In Spring it is the Dawn

'Pillow Book' Friday: Week One

2010-02-05T17:10:00.002+09:00

Welcome to the first 'Pillow Book' Friday, as we begin our leisurely read-along of the writings of Sei Shōnagon. As The Pillow Book was written approximately 1000 years ago, no original manuscript survives and there are a few versions now in existence. This means that depending on the translation and the reference version used, some sections are either missing or presented in a different order. For this read-along, and in terms of the schedule, we are following the McKinney translation [Penguin Classics, ISBN: 978-0140448061]. However, since I know some of you are reading the Morris version, and so that you can still follow along, I have copied the first line, or two, of each section of the McKinney translation, and included the corresponding entries from the Morris translation, when available. The page numbers for the Morris translation refer to the Columbia University Press edition [ISBN: 978-0231073370], although I believe it was also published by Penguin previously.

This will be my second time reading The Pillow Book. I read the Morris translation a few years ago and I'm really looking forward to reading it again, this time with the new McKinney translation. As you know, the first line of The Pillow Book is where I got the name for my blog. Besides being from a Japanese book (I was looking for a bookish AND Japanese theme), one of the main reasons that I chose it was because I like to think that if Sei Shōnagon were alive today she would most certainly have a blog, and a fun, amusing blog to read it would be too. One that I can only aspire to! I look forward to seeing if, by the end of the book, you agree with me.

I won't necessarily ask questions each week, but since we've just begun here are a few to get us started:
What is your first impression of Sei Shōnagon?
Are you reading the Notes that go along with each section? If so, are you finding them interesting/informative?
Are you looking forward to reading on?
Even just reading the short excerpts included below, what do you think of the different translations, in terms of style, and readability? Let me know if you'd like me to transcribe more of any section to compare. I have both books so it's no problem.

And as always, feel free to ask questions on any aspect of the culture, or time period, or whatever, that you have, and simply let us know what you thought of the week's reading.

Image © National Diet Library, Japan

WEEK ONE:

[1] In spring, the dawn - when the slowly paling mountain rim is tinged with red, and wisps of faintly crimson-purple cloud float in the sky.

Morris (1): In spring it is the dawn that is most beautiful. As the light creeps over the hills, their outlines are dyed a faint red and wisps of purplish cloud trail over them. (p. 21)

[2] Times of year - The first month; the third, fourth and fifth months; the seventh, eighth and ninth; the eleventh and twelfth - in fact every month according to its season, the year round, is delightful.
On the first day of the year, the sky is gloriously fresh and spring mists hang in the air. It's quite special and delightful the way people have taken particular care over their clothing and makeup, and go about exchanging New Year felicitations.

Morris (2-4*): Especially delightful is the first day of the First Month, when the mists so often shroud the sky. Everyone pays great attention to his appearance and dresses with the utmost care. What a pleasure it is to see them all offer their congratulations to the Emperor and celebrate their own new year! (p.21~)
*In the Morris edition, (3) and (4), each separate entries, are all combined in section [2] of the McKinney.

[3] Though it's the same it sounds different - The language of priests. Men's language. Women's language. Commoners always use too many words when they speak.

Morris (5): Different ways of speaking. A priest's language. The speech of men and women. The common people always tend to add extra syllables to their words. (p.25)

[4] It breaks my heart to think of parents sending a beloved son into the priesthood. Poor priests, they're not the unfeeling lumps of wood that people take them for.

Morris (6): That parents should bring up some beloved son of theirs to be a priest is really distressing. No doubt it is an auspicious thing to do; but unfortunately most people are convinced that a priest is as unimportant as a piece of wood, and they treat him accordingly. (p. 25)

[5] When the Empress moved to the home of Senior Steward Narimasa, he had his east gate specially upgraded to a four-pillared one, through which her palanquin was carried when she arrived.

Morris (7): When the Empress moved into the house of the Senior Steward, Narimasa, the east gate of his courtyard had been made into a four-pillared structure, and it was here that Her Majesty's palanquin entered. (p. 26~)

[6] The Emperor's cat had received the fifth rank, and was given the appropriate title-name 'Myobu'. It was a charming creature, and the Emperor was quite devoted to it.

Morris (8): The cat who lived in the Palace had been awarded the headdress of nobility and was called Lady Myobu. She was a very pretty cat, and His Majesty saw to it that she was treated with the greatest care. (p. 30~)

[7] The first day of the year and the third day of the third month should have glorious weather.

Morris (9): On the first day of the First Month and on the third of the Third I like the sky to be perfectly clear. (p. 33)

[8] The Offering of Official Thanks after new ranks are conferred is wonderfully entertaining.

Morris (10): I enjoy watching the officials when they come to thank the Emperor for their new appointments. (p. 34)

[9] The Eastern side of the Temporary Palace is referred to as 'the northern guardhouse'.

[10] Mountains - Ogura Mountain...

Sei Shōnagon
Image courtesy of Wikipedia Commons

For next week:

From what I can tell (although I didn't flip through the whole book but from the introduction and elsewhere am led to believe), the Morris edition omits the following sections that are purely lists as they were deemed to be too obscure for modern readers. So those of you reading the Morris translation only have one entry for next week (see below), although that one section is a few pages long.

[11] Markets - Tatsu Market in Nara. Sato Market ...

[12] Peaks - Yuzuruha Peak, ...

[13] Plains - Mika Plain, ...

[14] River pools - Kashiko Pool. I wonder what hidden depths someone saw in its heart, to give it such a name.

[15] Bodies of water - Lake Biwa is special. ...

[16] Imperial tombs - Ugurusu Tomb, ...

[17] Ferry crossings - Shikasuga Crossing, ...

[18] Large buildings - Tamatsukuri.

[19] Residences - The Konoe Gate. ...

[20] The sliding panels that close off the north-east corner of Seiryoden, at the northern end of the aisle, are painted with scenes of rough seas, and terrifying creatures with long arms and legs.

Morris (11): The sliding screen in the back of the hall in the north-east corner of Seiryo Palace is decorated with paintings of the stormy sea and of the terrifying creatures with long arms and long legs that live there. (p. 34)

Happy reading!

The small print: Links in this post to Amazon (including book covers) contain my Associates ID. Purchases made via these links earn me a very small commission. For more information visit my About Page.

Hello Japan! February: On the Big Screen

2010-02-03T22:06:00.009+09:00

Hello Japan! is a monthly mini-challenge focusing on Japanese literature and culture. Each month there will be a new task which relates to some aspect of life in Japan. Anyone is welcome to join in any time. You can post about the task on your blog. Or if you don't have a blog, you can leave a comment on the Hello Japan! post for the month. Everyone who completes the task will then be included in the drawing for that month's prize. For more information, just click on the Hello Japan! button above, or if you have any questions please feel free to email me at inspringthedawn AT gmail DOT com.

February's Topic

February is all about Japanese films. The Academy Award nominations have just been announced and while there aren't any Japanese films up for awards this year (I didn't miss any, did I?), some have won or been nominated in the past. Departures (おくりびと, Okuribito) won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film last year. Spirited Away (千と千尋の神隠し, Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi) won Best Animated Feature in 2002. The Twilight Samurai (たそがれ清兵衛, Tasogare Seibei) was nominated for for Best Foreign Language Film for 2003. And Rashômon (羅生門) won an Honorary Foreign Language Film Award in 1951, among others. Not to mention the Japanese films that have appeared at Cannes, or other International Film Festivals, or the J-Horror that Hollywood seems to like re-making lately.

February's Task

This month's task is to appreciate Japanese film. The most obvious way to complete the mini-challenge is to watch a Japanese film. But as always, feel free to use your imagination as long as it involves Japanese film in some way. For example, you could visit a Japanese film exhibition. Read a screenplay, or a book, that a movie is based on. If you have time, maybe even read the book and then watch the film. Write about a favourite Japanese actor or director. Re-create a scene from a favourite Japanese film. Or whatever else you come up with. The only thing I'd stipulate is that it should be related to a film, or films, that appeared "on the big screen" as opposed to TV dramas.

Here are a few links to get you started:

Cinema of Japan - listing by decade (from wikipedia).
Midnight Eye, 'the latest and best in Japanese cinema'.
Nippon Cinema - news, reviews, trailers.

February's Prize

One participant who takes part in the challenge this month will be chosen at random to win this pack of playing cards, or as the Japanese would say トランプ (toranpu), featuring scenes from Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away.

To be eligible for the prize, you must complete this month's mini-challenge and provide a link to your post. If you don't have a blog, you can leave a comment with the details on this post, or email me at inspringthedawn AT gmail DOT com. You are welcome to post more than once and add the links below. I love it when you are enthusiastic about a topic! However, each participant will receive only one entry per month. It doesn't matter if you've won previously, you're eligible each month that you participate. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Once you have completed the task, don't forget to come back here to add your link to the Mr. Linky below. Please submit the link to the actual post, not just to your top page, and please only submit links to posts relating to the Hello Japan! task for this month. All other links will be deleted. Thank you for your understanding. Have fun!

The small print: Links in this post to Amazon contain my Associates ID. Purchases made via these links earn me a very small commission. For more information visit my About Page.

Hello Japan! January round-up

2010-02-02T22:13:00.003+09:00

January's mini-challenge was to listen to any kind of Japanese music and I'm glad to see that it was a little more successful that December's mini-challenge. And thank you so much to Novroz and Gnoe for their enthusiasm in sharing their love of Japanese music with us. If you haven't yet visited everyone's posts I hope you'll do so now.

Here we go...

Novroz at Novroz' Life shared how she came to love J-Rock, and some of her favourite bands. Then she posted her tribute to the band, L'Arc-en-Ciel. Next she talked about Taiko and the Amazing Hono o Daiko. And to round out the music theme, she went on a childhood flashback and talked about her first love of Japanese music in the Sounds of Anime & Tokusatsu.

Michelle at su[shu] highlighted the music of composer, Joe Hisaishi.

