mystery Writers of Japan Award.

The whole story of the Sharaku murders (the first book of the trilogy) is spoiled at the beginning 😱 The whole plot, everything!!

So if you’re interested in reading the series, you must read them in order:

Sharaku > Hokusai > Hiroshige.

I’m glad that I decided to read the Sharaku one first 😌

#currentlyReading #MWJAward #JapaneseBook

The book that won the Mystery Writers of Japan Award in 1987 is 『北斎殺人事件』by Katsuhiko Takahashi (高橋 克彦).

It is the 2nd book in the Ukiyo-e murder trilogy:

1- 写楽殺人事件 (The Sharaku murders)
2- 北斎殺人事件 (The Hokusai murders)
3- 広重殺人事件 (The Hiroshige murders).

I think that it would be better to read them in order, so I’ll read the Sharaku one first, and then move on to the prize winner.

English translation by Ian M. MacDonald: The Case of the Sharaku Murders.

#JapaneseBook #MWJAward

I finished 『背いて故郷』(そむいてこきょう) by Tatsuo Shimizu (志水辰夫), it won the Mystery Writers of Japan Award in 1986.

The first half is an engrossing murder mystery involving intelligence operations and fishing cooperatives. Our protagonist does everything he can to understand what really happened on the Kyoyo Maru No.6.

The second half is more based on action, which I liked less but might explain why the book also won a prize for adventure fiction.

#MWJAward #JapaneseBook #Japanese

Back to reading digitally, as the next winner of the #MWJAward is not available in paper (at least, difficult to get from outside Japan).

背いて故郷 (そむいてこきょう) by Tatsuo Shimizu (志水辰夫) won the prize in 1986. Looking at the summary, I was hoping it would be a spy novel, but reviews say it’s hardboiled… again!

Hopefully I will like it, because the book is quite long.

#JapaneseBook

I finished my first book of February: チョコレートゲーム (Chocolate game) by Futari Okajima (岡嶋二人), which won the Mystery Writers of Japan Award in 1986.

It’s about murder, school, and a father investigating to understand what is going on. It was a real page turner, very fast paced and impossible to put down.

The author’s name is a pen name for two persons: Junichi Tokuyama (徳山諄一) and Yumehito Inoue (井上夢人).

#MWJAward #JapaneseBook

I read three winners of the Mystery Writers of Japan Award in January, and I have now reached the 1980s.

I haven’t loved any of the three books of January, mainly because they belonged to genres or sub-genres that I am not a fan of (fantasy, adventure and hardboiled).

Next on my list is チョコレートゲーム (Chocolate Game) by Futari Okajima (岡嶋二人), and this one looks exactly like my kind of book!!

#MWJAward

I finished 渇きの街 (kawaki no machi) by Kenzo Kitakata (北方謙三), and it is a book I’d only recommend to fans of the hardboiled genre.

Our protagonist is a young man who starts walking the dangerous path of crime and violence, and the book has violent scenes too.

There are a lot of dialogues and it reads very quickly, but the writing style is very dry, with a lot of short descriptive sentences.

Clearly a “not for me” type of book…

#MWJAward winner of 1985.
#JapaneseBook

The 1985 winner of the #MWJAward is a hardboiled novel by Kenzo Kitakata (北方謙三), (except that our protagonist is not a detective who fights organised crime, he is the organised crime, so I don’t even know if it counts as hardboiled).

It’s really hard for me to go through it, because I don’t like the hardboiled genre in general, and this book in particular, 渇きの町, is quite violent.

It’s mainly composed of dialogues and reads very quickly, so I hope to finish it this weekend!
#JapaneseBook

I finished 天山を越えて (Tenzan wo koete) by Koshi Kurumizawa (胡桃沢耕史). It’s an adventure novel that takes us to Central Asia and “across the Tian Shan” (the title) in perilous missions that took place in 1933.

The story and the structure of the novel are nice (with several stories inside the story), but I just don’t like the genre I think, so even though the book is great, I did not really enjoy reading it.

#JapaneseBook #MWJAward

I read 天山を越えて (“across the Tian Shan”) by Koshi Kurumizawa today, but I did not quite manage to reach my goal, which was the halfway point.

This book is not for me, I’m really struggling to read it. It’s an adventure/travel novel that won the Mystery Writers of Japan Award. I thought that it would maybe contain some mystery elements, but it does not.

The prize was also given to two SF books in previous years, it’s strange that they did not limit it to mystery novels. #JapaneseBook #MWJAward