20 Books of Summer Wrap-Up – Akylina

The very last day of summer is upon us (where did the time go??) and that brings the 20 Books of Summer event to a close. If you had seen my TBR post for this event back in May, you will (not) be surprised to see that only 4 books out of that list actually made it to this wrap up. I find it very hard to stick to a set TBR list, and I also acquired a few new books for my birthday in June, so the list just re-arranged itself!

Without further ado, the books I read for 20 Books of Summer are the following:

1. The Cat and the City by Nick Bradley
2. The Tea Dragon Tapestry by Katie O’Neill
3. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
4. The Majesties by Tiffany Tsao
5. The Killings at Kingfisher Hill by Sophie Hannah
6. Hometown Tales: Glasgow by Kirsty Logan and Paul McQuade
7. Ellery Queen’s Japanese Detective Stories, edited by Ellery Queen
8. The Test by Sylvain Neuvel
9. Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh
10. Thornyhold by Mary Stewart
11. Shaman King: Red Crimson Volume 2 by Takei Hiroyuki
12. The Yogini by Sangeeta Bandyopadhay, tr. by Arunava Sinha
13. The Good Son by You-jeong Jeong, Greek tr. by Amalia Tzioti
14. Language by Xiaolu Guo
15. Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin, Greek tr. by Efi Giannopoulou
16. Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami, tr. by Sam Bett and David Boyd
17. And the Ocean Was Our Sky by Patrick Ness
18. The Fall by Albert Camus, tr. by Justin O’Brien
19. Σώσε Με [Save Me] by Dimitris Simos
20. Hidden Places by Sarah Baxter

Although I did manage to read 20 books during summer, I’m afraid I haven’t been able to keep up with my reviews. I only posted 2 reviews of the above mentioned books, but I do have most of the rest planned, so I’m hoping to catch up during September – so I guess I only managed to complete half the challenge after all!

Since August was #WITMonth, I read 4 books by women authors in translation: The Yogini by Sangeeta Bandyopadhay (India), The Good Son by You-jeong Jeong (Korea), Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin (Argentina) and Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami (Japan).

I also read several shorter books such as The Test by Sylvain Neuvel, a novella that offers a very interesting and very scary version of the test immigrants have to pass to become UK citizens. Language by Xiaolu Guo is a Vintage Mini that includes excerpts of the author’s A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers, in which she recounts her story as a young Chinese woman relocating to the UK and facing the issues of language barrier and discrimination, but eventually finding solace in love.

There were also some disappointments like And the Ocean Was Our Sky by Patrick Ness, a story inspired by the tale of Moby Dick with a wonderful premise and great messages but sadly sort of poor execution in my opinion.

Hopefully I’ll be able to expand more on some of these books in their respective reviews soon, but all in all I’m very happy with my reading for this year’s 20 Books of Summer 🙂

Those of you who also participated, what books did you read? Did you manage to reach your TBR goal?

Japanese Literature Challenge 12 Wrap-Up

March has come to an end and along with it so has Japanese Literature Challenge 12, organised by the lovely Meredith at Dolce Belezza and running from January to March.

With my current job and living situation it’s kind of hard for me to find as much time to read as I used to, so when coming up with my TBR I knew I had to set up realistic goals, otherwise I would just fail miserably and end up putting more unnecessary stress to myself.

I had included four books in my TBR:

• Masks by Enchi Fumiko
• A Midsummer’s Equation by Higashino Keigo
• And Then by Soseki Natsume
• Three Japanese Short Stories by Akutagawa Ryunosuke, Nagai Kafu and Uno Koji (Penguin Modern Classics #5)

I managed to finish and review three out of the four (I have linked my reviews of those titles above). As for And Then by Soseki Natsume, I started reading it but I didn’t have time to finish it before the month (and the challenge) ended, so I decided not to rush it. I will probably post my review of it sometime in April or May.

Poison Woman: Figuring Female Transgression in Modern Japanese Culture by Christine L. Marran, an academic book, was also in my list, as a little extra. Although I didn’t finish it, I did manage to read a couple of chapters and oh boy did it remind me how much I actually miss academia…

Lastly, I had set out to read three stories in Japanese from 20の短編小説 [20 no tanpen shosetsu], an anthology of 20 short stories by various contemporary Japanese authors. I ended up reading two stories, 「マダガスカル・バナナフランベを２０本」by Natsuo Kirino and 「いま二十歳の貴女たちへ」by Shiraishi Kazufumi. I was very disappointed in the Kirino story, even though I have thoroughly enjoyed her mystery/crime novels I’ve read. Shiraishi’s story was actually an essay on various thoughts about life during one’s 20s and what’s considered right and wrong – quite enjoyable to read and I also liked his writing style.

So, overall, even though I didn’t end up finishing all the books in my TBR, I did read some of everything so I deem this challenge a success! Next year’s challenge will probably take place in January and last for only one month, but I’m eagerly anticipating it anyway.