Gnoe at Graasland gave us a 5-part music series! First, she wished us a Happy New Year with a little help from Pizzicato Five. Next she shared music from the movie Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto. For the third part of the series, she posted about a concert of contemporary classic composers that she attended. The next installment was a little change of pace with dj maho☆thaidisco. And for the last part of the series, she talks about the music of Sheena Ringo.

Mee at Bookie Mee also returned to her past for a nostalgic look at some of the Japanese music that helped lift her spirits during a difficult time in My YA J-Pop.

Sakura at chasing bawa also revisited old memories and shared some of her old favourites.

Velvet at vvB32 Reads talked about some Japanese Taiko concerts that she's seen.

Kristen M. at We Be Reading shared some of her and her son's favourite anime music.

Natakiya at Bento Anarchy created a tribute bento to a favourite Japanese band, plus she also shares some of what she learned about traditional Japanese instruments, the koto and the shakuhachi.

shakuhachi
Photo © Monty H. Levenson

Teresa talked about the band, Blue Hearts.
Thanks to my son, I've been listening to The Blue Hearts (they're punk music) for a year now. My son started me on them, because the Clash are one of my favorite bands and they were a major influence on The Blue Hearts. My son gave me The Blue Hearts' 5th CD (I already have the first 4) "High Kicks" for Christmas and I listened to it today for the first time. Sounds good and I look forward to listening to it (and the other CDs I have of theirs) again.

Kathrin at Secret Dreamworld of a Bookaholic shared some of her old favourites as well.

Thank you to everyone who took part in the mini-challenge for January. It was fun to see the different kinds of music that everyone posted about. And reminiscing seemed a common theme for this month's challenge. I hope you enjoyed looking back and reliving the music of your past, if only for a few songs.

I have to admit that I don't listen to much Japanese music these days. I did when I first came to Japan in the late 90s and listened to J-Pop quite a bit, like Globe, The Brilliant Green, Love Psychedelico, hitomi, and so on. But I got away from Japanese music during the years we lived in England and even after we moved back to Japan I just never got back into the J-Music scene, although reading about everyone else's favourites has kind of made me want to again. The only real exception is that I do like listening to some of the traditional Japanese instruments, like taiko (drums), shamisen, koto, and so on. One of my favourites is the Yoshida Brothers who play the shamisen. Fitting in with the season, here is their song, Fuyu no sakura (Cherry blossoms in winter).

Before I announce the winner of the January prize, I'd just like to clarify how the winner is selected. As you know, to be eligible for the prize, you have to participate in that month's mini-challenge and either provide a link to your post, or leave a comment with the details. I love it when your enthusiasm for a topic inspires you to post more than once! However, to be fair, each person receives one entry per month, regardless of how many times you post on that month's topic. On the positive side, there is also no rule saying you can't win again, so even if you've won previously, your name will be entered again each month you complete a new mini-challenge. I hope this seems reasonable but let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Ok, so without further ado, the winner of the Year of the Tiger ornament is ...

... Sakura!

Congratulations! I'll be in touch for your mailing address.

In case you're waiting impatiently, the Hello Japan! February mini-challenge will be up tomorrow, but I'll give you a hint... it just might involve popcorn. ;)

The small print: Links in this post to Amazon contain my Associates ID. Purchases made via these links earn me a very small commission. For more information visit my About Page.

Sunday Salon: Blogiversary

2010-01-31T23:33:00.002+09:00

When I started this blog back in 2006 I never imagined that a few years later I'd still be at it, and that I'd be quite so addicted to it, but here we are. Today, January 31st, In Spring it is the Dawn is 4 years old! I originally started this blog simply as a place to keep track of the books I read, like a reading log, and also to post some photos as we'd moved back to Japan the previous fall and taking pictures had become a minor hobby.

I think the blog has changed quite a lot from those early days. There are more words and less photos lately, although I hope to have more photo opportunities this year. I only got occasional comments then and was so excited whenever I did get one. I get a few more comments now but I do still get excited about each and every one. I'm enjoying the bigger focus on Japanese literature now, and sharing those discoveries with you. During this last year I started to get occasional offers of books to review, and last spring I also changed over to my own domain name www.inspringitisthedawn.com. So I feel like this little blog has grown up a bit, thanks to all of you!

I especially appreciate you for sticking with me recently. I haven't been a very good blogger over the last couple of months, and I miss reading your wonderful blogs on a regular basis. The fact that you still stop by really means so much to me, and my neglect will not be forever. I promise!

Despite this, several of you have even passed on blog awards over the last little while, and I have been very remiss in thanking you here. So a very big thank you for the following:

The Superior Scribbler Award from Harvee at Book Dilettante.

The Kreativ Blogger Award from Natakiya at Bento Anarchy.

The One Lovely Blog Award AND the Heartfelt Award from Velvet at vvB32 Reads.

The Santa Clause award (oops, not very timely, sorry) from mariel at where troubles melt like lemon drops, and this was her reason: for constantly inspiring me to learn Japanese!

The One Lovely Blog Award also from Karen at BookBath. Karen had these kinds words to say: A lovely blog for many reasons but particularly for its focus on Japan (one of my favourite countries) and its literature.

The Happy 101 Award from Esme at Chocolate & Croissants.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I hope I haven't missed anyone. I'm going to be rebellious and not follow the rules associated with these awards but I'm so honoured that you consider my little ol' blog worth reading. You know, I sometimes feel like I don't entirely fit in to the book blogging community but your kindness really warms my heart. I can't thank you enough.

So to celebrate 4 years of reading and blogging, and to thank you for always motivating me to keep going, I think a blogiversary giveaway is in order. I'm going to give you a chance to win any book that I've read over the last 4 years since starting this blog. You can see which books I've read by year.
Books Read in 2009
Books Read in 2008
Books Read in 2007
Books Read in 2006
or you can see the complete list of all titles in the Author Index.

*To enter, simply leave a comment on this post saying which book you'd like to win. It must be a book on one of the above lists.
*One winner will be selected at random and announced next Sunday, February 7th.
*Please make sure that I have a way to contact you if you win.
*The giveaway is open worldwide.
*The winner will either receive the book directly from The Book Depository or from me, depending on the winner's country of residence.
*I don't think there should be any but if the book chosen now happens to be out of print, the winner will have the option to choose another title.
*If you have any other questions, please let me know. Good luck!

Also, don't forget that the Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet giveaway is still open for a couple more days.

As for what I'm reading, I finished 31 Hours by Masha Hamilton a couple of days ago and I'm still thinking about it! And now I'm just about to start reading volume 3 of I Am a Cat for the Japanese Literature Read-along discussion that will start on February 15th.

And speaking of Japanese literature, a reminder that we'll be starting our leisurely read-along of The Pillowbook of Sei Shōnagon this coming Friday, February 5th. For this week, we'll be looking at the first 10 entries. Anyone is welcome to join in. For more information about translations, etc. please refer to the Japanese Literature Read-along page.

Have a great week!

The small print: Links in this post to Amazon or The Book Depository contain my Associates or Affiliates ID respectively. Purchases made via these links earn me a very small commission. For more information visit my About Page.

Reading Japan 2009

2010-01-30T23:52:00.004+09:00

After we moved back to Japan from England, a little over 4 years ago now, I became interested in reading Japanese literature to learn more about this place that I currently call home. So a couple of years ago now I decided to set myself a personal, perpetual reading project to do just that. The following is a list of the Japanese literature and Japan-related titles that I read in 2009. And since I'm not only interested in reading books from a Japanese perspective, but also from the outside looking in, as it were, I've included those books about, or set in, Japan by non-Japanese authors as well. You can see the Japanese books I read in 2008, or a full list of all the Japanese literature I've read since starting this blog in my Reading Japan Book List which is also accessible via the Reading Japan tab in the linkbar above.

Fiction (Japanese authors or those with Japanese ancestry):
(Unless otherwise noted, these books were originally published in Japanese).
Click on the titles to read my reviews, click on the book covers to read more at Amazon.

After Dark - Haruki Murakami
Rashomon and other stories - Ryunosuke Akutagawa
An Artist of the Floating World - Kazuo Ishiguro (British, written in English)
*Beyond the Blossoming Fields - Jun'ichi Watanabe
*Paprika - Yasutaka Tsutsui
*Be With You - Takuji Ichikawa
*The Old Capital - Yasunari Kawabata (review pending)

Fiction (about/set in Japan, by non-Japanese authors):
The Character of Rain - Amélie Nothomb (Belgian, originally published in French)
Big in Japan: A Ghost Story - M. Thomas Gammarino (American, written in English)

Manga:
Emma, vol. 1 - Kaoru Mori
Monster, vol. 1 - Naoki Urasawa
xxxHolic, vol. 1 - CLAMP
Emma, vols. 2 - 7 - Kaoru Mori
Emma, vol. 8 - Kaoru Mori
Vampire Knight, vols. 1 - 3 - Matsuri Hino
*Battle Royale, vol. 1 - Koushun Takami, illustrated by Masayuki Taguchi (review pending)

Non-Fiction:
Goodbye Madame Butterfly: Sex, Marriage and the Modern Japanese Woman - Sumie Kawakami
Polite Lies: On Being a Woman Caught Between Cultures - Kyoko Mori

A nice variety of books, I think, including modern surrealism, classic short stories, lyrical stories of life in Kyoto, fascinating historical fiction, contemporary love stories, memoirs, and true stories of modern women in Japan. Some of the characters: the first female Japanese doctor, a precocious child, an English maid, a neuro-surgeon, a dream detective, vampire guardians, and high school students stuck in a deadly reality show.

I really enjoyed most of these, there were a couple exceptions, but if I had to choose a favourite, I'd go with Beyond the Blossoming Fields, because I found it simply fascinating to read about the life of the first official female Japanese doctor. Another stand out of the year is the Emma manga series. The story is lovely but the art is fantastic! Amélie Nothomb's fictionalized memoir of her childhood in Japan was highly amusing, both non-fiction titles were occasionally eye-opening, I thoroughly enjoyed the traditional tales as told by Ryunosuke Akutagawa, and so on.

