January Japanese Literature Challenge 16

This lovely challenge is coming soon, as Dolce Bellezza, the creator, tells us, and I am excited, picking possible titles for it. We both, among many others, share a love and admiration for Ishiguro. Not long ago, I bought a few of his books that I was missing from my collection. For the challenge, I do intend to read one or more of his titles.

Come Rain or Come Shine is certainly super short. I will read it and add it to the reviews of other books. A Pale View of Hills, if I end up reading it, is a re-read for me. Re-reading is a great topic among readers. A book re-readability varies highly. Like some songs, some I never tire of listening to, or re-reading some titles. Don Quijote, -part 1 in particular-, is a book I can go back indefinitely. Ishiguro’s books too. I’ve re-read some of them and, especially if someone joins me, I’m usually up for a re-read. After reading Clara and the Sun, I’m convinced that A Pale View of Hills is his other book most directly connected to A Pale View of Hills.

Monet studied and rendered many versions of his lily pads. Ishiguro’s books are variations of his topics of interest. Nocturnes is a short stories collection, and The Review of Contemporary Fiction includes him. This last one won’t count as a book for the challenge, but I will attempt reading it, his contribution in particular.

I also have Spring Snow, by Jukio Mishima. Another present from Janakay. She really has spoiled me through the years. We both moved around the same time, and that led to us relocating our libraries from house to house, which resulted in the expected book purge, finding duplicates -specially her-, and thanks to her generosity, I inherited beautiful editions and great titles. I am the beneficiary of her good and adventurous taste. The blurb indicates that Spring Snow is the first in his Sea of Fertility tetralogy, and it’s also a classic, since it was published serially in Shinchō from 1965 to 1967.

I am very spoiled. Here you see another gift, this time from my dear reader and blogger friend Kim. One, or maybe even her ultimate favorite author, is Jane Austen. She read and enjoyed this fan fiction book, Miss Austen, and it looks like I will too. She’ll also re-read Pride and Prejudice, and I may as well. It looks like I’m a social reader 🙂

This is all for now. Soon, I hope to bring you a review of a book I’m enjoying as I hadn’t done with a new to me book and author in a long time. Another Janakay’s present, I Hold a Wolf by the Ears. It’s a short story collection, 201 pages, stories ranging between 3 to 5 pages. There’s a strong connection between them by means of the setting and all of them having, as I read, marginalized people and women as their protagonists. The word marginalized sounds negative to me, however. I have never liked to pay which I believe could be forced agenda driven attention to a group, country, affiliation, background, etc. And yet, as I start reading and I see urban characters, female characters, I can’t but appreciate the fact that this author’s observes those who haven’t been seen or portraited much before, call that marginalized. I resonate with the emotional atmosphere of the book, and I’m grateful for Janakay, who through her literary gifts, has brought many women authors to my knowledge.