Did you take part in Japanese Literature Challenge 12? Which books did you read? Let me know in the comments below! 🙂

Favourite Books of 2018

Another year has come to an end. 2018 has been a crazy busy year and I barely managed to squeeze in 50 books, quite a few being under 100 pages. Although I read significantly less compared to past years, the books that kept me company in 2018 were primarily books I thoroughly enjoyed, which is a big win for me.

Since the ‘bad’ books were so few and since I’d like to focus on the more positive aspects of 2018, I decided to compile a list of 10 of my most favourite reads of 2018. They were not all 5 star reads, but all of them managed to amaze me in one way or another and stayed engraved in my heart and memory. With no further ado, my favourite books of 2018 were the following:

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

Whatever I say about this book will be too little, any words I choose will be too insuficient to fully express my love for this book. I read Pachinko early on in the year, in January, and it quickly became one of the best books I’ve read in the past few years. It’s a family saga, a chronicle of the life and tribulations of a Korean family as they set foot on Japan after the war in hopes of a brighter future and the harsh reality that they have to face every single day. Through this novel, I learned a lot about the zainichi, the Korean expats that reside in Japan. One wonderful thing about this book is that, although it focuses on the zainichi and their experiences, the everyday struggles and hardships they go through can extend to an international scale and resonate with refugees and expats from any and every country. This book is much more than a story, a tale of loss and family, of race and nationality, of love. It is a life lesson and I really feel a much more enriched person after reading it.

Lullaby by Leila Slimani

Lullaby (Chanson Douce in the original French and The Perfect Nanny in the US edition) is a brilliantly crafted thriller and suspense novel that keeps you glued to every page until you reach the very last one. After hearing so much about it, I finally purchased it at the Glasgow airport during my visit in May. Its premise is rather terrifying, as it starts with a young couple finding both their children dead. Even though the novel begins with the outcome and then goes back and recounts the events leading up to this horrible event, the suspense is ever-present and Slimani’s writing is utterly captivating.

 

The Eye by Vladimir Nabokov

I had wanted to read Nabokov’s works for the longest time, and even though I owned Lolita, the timing was never right for me to dive into its conflicting world. Instead, I came across this short novella in its Greek translation (where the cover is from, as I much prefered it to the English language covers I found) and it truly enchanted me. Nabokov’s writing is smart and witty and he manages to create a very interesting story through which he can critically comment on the society of his time (which, sadly, isn’t radically different from that of today), while also making the reader wonder what really happened and what was a figment of the protagonist’s imagination.

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

Reading Convenience Store Woman was such an experience for me. I always enjoy reading about people who are considered ‘outsiders’ and who don’t want to conform to the society’s rules, especially when said rules go against who one is as a person. The matter of having a ‘respectable’ job and panning out your life according to certain standards is a very important one, especially since things have started changing in recent years, and people resort to non-traditional professions more and more. Murata’s protagonist is a Japanese woman who started working at a convenience store part-time but still finds herself in the same job years later. Despite her family and acquaintances urging her to find a ‘real job’, she feels conflicted, since she should abide by society’s rules, yet she feels oddly comfortable exactly where she is. It’s a novel that will certainly resonate with many young people today, myself included.

Old Magic by Marianne Curley

To be quite honest, Old Magic is a book I would never think of picking up (at least as an adult), and yet here I am putting it in my list of favourites for 2018. My boyfriend, who never reads, had once told me that he had one favourite book he had read as a teen, and he gifted it to me so I would see what he liked back then. I was infinitely skeptical, but started reading it immediately, as I was in need of some very light reading at the time, and I just couldn’t put it down. Written by an Australian author, the book is about a young witch, her struggle to be accepted at her school since she comes from a ‘weird’ family, a journey back in time and, of course, romance. I can’t quite pinpoint why I liked this book so much – it reminded me of the fantasy books I used to read as a kid/teenager and it made me so nostalgic. I truly enjoyed reading Old Magic and I think I will try being more open to books, even if they initially seem like something I would never pick up for myself.

The Geek Feminist Revolution by Kameron Hurley

A book of essays on a wide variety of topics, but mostly focusing on being a woman writer, a female geek in this (mostly) male-dominated field, something which Hurley proves is very difficult yet possible and rewarding. I haven’t read Hurley’s fiction, yet through reading her essays, some of them being quite personal ones, I felt a deep appreciation for her work and her craft. Some of the stories she told were funny, others empowering and others thoroughly moving, especially those regarding her initial financial difficulties and her health problems. Usually I’m a bit weary when it comes to feminist texts, but this one totally fascinated me and I will certainly seek out Hurley’s fiction in the future.

Το Τέλος της Πείνας (The End of Hunger) by Lina Rokou

Once in a while I stumble upon contemporary Greek literary works that are true gems. The End of Hunger is one such example, and, sadly, not (yet) translated in English. The story revolves around a young woman who lives in Athens and, searching for ways to find some money, she starts selling parts of her body to a passing street seller. She sells him her teeth, her spleen, her old diaries and he still asks for more. Rokou’s writing is whimsical and poetic and absolutely beautiful. Her descriptions of the nonsensical and surrealistic events that occur to her protagonist are lyrical and imbued with the right dose of emotion. One could say that this entire selling process described is nothing but the process of falling in love, of giving away every last bit of your self to the other person and then ending up feeling completely empty by the end of it. This kind of blend of surrealism with reality is precisely my cup of tea and I truly hope this book gets translated soon so more people can discover the beauty of it.