I actually wish I'd read more Japanese literature last year, especially since I keep finding more titles that I want to read, but I'm looking forward to discovering more wonderful Japanese lit in 2010. And as you know, in addition to my personal Reading Japan Project to read more Japanese literature, last autumn I started a Japanese Literature Book Group and a Japanese Literature Read-along group here. There are some great books coming up on the schedule and I'm very much looking forward to reading and discussing these, and other, works of Japanese literature with you this year.

Titles with an asterisk are those that I read during the time period (July 30, 2009 to January 30, 2010) of the Japanese Literature Challenge 3 hosted by
Dolce Bellezza. I also read The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa this month for the Japanese Literature Book Group discussion. Technically it counts for the challenge but I haven't listed it above in the list of titles read in 2009, as it'll go on the list for 2010. The challenge only required us to read one book of Japanese literature so at six I guess I can say that it was successfully completed. You can see a list of all the reviews submitted by the participants for the challenge at the Japanese Literature Challenge 3 Review Site. Thank you, Bellezza, for being a wonderful host, and for sharing your fascination of Japan with us. I'm already looking forward to July and the 4th annual Japanese Literature Challenge!

Did you read any memorable Japanese literature last year?

The small print: The books mentioned in the post were purchased by me for my personal library, except for Beyond the Blossoming Fields, Paprika, and Big in Japan which were received free of charge from the respective publishers for review purposes. Links in this post to Amazon (including book covers) or The Book Depository contain my Associates or Affiliates ID respectively. Purchases made via these links earn me a very small commission. For more information visit my About Page.

'Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet' (review and giveaway)

2010-01-27T08:50:00.004+09:00

by Jamie Ford
Fiction, 2009
Ballantine Books, trade pb, 293 p.

From the back cover:
In 1986, Henry Lee joins a crowd outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle’s Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has discovered the belongings of Japanese families who were sent to internment camps during World War II. As the owner displays and unfurls a Japanese parasol, Henry, a Chinese American, remembers a young Japanese American girl from his childhood in the 1940s – Keiko Okabe, with whom he forged a bond of friendship and innocent love that transcended the prejudices of their Old World ancestors. After Keiko and her family were evacuated to the internment camps, she and Henry could only hope that their promise to each other would be kept. Now, forty years later, Henry explores the hotel’s basement for the Okabe family’s belongings and for a long-lost object whose value he cannot even begin to measure. His search will take him on a journey to revisit the sacrifices he has made for family, for love, for country.

Growing up I’d never really heard about the internment of Japanese during World War II, although since my mother was Ukrainian Canadian I had heard about the internment of Ukrainians in Canada during World War I. Sadly, the internment of Japanese was simply history repeating itself! I still haven’t read a whole lot about the Japanese internment but I have read a small handful of titles: Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson, Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston, and Obasan and Itsuka by Joy Kogawa, about the Japanese internment in Canada. However, each of these books, whether fiction or memoir, were written from the persepective of Japanese first or second-generation citizens. In Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet we see the internment instead through the eyes of a young Chinese American boy. I thought Jamie Ford did a wonderful job presenting the various prejudices and discriminations of the time, towards not only the Japanese, but also the other Asians in America, and the blacks, and amongst themselves, yet all without laying blame. It was a nice portrait of what life was like then.

The book is so much more than this particular moment in history though. The real story at the heart of the book is one of love. The innocence of young love. The conflicted relationship between fathers and sons. Family loyalty. It’s also about loss, and identity, and acceptance. Vividly told, all of the characters came beautifully to life. I especially became quite fond of some of the minor characters, like Sheldon the jazz musician, and Mrs. Beatty, the lunch lady. I did have some trouble accepting the depth of the relationship between the two main characters though, the young Henry and Keiko. I couldn’t help thinking to myself, “they’re only 12 years old!” But despite that reservation, I came to care about them and by the end of the book I truly believed in their story. One thing I wondered about is whether Henry ever figured out that お会いできて嬉しいです (oai deki te ureshii desu) simply means “It’s an honor to meet you”, rather than the ‘How are you today, beautiful” that Sheldon told him it meant.

I’d wanted to read this ever since I first heard about it, and I’m so glad to finally have had a chance to do so. Best of all, it was a thoroughly enjoyable read that lived up to my expectations. A little bit sweet, and a little bitter, just the way a love story should be. Sure it was fairly predictable, and I’ve sometimes quite disliked a similar type of love story, but in my opinion Ford never crossed the line to saccharine. Jamie’s next book apparently also has a Japanese story line and I’m already looking forward to it.

Henry squinted, allowing his senses to adjust to the daylight and the cold, gray Seattle sky that filled the paned windows of the Panama Hotel lobby. Everything, it seemed – the city, the sky – was brighter and more vivid than before. So modern, compared with the time capsule downstairs. As he left the hotel, Henry looked west to where the sun was setting, burnt sienna flooding the horizon. It reminded him that time was short, but that beautiful endings could still be found at the end of cold, dreary days. (p. 76-77)

Read an excerpt from the book.
For more information visit Jamie Ford's website, or follow @JamieFord on Twitter.

This review is part of the TLC Book Tour.
Thank you to Lisa and Random House for the opportunity to read this book.

For other stops on the tour visit the Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet Blog Tour page.

My Rating: 4/5
(#3 for 2010)

Buy Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet at: Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk | BookDepository.co.uk | BookDepository.com

Interviews with the author by:
Word Lily
Diary of an Eccentric

Also reviewed by:
Bibliofreakblog
Diary of an Eccentric
Musings of a Bookish Kitty
Trish's Reading Nook
You've GOTTA Read This!
Educating Petunia
The Book Lady’s Blog
Lesley’s Book Nook
book-a-rama
Hey Lady! Whatcha readin'?
The Bluestocking Society
In the Shadow of Mt. TBR
Medieval Bookworm
Melody’s Reading Corner
Stephanie’s Written Word
If I've missed your review let me know and I'll link to it here.

***

Your reward for reading this far? Random House has also kindly agreed to send a copy of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet to one of my readers. To enter, simply leave a comment on this post stating that you'd like to be entered, although a relevant comment about the book (or the review) would be appreciated. The giveaway will end next Wednesday, February 3rd, when the winner will be selected randomly. Unfortunately, as the book will be coming directly from the publisher, the giveaway is only open to the US and Canada. My apologies, I know how frustrating it is for international bloggers. But I will be having a giveaway to celebrate my blogiversary soon so you'll get a chance to win a book then.

This giveaway is now closed and the winner has been notified.
Congratulations Kailana!

The small print: This book was received free of charge from the publisher for review purposes. Links in this post to Amazon (including book cover) or The Book Depository contain my Associates or Affiliates ID respectively. Purchases made via these links earn me a very small commission. For more information visit my About Page.

'The Housekeeper and the Professor' Discussion (JLit Book Group)

2010-01-25T15:02:00.010+09:00

Welcome to the discussion for our first Japanese Literature Book Group selection for 2010, The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa, and translated by Stephen Snyder.

This is an open discussion, and you are welcome to talk about any aspect of the story you like. Don't hesitate to ask any questions you might have, and I also encourage you to chat among yourselves. I've removed comment moderation for this post for the next couple of days so that you will be able to discuss more freely. I'd also suggest subscribing to comments so that you'll be notified when others have added their thoughts.
One note of warning, for the discussion it is assumed that you have read the book so the comments may contain spoilers. If you have not yet read the book, please proceed at your own risk.

I've listed the discussion questions below that are available from the publisher. Feel free to use them as a kick start for discussion, but don't feel obligated to answer them. In addition to the more thought-provoking questions supplied below, also let us know simply what you thought of the book.
Did you enjoy it?
I would also be interested to know...
What did you think of the translation?
If you've read any other titles by Yoko Ogawa, which did you like the best?
Have you seen the movie based on the book? Would you like to?
How does this book compare to other Japanese literature that you've read?

The Housekeeper and the Professor reviewed by:
Book Dilettante
The Zen Leaf
Paperback Reader
Rebecca Reads
Graasland
su[shu]
We Be Reading
kiss a cloud
If anyone has posted a review or other thoughts on the book on their own blog, leave a link in the comments and I'll add it here.

Much of the book and author information, as well as all of the discussion questions below were taken from the Picador Reading Group Guide, with some additional information from wikipedia.

About the Book

First published in Japan in 2003 as 博士の愛した数式 (Hakase no aishita sushiki), it won the Yomiuri Prize in 2004.

In The Housekeeper and the Professor, Yoko Ogawa tells an intimate story about family, the nature of memory, and the poetry of mathematics. It is also, in a sense, a story about the simple experience of getting to know someone, but with a twist: the person forgets everything in eighty minutes. How do you form a relationship with a person who cannot remember? In this uplifting and often poignant novel, Ogawa seems to ask whether our immediate experiences are more important than our memories, since memories inevitably fade, and the eponymous Professor’s condition of limited short-term memory allows the author to explore this question with great creativity. At the same time, Ogawa invites the reader into the world of mathematics, using complex equations as a metaphor for the themes running throughout her book. The Housekeeper and the Professor is a rich, multilayered novel that offers much to discuss.

About the Author

Yōko Ogawa (小川洋子) was born in Okayama, Okayama Prefecture, graduated from Waseda University, and lives in Ashiya, Hyōgo, with her husband and son. Yoko Ogawa's fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, A Public Space, and Zoetrope. Since 1988 she has published more than twenty works of fiction and nonfiction, and has won every major Japanese literary award. In 2006 she co-authored "An Introduction to the World's Most Elegant Mathematics" with Masahiko Fujiwara, a mathematician, as a dialogue on the extraordinary beauty of numbers.

Discussion Questions

1. The characters in The Housekeeper and the Professor are nameless (“Root” is only a nickname). What does it mean when an author chooses not to name the people in her book? How does that change your relationship to them as a reader? Are names that important?

2. Imagine you are writer, developing a character with only eighty minutes of short-term memory. How would you manage the very specific terms of that character (e.g. his job, his friendships, how he takes care of himself)? Discuss some of the creative ways in which Yoko Ogawa imagines her memory-impaired Professor, from the notes pinned to his suit to the sadness he feels every morning.

3. As Root and the Housekeeper grow and move forward in their lives, the Professor stays in one place (in fact he is deteriorating, moving backwards). And yet, the bond among the three of them grows strong. How is it possible for this seemingly one-sided relationship to thrive? What does Ogawa seem to be saying about memory and the very foundations of our profoundest relationships?

4. The Professor tells the Housekeeper: “Math has proven the existence of God because it is absolute and without contradiction; but the devil must exist as well, because we cannot prove it.” Does this paradox apply to anything else, beside math? Perhaps memory? Love?

5. The Houskeeper’s father abandoned her mother before she was born; and then the Housekeeper herself suffered the same fate when pregnant with Root. In a book where all of the families are broken (including the Professor’s), what do you think Ogawa is saying about how families are composed? Do we all, in fact, have a fundamental desire to be a part of a family? Does it matter whom it’s made of?

6. Did your opinion of the Professor change when you realized the nature of his relationship with his sister-in-law? Did you detect any romantic tension between the Professor and the Housekeeper, or was their relationship chaste? Perhaps Ogawa was intending ambiguity in that regard?

7. The sum of all numbers between one and ten is not difficult to figure out, but the Professor insists that Root find the answer in a particular way. Ultimately Root and the Housekeeper come to the answer together. Is there a thematic importance to their method of solving the problem? Generally, how does Ogawa use math to illustrate a whole worldview?

Yutaka Enatsu

8. Baseball is a game full of statistics, and therefore numbers. Discuss the very different ways in which Root and the Professor love the game.

9. How does Ogawa depict the culture of contemporary Japan in The Housekeeper and the Professor ? In what ways does is it seem different from western culture? For example, consider the Housekeeper’s pregnancy and her attitude toward single motherhood; or perhaps look at the simple details of the story, like Root’s birthday cake. In what ways are the cultures similar, different?

10. Ogawa chooses to write about actual math problems, rather than to write about math in the abstract. In a sense, she invites the reader to learn math along with the characters. Why do you think she wrote the book this way? Perhaps to heighten your sympathy for the characters?

11. Do numbers bear any significance on the structure of this book? Consider the fact that the book has eleven chapters. Are all things quantifiable, and all numbers fraught with poetic possibility?

Related links:
List of mathematical terminology that occurs in the story (from wikipedia)
Hanshin Tigers page

Photo source: The Hanshin Tigers logo, and the Yutaka Enatsu baseball card photo were taken from baseball-reference.com. The images are © copyright but reproduced here in low resolution under the terms of Fair Use.

The small print: Links in this post to Amazon (including book cover) contain my Associates ID. Purchases made via these links earn me a very small commission. For more information visit my About Page.

Thursday Tea: jasmine and memories

2010-01-21T23:44:00.003+09:00

Thursday Tea is a weekly meme hosted by Anastasia at Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog. To play along, all you need is some tea, a book, and the answers to these questions: what tea are you drinking (and do you like it)? What book are you reading (and do you like it)? Tell us a little about your tea and your book, and whether or not the two go together.

When Henry arrived in the school kitchen that afternoon, there was a new face, though because it was turned toward a stack of beet-stained serving trays, he couldn't see much of it. But it was clearly a girl, probably in his grade, about his height; she was hidden behind long bangs and the black strands of hair that framed her face. She sprayed the trays with hot, steaming water and put them in the dish rack, one by one. As she slowly turned toward Henry, he noticed her slender cheekbones, her perfect skin, smooth and lacking in the freckles that mottled the faces of the other girls at the school. But most of all, he noticed her soft chestnut-brown eyes. For a brief moment Henry swore he smelled something, like jasmine, sweet and mysterious, lost in the greasy odors of the kitchen.
[p. 19, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford]

This mention from early in the book, which I am enjoying immensely by the way, inspired me to choose jasmine tea this evening. The jasmine tea I have on hand is Stassen Jasmine Green Tea from Sri Lanka. Hot, refreshing and light, it suit my mood perfectly, and goes very well with this story of an older Chinese man remembering back on his unlikely friendship with a Japanese girl in Seattle during World War II. Also pictured is my new limited edition New Year mug from Starbucks Japan which has an almost Chinese-inspired design this year.

What are you reading and/or drinking today?

The small print: This book was received free of charge from the publisher for review purposes; the tea was received as a gift. Link in this post to Amazon contains my Associates ID. Any purchases made via this link earn me a very small commission. For more information visit my About Page.

December in review (or, Better late than never)

2010-01-19T23:53:00.002+09:00

As you may know, I got terribly behind near the end of last year. So yes, I know it's already well into January, of a different year no less, add in the fact that I haven't actually reviewed any of the books I read last month yet, but here it is anyway, my monthly reading recap for December.

December started off with me in Norfolk, Virginia where I tried repeatedly over the years to gain the approval of my father, despite our strained relationship. I'm still not sure I'll ever accept or understand the way he treated me, but at least I finally came to terms with who I am. Next, I left the comfort of the mansion on the hill where I lived with my family, in an attempt to save them from the evil man who was kidnapping cats from all over town. I had lots of dangerous adventures and made some wonderful friends along the way. After that, I watched as my sister fell in love with the handsome son of the lighthouse keeper and witnessed the tragedy that followed. Life then took a dramatic turn as I found myself a participant in a deadly reality show, expected to kill my fellow classmates or be killed, but I can't accept that is the only way to survive (to be continued...). Then, I headed to Paris with my mother for a few weeks of Parisian life, art and good food. Finally, I ended the month sneaking out of Japan under a false name to hide from the spy organization I used to belong to. Once settled into my new life I began to write my story for all the world to read.

Books completed:
66. In the Wake of the Boatman - Jonathon Scott Fuqua (review pending)
67. Varjak Paw - SF Said (review pending)
68. The Three Incestuous Sisters - Audrey Niffenegger (review pending)
69. Battle Royale, vol. 1 (manga) - Koushun Takami, and illustrated by Masayuki Taguchi (review pending)
70. French Milk - Lucy Knisley (review pending)
71. Kabuki: The Alchemy - David Mack (review pending)

Favourite of the month? I don't think I can single out a favourite but the graphic novel Kabuki: The Alchemy does stand out as the art in it is simply fabulous. However I thoroughly enjoyed the art in all the other graphic novels I read too. Overall it was very much a visually satisfying month!

New-to-me authors: Five of the six this month were new to me. Only Audrey Niffenegger, whose The Time Traveler's Wife I really loved, was a repeat.
Books in translation: 1 (Battle Royale, vol. 1, translated from the Japanese).

Books in: 15 (Purchased: Penguin Classics special editions - Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Emma by Jane Austen; my first Persephone - Little Boy Lost by Marghanita Laski; The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff - Book Blogger Holiday Swap; The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson, Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, We are the Friction: Illustrations vs. Short Fiction, edited by Sing Statistics, The Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima, Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater, Battle Royale: The Novel by Koushun Takami; 1 Review copy: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford)
Books out: 0

Throughout 2009 I was reading for the Book Wish Foundation. A year ago, in January 2009, I pledged to donate $1 for each book I read, and $1 for each book I acquired, whether purchased myself or received for free from another source.
Money raised in December: $27
Total Books Read in 2009: 71
Total Books Acquired in 2009: 92
Total raised for the year: $188 ($163 + $25 from spring read-a-thon)
I decided to round up to an even $200 and am happy that my personal contribution will be able to help the refugees of Darfur better their lives in some small way. I haven't made a specific pledge for this year but I will continue to support Book Wish whenever I can.

Reading Challenges Progress Report
(see sidebar for current challenges)

Challenges completed
Dewey's Books Reading Challenge (by Dec. 31, 2009): 5/5
Lost in Translation Challenge (by Dec. 31, 2009): Completed - 17/6
Orbis Terrarum Challenge (by Dec. 31, 2009): 10/10
Herding Cats II: Attack of the Hairballs (until Dec. 31, 2009): Completed - 3
Manga Challenge (by Dec. 31, 2009): Completed - 7/6
Graphic Novels Challenge (by Dec. 31, 2009): 6/6
ARC Reading Challenge (by Dec. 31, 2009): 16/12 Completed - Current ARC/Review status (for 2009): 16 read, 8 to go
Everything Austen Challenge (July 1, 2009 - Jan. 1, 2010): 6/6

Challenge almost completed
What's in a Name? 2 Challenge (by Dec. 31, 2009): 5/6

Ongoing
Japanese Literature Challenge 3 (July 30, 2009 - Jan. 30, 2010): Completed - 4/1
Canadian Book Challenge 3 (July 1, 2009 - July 1, 2010): 1/13

Long-term Reading Projects (Total read in 2009)
Reading Japan Project: 22 (including manga, 1 in December)
Orange Prize Project: 0!

New Challenges Joined for 2010
Reading Resolutions Challenge (Jan. 1 - Dec. 31, 2010)
2010 Reading From My Shelves Project (Jan. 1 - Dec. 31, 2010): Read 0/20; Passed on 0/20
Flashback Reading Challenge (Jan. 1 - Dec. 31, 2010): 0/3
Buy One Book and Read It Challenge (Jan. 1 - Dec. 31, 2010): 0/6
Manga Challenge (Jan. 1 - Dec. 31, 2010): 0/6
Graphic Novels Challenge (Jan. 1 - Dec. 31, 2010): 0/3

Reading plans for January
Well, there's not that much of January left to be honest but I'm currently reading Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford for the TLC Book Tour that will be stopping here next week. I've started but also need to finish The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa, this month's Japanese Literature Book Group selection, the discussion of which will begin on Monday, the 25th. I have some other review books on deck that I probably should read after that but I think I'll just play it by ear for the remainder of the month.

No one may care at this point but I'm going to finally put together my 2009 reading stats and best reads of the year post later this week, and then try to wrap up the last of 2009 reading-related posts by the end of January.

In other random book news, on one of our train journeys this past weekend, there was a guy across from me reading Haruki Murakami's latest, IQ84, and it really made me wish I could read Japanese as the English translation isn't expected to be out until autumn 2011! However, I am really looking forward to reading, and re-reading, some of Murakami's older books for the Japanese Literature reading groups this spring.

Non-bookwise, I'm in the middle of attempting to completely change my sleeping pattern. I'm a major night owl, and always have been, but lately it's been getting ridiculous, and resulting in a perpetual lack of sleep and general fatigue. Another factor in my blogging less over the last couple of months too, I imagine. So not a resolution exactly, more of a lifestyle improvement that I'm working toward. It hasn't been entirely successful yet, and often leaves me feeling a bit jet-lagged, but I am trying to make a definite effort to go to sleep earlier and get up earlier even on the days when I don't have early lessons. I certainly do look forward to feeling more rested. Wish me luck! And if you have any sleep-related stories or advice that you wouldn't mind sharing, I'd love to hear them.

The small print: Links in this post to Amazon (including book covers) or The Book Depository contain my Associates or Affiliates ID respectively. Purchases made via these links earn me a very small commission. For more information visit my About Page.

New 2010 schedule for the Japanese Literature Book Group and Read-alongs

2010-01-14T23:56:00.008+09:00

Thank you to everyone who voted for which books you'd like to read together this year. The poll is now closed and here are the final results:

I've put together a schedule incorporating all the top vote-getters, from Dance Dance Dance with 9 votes to The Sound of the Mountain with 5 votes. This still left a couple of possible slots, but you'll notice that there were 5 books tied at 4 votes each. Which to choose? We'll be reading The Makioka Sisters by Junichiro Tanizaki so instead of Some Prefer Nettles also by Tanizaki, I decided to add The Temple of the Golden Pavilion and The Silent Cry because both of these books are by authors that we have not yet read together. This leaves the two books by Banana Yoshimoto, so I added her in as an extra summer read in which you can read either title from the poll, and we can discuss either or both of them.

Speaking of extra reads, I didn't realize it when I put together the poll from the nominations, but Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami is actually a sequel to A Wild Sheep Chase. I haven't read either yet so I'd like to read A Wild Sheep Chase before Dance Dance Dance, and am happy to discuss it with anyone else who would like to do the same. You'll also notice that I've put The Silent Cry as a two-month read-along even though it's not such a long book. I've only read the first couple of pages but the writing seems dense and one that I think I could personally use some mutual cheerleading to read it so I hope you don't mind. And on the flip side, I've put Battle Royale as a simple book group selection. I realize that Battle Royale is a chunky book, and as such you might expect it to be a read-along divided into sections to be discussed along the way. However, I have a feeling that it'll read fairly quickly, a discussion part-way would invariably include major spoilers, and the way the schedule stands we'll have almost two and a half months to read it. I hope these considerations make sense.

So without any further ado, here is the 2010 schedule for both the Japanese Literature Book Group and Read-along.

Discussion begins on the last Monday of January, March, May*, July, September and November.

January 25th - The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa

(March 10th - A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami)

March 29th - Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami

May 10th - Silence by Shusaku Endo
*Please note that the date for May has been moved up from the last Monday to the second Monday. I'm hoping to attend Book Expo America and if I do I won't be able to host the discussion at the end of the month. Sorry for any inconvenience.

July 26th - Battle Royale by Koushun Takami

August 30th - Goodbye Tsugumi and/or Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto

September 27th - The Sound of the Mountain by Yasunari Kawabata

November 29th - The Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima

Discussion begins on the 15th of each month that a read-along is scheduled.

February 15th - I Am a Cat by Sōseki Natsume (Volume Three)

March 15th - The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami (Book One)

April 15th - The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami (Book Two)

May 15th - The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami (Book Three)

No read-along scheduled in June.

July 15th - The Makioka Sisters by Junichiro Tanizaki (Book One)

August 15th - The Makioka Sisters by Junichiro Tanizaki (Book Two)

September 15th - The Makioka Sisters by Junichiro Tanizaki (Book Three)

October 15th - The Silent Cry - Kenzaburō Ōe (part 1)

November 15th - The Silent Cry - Kenzaburō Ōe (part 2)

No read-along scheduled in December.
(For specific page information, visit the Read-along page by clicking on the button, or the tab in the linkbar above.)

Are you wondering where The Pillowbook of Sei Shōnagon is? I originally thought of adding it as a regular read-along and reading it over 3 months, but I think The Pillowbook, with its lists and diary-like entries, is the kind of book to savour slowly, so I propose an extra, leisurely read-along starting in February. Much like Kristen M.'s Poe Fridays, my idea is that each week we'll read 10 sections, and every Friday I'll put up a post about the week's reading. You wouldn't have to post each week yourself, you could simply stop by and let us know your thoughts. There are 297 sections, with a few supplementary ones, so 10 a week (with a couple weeks off in the spring for BEA, sorry) will take us pretty much to the end of September. Some entries are very short, others are a couple of pages long but I think 10 a week would be very manageable. How does that sound?

So, are you happy with these schedules? Do let me know if you have any questions or concerns. And as always, you are completely free to pick and choose whichever titles interest you. There is no obligation to join in each time, although of course we'd love to have you. I'm really looking forward to reading and discussing these books with you. Here's to a year of great Japanese literature!

The small print: Links in this post to Amazon (including book cover) or The Book Depository contain my Associates or Affiliates ID respectively. Purchases made via these links earn me a very small commission. For more information visit my About Page.

shiny new books (or, my TBR pile continues to grow)

2010-01-12T23:53:00.003+09:00

These are some books that I bought (mostly) or acquired (one) near the end of last year. The last new books for 2009, which means that a total of 92 books entered my house last year through various means. It's the first year I've kept close track of the books I acquired each month so I'm not really sure how that compares to previous years but I actually tried to be more restrained in my book buying last year, and for the most part, except for a couple of splurges, stuck to a monthly budget for books. However, considering I only read 71 books in 2009, I've made negative progress on my To Be Read stacks in the last year. Sigh. But who can resist shiny new books!?

The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
I haven't even read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo yet but plan to this year for sure, and had to pick this up when I saw that it was out in paperback* and so reasonably priced.
*Even though I know the British editions were published earlier, I have to admit I really prefer the US covers and my copy of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is the US paperback so I'm going for consistency here.

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
Bought in a weak moment at the bookstore, again because the paperback was quite cheap, plus it did win the Man Booker Prize after all. I'm not really up on my Tudor history though so I'm a little intimidated by it.

We are the Friction: Illustrations vs. Short Fiction, edited by Sing Statistics.
Like the special cloth-bound Penguin classics that she forced me to buy, this is another book purchase to blame on Frances at Nonsuch Book. Her book lust posts are dangerous! Fun concept for a book though:
The book paired writers with illustrators, both established and emerging in their disciplines. Each then produced new work inspired by the work of their partner: stories from illustrations, and illustrations from stories. The result is an erratic, eclectic collection of work that takes in space travel, Japanese deities, monster husbandry, and the Marx Brothers. We hope you'll like it.

The Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima
Lena of Save Ophelia suggested this one, and I've visited Kinkaku-ji, the temple of the title, in Kyoto a few times. Since the story is also loosely based on a real event, I decided I simply had to add this one to my Japanese literature shelves.

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
Lots of raves about this one on Twitter so I caved.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
Received from the publisher for the TLC Blog Tour later this month. I'm so glad to finally have a copy of this book as I've been wanting to read it since it first made the blog rounds when it came out in hardcover. I'll be starting it very soon.

Battle Royale: The Novel by Koushun Takami
I read the first volume of the manga, based on the book, in December but that made me want to read the novel first. I'm quite looking forward to it and hope to read it before too long.

As an aside, I thought it was interesting that all the books are combinations of red, white and black. I love red so am I subconsciously drawn to the red covers? Or is it simply coincidence? Hmmm...

The small print: Links in this post to Amazon or The Book Depository contain my Associates or Affiliates ID respectively. Purchases made via these links earn me a small commission. For more information visit my About Page.

Bloggiesta Ole!

2010-01-08T23:50:00.040+09:00

Natasha of Maw Books is hosting the second Bloggiesta this weekend, essentially a blogging marathon and an opportunity to catch up on some blog housekeeping and anything else blog-related that you've been meaning to do but haven't got around to. I'm not sure how much time I'll have to devote to blogging this weekend but I have loads of things on my blog To Do List so I had to sign up.

There are also some great mini-challenges to help and encourage us to improve our blogs and I've started off with a few of those. You can see the full list of all the mini-challenges by clicking on the button, or visiting the Bloggiesta Starting Post. So far today I've created a gravatar (hosted by Trish of Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin'? during the last Bloggiesta), updated copyright dates and footer (hosted by Pam at Bookalicio.us), backed up my blog (hosted by Jackie at Farm Lane Books), and analysed my blog with Website Grader (hosted by Bookish Ruth during the last Bloggiesta). I was quite pleasantly surprised to get a website grade of 96.6. I guess I'm doing something right, but it had some good suggestions too for things I need to work on to make my blog better.

However, I need to prioritize so my main goal for this weekend is to catch up on replying to comments, and writing several book reviews as I'm very very behind. I may do a little bit of tinkering here and there, maybe create a new wintery header, and I'd also really really like to clean up my Google Reader as it's a big chaotic mess right now but we'll see how it goes and how much I get done. I'll simply update this post with any tasks accomplished over the weekend. Good luck everyone, I hope you all have a successful blogging weekend.

Monday Update: Well, just my luck, I woke up on Saturday morning with a killer headache which lasted most of the weekend. This meant that I didn't have the concentration or ability to write anything coherent so instead I went ahead with the mundane task of re-organising my Google Reader. It was a big chaotic mess before with outdated folders and just not a very good system. So I created new and improved folders, moved feeds around, and deleted quite a few subscriptions (mostly non-book blogs or those that haven't updated in over a year!). And it took forever! But it has been long overdue so I'm glad that I finally got it done.

Otherwise, in addition to the things I did on Friday (see above), I updated my linkbar for 2010, and added a signature just for fun. Yes, I'm a follower. Lots of people have these but I thought I'd try one myself. What do you think? Plus I'm almost caught up on replying to comments. And thanks to Kathrin at Secret Dreamworld of a Bookaholic for guiding me through it, I also added a meta description and keywords to my blog. I just ran In Spring it is the Dawn through WebsiteGrader again and it's come back with a slight higher grade of 97.8. Cool! I didn't even know what meta whatsits were before! Thanks again Kathrin. I really appreciate your help.

So even though I didn't get nearly the amount of stuff done I wouldn't liked this weekend, and despite the evil headache, it was still somewhat productive. Thank you Natasha for hosting. I look forward to the next one, and in the meantime I really do need to get working on my backlog of reviews. Stay tuned.

Books Read in 2010

2010-01-07T14:43:00.002+09:00

Clicking on the title will take you to my review.

1. The Knife of Never Letting Go - Patrick Ness (review pending)
2. Between Me and the River: Living Beyond Cancer - Carrie Host (review pending)
3. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet - Jamie Ford

For books read in previous years click on the appropriate link below:
Books Read in 2009
Books Read in 2008
Books Read in 2007
Books Read in 2006

Hello Japan! January: music to my ears

2010-01-05T23:50:00.005+09:00

Hello Japan! is a monthly mini-challenge focusing on Japanese literature and culture. Each month there will be a new task which relates to some aspect of life in Japan. Anyone is welcome to join in any time. You can post about the task on your blog. Or if you don't have a blog, you can leave a comment on the Hello Japan! post for the month. Everyone who completes the task will then be included in the drawing for that month's prize. For more information, just click on the Hello Japan! button above, or if you have any questions please feel free to email me at inspringthedawn AT gmail DOT com.

December's mini-challenge was apparently a bit difficult so something hopefully much simpler this month, and a suggestion by Gnoe and Novroz. I'm always happy to hear suggestions for future Hello Japan! mini-challenges so don't hesitate to send me an email if you have an idea, or two or three.

Image: Original source unclear, image found at Furu Anime Panikku (via Google Image search).

January's Topic

Music is pretty big business in Japan. There's J-pop, J-rock, J-rap, R&B, anime music, enka, folk music, music from Kabuki, or Noh, taiko drums, shamisen, and a whole host of other traditional Japanese music and instruments.

BBC Music in Japan Documentary (It's a few years old but still an interesting introduction to Japanese music).

January's Task

This month's task is to listen to Japanese music. What kind, and how much is completely up to you.

You might already have some favourite Japanese musicians, but regardless, you're sure to find some Japanese music simply by searching Google or YouTube. However, here are a couple of links to perhaps get you started.

List of some Japanese music artists with profile information, and for many of them you can listen to and watch a video of one of their songs.
Listen to Japan-a-Radio, Big B Radio or J-Wave Radio for free online.

January's Prize

Not a music-related prize, but since 2010, the Year of the Tiger, has just begun, one participant who takes part in the challenge this month will be chosen at random to win this Year of the Tiger hanging decoration.

Once you have completed the task, don't forget to come back here to add your link to the Mr. Linky below. Please submit the link to the actual post, not just to your top page, and please only submit links to posts relating to the Hello Japan! task for this month. All other links will be deleted. Thank you for your understanding, and have fun!

The small print: Links in this post to Amazon contain my Associates ID. Purchases made via these links earn me a small commission. For more information visit my About Page.

Hello Japan! December round-up (and updated schedule for 'I Am a Cat')

2010-01-05T22:13:00.002+09:00

Well, December's Hello Japan! mini-challenge to choose a temple or shrine in Kyoto and share what you learned about it, was a bit of a fail. I'm guessing it was a combination of lack of interest and lack of time, being that it was a busy month for many with the year end holidays. Even I didn't get around to posting what I'd wanted to, despite the best of intentions. I still plan to though, once I get some other posts wrapping up 2009 out of the way. So I really appreciate the 4 of you that took the time to participate in December's mini-challenge. You're the best!

Harvey at Book Dilettante shared some photos of a visit to Heian Jingu shrine.

Sakura at chasing bawa posted about one of her mother's favourite temples, the beautiful Zen temple, Nanzen-ji, and an interesting character associated with it.

Velvet at vvB32 Reads was intrigued by the "demon king" said to be enshrined at Kurama-dera.

Gnoe at Graasland virtually visited two Kyoto temples, Kōdai-ji and Jizō-in.

Kyoto really is a beautiful, fascinating place, and I hope you all get a chance to visit someday.

With fewer participants, the odds were very good regarding the prize, but there could still only be one recipient. So the winner of the December prize of the Kyoto bookmarks is ...

... Gnoe!

Please send me your mailing address and I'll get those in the post for you.

***

For the current Japanese Literature Read-along of I Am a Cat, in response to my asking whether anyone would like or mind pushing the discussion date of volume 3 back a little, the consensus seems to be that it would be appreciated. So I've gone ahead and extended it to February 15th, one month later. I've also put up the schedule for our next read-along selection, The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, which will now be starting in March. The rest of the schedule for the read-alongs and the JLit Book Group will be announced once the poll concludes in about a week. So if you haven't yet, don't forget to vote for the Japanese literature titles you'd like to read in 2010.

The small print: Links in this post to Amazon contain my Associates ID. Purchases made via these links earn me a small commission. For more information visit my About Page.

Japanese New Year

2010-01-04T23:59:00.005+09:00

I hope the New Year has started out well for everyone. We just got back to Tokyo this weekend after spending a few days with the in-laws to celebrate the New Year, or o-shogatsu. Japan used to follow the Chinese lunar calendar but adopted the Gregorian calendar about 140 years ago and has followed it since. This is why the Japanese New Year starts on January 1st whereas the Chinese New Year is celebrated later, in case anyone was wondering.

The population of Tokyo decreases considerably during the New Year's holidays as many people return to their hometowns to visit with family, and we were among them. We started our trip by buying some Kyoto style bento boxes for the shinkansen (bullet train).

I love the packaging, but it tasted pretty good too.

After we arrived we spent some time visiting with H's family and others. Then on New Year's Eve it started to snow and by the next morning, it looked something like this!

Sometimes we try to go out to visit a local shrine or go somewhere around the town where H's parents live but this year we mostly just stayed put, out of the wind and snow. Tokyo almost never gets snow though so I was happy to be able to see it at least once this year.

A lot of the New Year's celebrations revolve around food. On New Year's Eve, we had toshikoshi soba (happy year end buckwheat noodles). The noodles are long and signify longevity. Then on New Year's Day we had the traditional o-zoni soup. I couldn't help thinking of the nameless cat in Soseki Natsume's I Am a Cat, and his experience in Volume One attempting to eat some leftover mochi.

We also ate osechi, the quintessential New Year's food. Typically the preparation is done beforehand so minimal cooking is needed during the first couple of days of the new year, and traditionally each ingredient has some special significance. You can read about some of them by clicking on the link above.

And then it was time to take the shinkansen again. Back in Tokyo, we visited Takahata Fudoson shrine, for Hatsumode, the first visit to a shrine in the New Year to pray for health, and success in the coming year. Even though it was the afternoon of the 3rd (the peak is on January 1st), and not a big shrine like Meiji Jingu in central Tokyo, it was still quite busy.

People lined up behind us to appeal to the gods for a good year in 2010.

So the New Year's rituals are complete and it's very nice to be home. I only had my iPhone with me so I'm really looking forward to starting to catch up on blog-related stuff this week. Finally, right?
Note: The Hello Japan! mini-challenge for January will be up tomorrow.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T06:00:00.030+09:00

2010 is the Year of the Tiger, so here is our little tiger to wish you a Happy New Year! I'd also like to say thank you to everyone who stopped by here in 2009. It is still a thrill for me to know that people are actually interested in what I have to say here, and it always makes my day when someone leaves a comment on one of my posts. Like recently, I sometimes get very behind in replying to your thoughtful comments. And sometimes I don't have time to visit your wonderful blogs in return, until long after the fact. So I really appreciate you sticking with me, and I value all of the friends I've made through In Spring it is the Dawn. Thank you, truly! I wish you all the very best for a Happy, Successful, Book-filled New Year!

Japanese Literature Poll (JLit Book Group and Read-along)

2009-12-29T23:57:00.017+09:00

Thank you to everyone who has joined in the discussions for our first Book Group selection, The Old Capital , and for those of you who are reading along with I Am a Cat. My apologies for not being a good host this month. December ended up being quite busy for me so I haven't been able to host or participate as much as I would like. [Note to self: Don't schedule any group reads in December next year.] However, I hope as the group finds its feet, it will grow and most importantly, that we can read some good books together next year.

Our current schedule is as follows:

The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa
Discussion to begin January 25th.

I Am a Cat, Volume Three by Sōseki Natsume,
Discussion to begin January 15th. Is everyone ok with that? I know there are a couple of people who still need to catch up with Volume Two. As long as those who have kept to the schedule don't mind, I'd be happy to push the date back a little. Perhaps the end of January instead? Or even one month later, for February 15th? Volume Three is the longest of the three, so please let me know either way.

Then we will go ahead with The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami for our next selection, as a few people expressed interest and hopefully they still will once it comes up. Schedule to be determined, but it will be after we have finished I Am a Cat.

So now it's time to choose our future reads for both/either the Japanese Literature Book Group or as a Read-along. About a month ago I asked you to nominate some Japanese literature titles that you'd like to read. Thank you to everyone who left suggestions. Below are the books you recommended. Titles are linked to Amazon if you'd like to find out more about the books before making your selections. I'd pretty much like to read all of them myself but what I'd like you to do is vote for the 5 or 6 titles you'd most like to read in 2010. Unless you want to start having the Book Group every month (I'd be willing to consider it if there was enough interest), our current pace means that we won't be able to read all of them next year, which is why you must choose the ones you're most interested in. I set up a poll in the right sidebar, so if you're reading this in a feed reader, please come by to my actual blog to vote on your preferred titles, or have your say by leaving a comment on this post. I'll leave the poll open for two weeks to give everyone who would like to join a chance to vote. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Some Prefer Nettles - Junichiro Tanizaki
Quicksand - Junichiro Tanizaki
The Makioka Sisters - Junichiro Tanizaki
Kokoro - Natsume Sōseki
The Temple of the Golden Pavilion - Yukio Mishima
A Quiet Life - Kenzaburō Ōe
The Silent Cry - Kenzaburō Ōe
Silence - Shusaku Endo
Goodbye Tsugumi - Banana Yoshimoto
Kitchen - Banana Yoshimoto
Battle Royale - Koushun Takami
Dance Dance Dance - Haruki Murakami
The Sound of the Mountain - Yasunari Kawabata
The Pillowbook of Sei Shōnagon
Train Man - Hitori Nakano

The small print: Links in this post to Amazon contain my Associates ID. Purchases made via these links earn me a small commission. For more information visit my About Page.

Wrapping up some 2009 Reading Challenges

2009-12-28T23:44:00.025+09:00

It's hard to believe that 2009 is almost over. I didn't quite manage to finish all the reading challenges I joined this year, but I got to read some great books over the course of the year, many that I may not have gotten to without that little incentive. And now I'm looking forward to starting fresh in the new year with new books, new plans, and new challenges. I've gotten rather behind on reviews and such in the last month so you'll have to forgive me, I'll be posting those reviews and other end of the year stuff for a little while into January. In the meantime though, it's time to wrap up some of the challenges that I took on this year. Thank you, thank you to all the challenge hosts and hostesses for your cute buttons and fun challenges. Titles link to my reviews where available.

Graphic Novels Challenge
I signed up to read six graphic novels in 2009, and I'm over halfway through my sixth book right now. I'm sure to finish it either tonight or tomorrow, and even though I will have a couple of reviews pending, I'm considering this challenge successfully completed.

Books read:
1. Mouse Guard: Fall 1152 - David Petersen
2. Skim - Mariko Tamaki & Jillian Tamaki
3. Embroideries - Marjane Satrapi
4. Mouse Guard: Winter 1152 - David Petersen
5. French Milk - Lucy Knisley (review pending)
6. Kabuki: The Alchemy - David Mack (reading in progress, review pending)

These were all so different from each other, the stories ranged from personal memoirs to adventure tales, all told through some fabulous art, and each one was enjoyable in its own way. I'm really enjoying discovering the great variety and richness in graphic novels and look forward to discovering even more great stories and art next year. So I'm joining in the 2010 Graphic Novels Challenge as well. Click on the link for more info. I know that in my Looking forward to 2010 post about reading challenges for 2010, I said that I don't want to feel tied down to too many challenges next year, but I also said that I will still join a few focused reading challenges, and when I wrote that I already had this one in mind. I like the incentive it gives me to read more graphic novels, especially as it's a format I'm still new to. I'm going to start out at the Beginner Level, to read 3 graphic novels, but we'll see how it goes and hopefully I'll be able to upgrade to Intermediate later on.

Manga Challenge
I'd never read any manga before this year, but I had been wanting to try some for a while so this was just the nudge I needed. The goal was to read 6 books and I ended up reading 14. Manga does read really fast and each book is only one volume in a longer series, but it still counts, right?

Books read:
Emma, vol. 1 - Kaoru Mori
Monster, vol. 1 - Naoki Urasawa
xxxHolic, vol. 1 - CLAMP
Emma, vols. 2 - 7 - Kaoru Mori
Emma, vol. 8 - Kaoru Mori
Vampire Knight, vol. 1-3 - Matsuri Hino
Battle Royale, vol. 1 - Koushun Takami, illustrated by Masayuki Taguchi (review pending)

My favourite? I really loved the Emma series, for the Austen-esque storyline and because it is just so beautifully drawn. It was a wonderful introduction to manga, especially as it proved that not all manga is sickeningly cute or superhero violent action adventure stories. A couple of the other series that I tried, namely Monster and Battle Royale, also have me intrigued so I'll be continuing on with them next year. And I have several other series I'd like to try too. I don't really need to join a challenge as now that I've begun reading manga I will definitely be reading more of it next year, but I look forward to hearing about the manga that everyone else reads and recommends so I'm signing up for the 2010 Manga Challenge too. Click on the link for more info.

Everything Austen Challenge
I ended up mostly watching Jane Austen related TV adaptations for this challenge, but I did read Northanger Abbey which was a lot of fun. I'm so glad I revisited it this year. And the challenge was a great excuse to watch some adaptations that I hadn't seen before, especially the version of Persuasion with Ciarán Hinds. Sigh.

Read:
Northanger Abbey

Watched:
Lost in Austen
Persuasion
Northanger Abbey
Mansfield Park
Bridget Jones's Diary

I never did post about the last two, both of which I watched earlier this month. I caught Mansfield Park on TV and really quite enjoyed it. It's not my favourite Austen book, or adaptation, but it was still a pleasure to spend some time with these characters, and it was certainly worth ignoring the housework for a couple of hours.
Then I convinced H to watch Bridget Jones's Diary with me. It's been quite a few years since I saw it, so it was good fun to watch clumsy ol' Bridget get her man. Jane's stories really are just as amusing and relevant today.

Herding Cats II: Attack of the Hairballs
There was no minimum requirement for this year's Herding Cats Challenge but I ended up reading 3 books from the Herding Cats Master Book List of books recommended by the other participants.

Books read:
The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman
Looking for Alaska - John Green
Embroideries - Marjane Satrapi

These were all good reads and, I think, worthy of being on the list. There are other books on the list that I'd like to read too. Someday. And I have to say that I still just adore the button!

What's in a Name? 2 Challenge
So close, but not quite. I only managed to read books for 5 of the 6 categories. I had a couple of books picked out for the last category (body part) but I just ran out of time to read either of them this month. Oh well. I had fun choosing and reading the books for the other categories.

Books read:
PROFESSION:
An Artist of the Floating World - Kazuo Ishiguro
TIME OF DAY:
After Dark - Haruki Murakami
Breaking Dawn - Stephenie Meyer
RELATIVE:
Mother Superior - Saleema Nawaz
BODY PART:
BUILDING:
The Museum Guard - Howard Norman
MEDICAL CONDITION:
The Death of Ivan Ilyich - Leo Tolstoy
The Fat Woman Next Door is Pregnant - Michel Tremblay

I think the most fun part of this challenge, is initially thinking "What on earth can I read for these categories?", but then finding plenty of options in my overflowing TBR stacks, especially as it often reminded me of books that have been languishing unread for far too long. Now I just need to read them.

YA Dystopian Challenge and DystopYA Challenge
I set out to read 3 books by the end of the year and I've read two so far, and I plan to start The Knife of Never Letting Go tomorrow so there's a possibility I'll either finish by midnight on the 31st or soon thereafter. So while I may not technically complete the challenge on time, I think you'll forgive me a day or two, won't you? Reading volume one of the manga also made me really want to read Battle Royale, the novel, soon. So hopefully I'll get a chance to fit it in early next year as well.

Books read:
The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
Battle Royale, vol. 1 - Koushun Takami, illustrated by Masayuki Taguchi (review pending)
The Knife of Never Letting Go - Patrick Ness (starting very soon)

I still have a couple other challenges to wrap up but I'll leave them to have their own posts.

How did you do with your reading challenges, if you joined any, in 2009?

Happy Holidays!

2009-12-25T23:29:00.001+09:00

Bailey, wishing you all a festive holiday season.

Christmas in Japan

2009-12-24T15:27:00.002+09:00

I didn't sign up for the Virtual Advent Tour initially because we don't really have a big celebration for Christmas, but Kailana asked me whether I'd like to post something on Christmas in Japan so here is a little about how we spend this time of year.

In fact I always have a hard time feeling completely festive this time of year in Japan because a) there's no snow and I adore a white Christmas! and b) most importantly Christmas isn't quite Christmas here. At least not the kind of Christmas I grew up with. First of all December 25th is just a regular work day (the year end holiday officially begins on Dec. 29th), and even if it were to fall on a weekend, most Japanese seem to think Christmas is only celebrated on Christmas Eve anyway. Needless to say, despite the small percentage of the population that are Christians, for this largely non-practising Buddhist/Shinto nation, Christmas is a borrowed festival, but one that they have somehow made their own.

In recent years, most of the major shopping areas have lots of lights and decorations. So most places you go shopping you'll see Christmas trees, and there will often be Christmas music playing in the background. Nothing remotely religious though, no Silent Night, or Away in the Manger, and no Nativity Scenes anywhere. Instead Santa reigns supreme and it's Jingle Bells, and We Wish you a Merry Christmas! You don't see many lights or decorations on homes though, and I miss that. This year I got a little Christmas tree for our apartment though, and I have to say it makes me smile every time I look at it.

The Christmas decorations at our nearby shopping mall.

As I mentioned, December 25th is just a regular day, but December 23rd is a National Holiday as it's the current Emperor's Birthday. Since H had the day off (but working again as usual today and tomorrow) we decided to celebrate our Japanese style Christmas yesterday.

Christmas in Japan typically involves fried chicken, and cake. Turkeys are very rare and usually only to be found in import food stores in central Tokyo. Even whole chickens aren't too common in the supermarkets because Japanese kitchens just don't have anywhere to cook them. Nowadays you can buy a combination microwave/convection oven but it's not quite the same, and still on the small side. So thanks to some clever marketing, KFC has become the standard Christmas meal with people lining up on the 24th to buy their buckets of Christmas chicken. This is then followed by the 'oh so traditional' Christmas cake which is most commonly a version of strawberry shortcake with lots of white icing. Of course there are all kinds of choices available nowadays though, and the department stores offer some super fancy ones. Not a big fan of KFC, H and I started our own Japanese Christmas tradition a few years ago of Christmas sushi, we are in Japan after all, followed by the aforementioned cake, which I have to admit is mostly for H's benefit as he has a major sweet tooth. So yesterday we went to a nearby kaiten sushi restaurant (click on the link to visit the previous post), and this year* we opted for a chocolate Bûche de Noël from a local cake shop.

*Last year we were in Canada for Christmas but I've posted about our Japanese style Christmas before: Christmas 2007 and Christmas 2006.

Not your usual Christmas dinner, eh?! However, tomorrow, the 25th, I'm going to make a more Canadian style Christmas dinner with chicken, and gravy, and stuffing and cranberry sauce. More my idea of a proper Christmas meal anyway. And then next week we'll spend some time with the in-laws to celebrate New Year's. In Japan, New Year's is the main event. It is like the Western world's Christmas. Everyone is off work then, and it's the time to visit family, laze around the house, and eat traditional food, which I'll post some photos of in the New Year.

But for everyone getting ready for Christmas tomorrow, メリークリスマス (Meri kurisumasu), and however you celebrate, I wish you all a very Happy Holiday!

kaiten sushi

2009-12-24T13:32:00.004+09:00

Yesterday for our annual Christmas sushi, we went to a nearby kaiten (conveyor belt) sushi restaurant.

The price of the sushi depends on the colour of the plate it's served on.

H helping himself to some hot green tea.

Top left: pickled eggplant, top right: tako (octopus), middle left: salmon, middle right: tamagoyaki (egg omelet), bottom left: anago (salt-water eel), bottom right: chawanmushi (steamed egg custard) with crab

Books to treasure

2009-12-21T23:55:00.002+09:00

Recently I splurged on some books (monthly book budget be damned) that I'm considering my Christmas present to myself. I actually blame Frances of Nonsuch Book completely for these since it was because of her mentioning them on her blog a couple of months ago, that I began to lust after them. I had been happy in my ignorance but once I knew they existed, I couldn't help myself.

What are they? The specially designed cloth-bound Penguin Classics. There are 20 in total (10 from last year, and 10 from this year) but I'm happy with my small collection of them. Especially as they're a little bit hard to get a hold of. It seems that Waterstone's have the exclusive online rights to this year's set, at least for the time being, but their international shipping costs are completely ridiculous. But from last year's set, I found a couple on Amazon, got another 3 from The Book Depository, and then just last week I managed to find one from this year's set at a bookstore in Tokyo! I don't really want all 20 of them since a couple that I've read, I didn't care for and have no desire to treasure. The Picture of Dorian Gray for one. Plus there are others I'm not sure I'd ever want to read, like The Odyssey. But I definitely wouldn't mind a few more and it seems that this year's set will be more widely available later next year so maybe I'll be able to pick up a couple more then. I would really love to get my hands on one of the copies of Madame Bovary from the previous set but unfortunately it's not even available through online used sellers. Not that I could find anyway. As it is, it's a pretty set of 6 books, so I'll just be content to admire these. The picture doesn't do them justice. They are truly lovely books and really do look so nice lined up on the shelf.

Four of these are books I love, while two are ones I didn't entirely love when I read them, in one case many many years ago, but I thought they deserved a second chance. Can you guess which are which?

Have you ever bought a pretty edition of a book you'd already read, to treasure?

Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page.

Sunday Salon: Looking forward to 2010

2009-12-20T23:53:00.010+09:00

Even though I'm still trying to fit in a few books this month as a last minute attempt to complete a couple of 2009 reading challenges, I've been thinking about which ones I'd like to join for 2010. There are so many tempting ones, it's been difficult! I'm a fairly slow reader so signing up for several challenges this year, plus accepting the odd review book, meant that it seemed I rarely had the chance to just pick up any ol' book. I thought I'd been more selective but it still felt like most of my reading choices this year were dictated by some obligation. On the other hand, I have really enjoyed how the challenges encourage me to read books, or genres, that I either may not have, or that have been ignored for too long. So my goal for 2010 is trying to find a balance so that the challenges are still motivating but not restricting, but overall to have a bit more freedom in my reading next year. Boiled down, I think my reading plan for 2010 is simply to read more of what I want to read when I want to read it.

Reading Resolutions Challenge
Hosted by Jenny at Jenny Loves to Read. The challenge is essentially New Year's resolutions for reading. The idea is to list some reading or blogging resolutions and then every couple of months during 2010, we're encouraged to check-in and see how we're doing. Here are mine:

Read more Japanese Literature. I've been trying to read more Japanese literature over the last couple of years and I will be continuing next year as well with my personal Reading Japan Project. Since starting the Japanese Literature Book Group and Read-along this fall, I've also committed to reading Japanese books on a more regular schedule. This is a good thing, and next year I will read all the group selections and as many others as I can.

Read more books from my shelves. I want to read more of my own books next year. I have way too many unread books on my shelves, many that have been there for years. In 2010 I plan to read more of them. See Reading From My Shelves Project below.

Re-reading allowed. In addition to reading more of the books from my shelves next year, I'd like to give myself permission to re-read. Sometimes I think of such and such a book and wouldn't it be fun to read it again, but usually I feel guilty about it with all those poor, neglected books waiting to be read, so I don't. Next year I will allow myself to re-read if I feel like it, without guilt. See Flashback Challenge below.

Read some Orange Prize books. I joined the Orange Prize Project in 2008, and I really do want to read more of the Orange Prize books, but I didn't read a single longlisted, shortlisted, or winning book this year! Not one! I'm not going to set a specific number but in 2010, I WILL read at least one Orange Prize book, but hopefully more.

Reading From My Shelves Project
Hosted by Diane from Bibliophile By the Sea. The idea behind this project is not only to read books from our own shelves* but to pass them on when we're done. My groaning bookshelves could certainly benefit from that, but I also know that I won't want to pass on ALL of the books I read from my shelves next year. I'm a bit of a hoarder where books are concerned and love to be surrounded by them. And I usually keep the books that I enjoyed reading with the perhaps delusional thinking that I may someday re-read them. So I'm hoping to read considerably more but I'm going to set myself the goal of reading AND passing on 20 books from my shelves next year.
*For the purposes of this project, I consider any book that entered our apartment by December 31st, 2009, as already on my shelves.

Buy One Book and Read It Challenge
Hosted by Amy of My Friend Amy. The challenge was inspired by the fact that over 50% of Americans don't read a single book in a year. As an avid reader and book buyer, this seems perhaps a strange challenge to join, especially since I want to read more from my own shelves next year, but it ties in with my plan to also read more spontaneously next year. I have no problem with the buying part (sticking to my monthly book budget is the hard part) but often after I get my new treasures home they just end up sitting on the shelves. I'm signing up for the Level Two, which means I'll buy AND read six books when the mood strikes instead of putting them off due to other reading commitments.

Flashback Reading Challenge
Co-hosted by Aarti and Kristen. Like I mentioned above, I rarely allow myself to re-read as there are so many shiny new books waiting to be read, but there are books that I would like to read again so this challenge gives me the permission to do so. I'm signing up for the Bookworm Level to re-read 3 books, but may read more. I have no idea yet just which books I'll re-read next year. In keeping with my desire for non-restrictive challenges next year, I'm just going to let my mood decide.

As well as these more general reading goals and challenges for 2010, I still plan to join in some focused challenges, like John's Canadian Book Challenge. Since I have quite a few unread Canadian books already on my shelves, I'll not only be reading more Canadian literature, which I want to do, it's my home country after all, but also reading my own books. Win-win.
And of course I will join Bellezza's Japanese Literature Challenge, which I assume she'll host again next year. I also wouldn't dream of not taking part in Carl's Once Upon a Time Challenge, and the R.I.P. Challenge, neither of which I felt I was fully able to join in this year due to other reading obligations at the same time. So hopefully I'll be able to participate more fully next year. And there are a couple of other challenges that haven't been announced yet but are being planned, that I am looking forward to, a Persephone Challenge being one of them.

There are so many other wonderful challenges that I decided not to join even though I was very tempted. I have books on my shelves that would fit many of them and I may indeed read some of those books next year, but I just didn't want to commit myself and later feel tied down because of them. I look forward to seeing everyone's progress though in the challenges they choose to join, and cheering you all on.

What are your reading plans for 2010?

'The Vampire of Ropraz'

2009-12-19T21:08:00.004+09:00

Le Vampire de Ropraz
by Jacques Chessex
Fiction, 2007 (English translation, 2008)
Translated from the French by W. Donald Wilson
Bitter Lemon Press, trade pb, 90 p.

Mildly spoilerific blurb from the back cover:
Jacques Chessex, winner of the prestigious Prix Goncourt, takes a true story and weaves it into a lyrical tale of fear and cruelty.

1903, Ropraz, a small village in the Jura Mountains of Switzerland. On a howling December day, a lone walker discovers a recently opened tomb, the body of a young woman violated, her left hand cut off, genitals mutilated and heart carved out. There is horror in the nearby villages: the return of atavistic superstitions and mutual suspicions. Then two more bodies are violated. A suspect must be found. Favez, a stable-boy with blood-shot eyes, is arrested, convicted, placed into psychiatric care. In 1915, he vanishes…

From the title you might be tempted to think this is just another typical vampire story, but this slim novella isn’t really a vampire story at all. It’s more the story of the people of a small village and how they react to the belief that there is a vampire in their midst. It’s a story of fear and superstition and how that makes people behave when they feel their way of life is threatened. How previously friendly neighbours start locking their doors and turning on each other on little more than rumour. I don’t know how much of it is factual, but what I found especially interesting, and sadly believable, is that this story is allegedly based on an actual occurrence. Which in turn makes the final twist a fascinating ‘what if’. The writing is very sparse, but the brevity of the prose is actually quite effective. I should probably also mention that the descriptions of the attacks can be rather gruesome albeit matter-of-fact. All in all though, an insightful look at human nature and a tale that lingers long after the last page has been turned.

Review of The Vampire of Ropraz at Three Percent (where I first heard about this book)

Buy this book at: Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk | BookDepository.co.uk | BookDepository.com

My Rating: 3.5/5
(#55 for 2009, R.I.P. IV Challenge, Orbis Terrarum Challenge, Lost in Translation Challenge)

Also reviewed by:
The Complete Review
Medieval Bookworm
Detectives Beyond Borders
Literary License
If I've missed yours, let me know and I'll link to it here.

The small print: I purchased this book for my personal library. Links in this post to Amazon (including book cover) or The Book Depository contain my Associates or Affiliates ID respectively. Purchases made via these links earn me a small commission. For more information visit my About Page.