A Biography of a Chance Miracle by Tanja Maljartschuk

Another gem of a book which I didn’t expect to enjoy as much as I did. I read A Biography in September and have already posted a full review of it here in case you would like to read more about it (and you should!). Maljartschuk is a Ukrainian author who created a whimsical and thoroughly witty tale full of social satire, magical realism and the cruelty of life. Lena, the main character, always has a tendency to help others and when she gets into university she decides to open her own business selling miracles. The writing is superb, and the translation by Zenia Tompkins excellent.

 

La lettrice scomparsa (The Lost Reader) by Fabio Stassi

Another fabulous read, not yet available to the English speaking world. I read its Greek translation (The Lost Reader is my literal translation of the title) and was utterly fascinated. Originally written in Italian, The Lost Reader is a mystery like no other. The protagonist is an unemployed teacher who opens a booktherapy business, in which he recommends the most fitting book to his patients according to the problems they have, as he’s a firm believer of literature’s healing powers. While trying to get used to this new job and everything that it entails, an old lady from his apartment complex suddenly vanishes and he embarks on a quest to find her and uncover the secrets hidden behind her disappearance. An ode to literature, an inventive mystery and witty quotes hidden in almost every page – what’s there not to love?

The Black Tides of Heaven by JY Yang

Last but not least, I have a book I read during the last days of December, proving that it’s never too late in the year to discover a wonderful book. The Black Tides of Heaven belongs to the recently invented silkpunk subgenre, as it is set an Asian-inspired fantasy world. The first of JY Yang’s short novellas set in this world, this book focuses on one of the twins that we get introduced to in the beginning of the story (and its twin novella focuses on the other twin sibling’s story). I adored the world and all of its fantasy elements and I found Yang’s writing fabulous. I’d like this to be a full novel just so I could stay more in this world with these fascinating characters, and that’s why I read its twin novella, The Red Threads of Fortune, immediately after. The fantasy elements I loved were all there, and even enhanced, but I was very disappointed in other parts of the story, a topic which I might discuss in a different post.

It was kind of difficult to choose only 10 of the books I read in 2018 to feature in this post, but I think I chose the ones that left the biggest impression on me and the ones which I thoroughly enjoyed reading, regardless of their literary merit. I hope my reading in 2019 will focus more on quality over quantity again, and I can’t wait to share my reads with you in the new year, as well 🙂

Have you read any of those books, and if yes, what did you think of them? What were your favourite reads of 2018? Let me know in the comments below.

 

Best Books of 2018

I somehow completely forgot to make a wrap-up post for my reading in 2017, but was determined to include one on the blog this year.  Wrap-up posts are a lovely way of seeing what I have achieved during my reading year, as well as pointing out some wonderful tomes which I would highly recommend to fellow readers.

I have decided to split this up into monthly lists.  For some of the months during 2018, I have read far less wonderful books than others, as always seems to be the case.  I am including only five-star reads here, and am thus showcasing only my absolute favourites.  I have also written the original date of publication and genre beside each title, in order to see if there has been any overlap in my reading this year.

January:
– Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart (1958; Gothic, historical fiction)
– The Perfect Nanny by Leila Slimani (2016; psychological novel, translation)

February:
– The Roly-Poly Pudding by Beatrix Potter (1908; children’s; reread)
– The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas (1963; mystery, literary fiction, translation; review here)
– We That Are Left by Juliet Greenwood (2014; historical fiction)

March:
– Women and Power by Mary Beard (2017; non-fiction, Classics)
– Beauty/Beauty by Rebecca Perry (2015; poetry)
– The Spare Room by Helen Garner (2008; literary fiction)

April:
– A Guide to Being Born by Ramona Ausubel (2013; short stories; review here)
– Selected Poems 1923-1958 by e.e. cummings (1962; poetry; reread)
– Young Anne by Dorothy Whipple (1927; literary fiction; review here)
– Winter Trees by Sylvia Plath (1971; poetry; reread)
– Please Look After Mother by Kyung-Sook Shin (2008; mystery, literary fiction, translation; review here)
– The Colour by Rose Tremain (2003; historical fiction; review here)

May:
– Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward (2011; fiction)
– Zennor in Darkness by Helen Dunmore (1994; historical fiction; reread; review here)
– Despised and Rejected by Rose Allatini (1918; fiction; review here)
– The Rehearsal by Eleanor Catton (2009; fiction; review here)
– Anne Frank: The Biography by Melissa Muller (1998; non-fiction, biography; review here)

June:
– Virginia Woolf: The Illustrated Biography by Zena Alkayat (2015; non-fiction/biography)

July:
– Uncanny Stories by May Sinclair (1923; short stories; review here)
– The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud (2013; fiction; review here)
– Daydream and Drunkenness of a Young Lady by Clarice Lispector (collection published in 2018; short stories; translation; review here)
– The Moomins and the Great Flood by Tove Jansson (1945; children’s fiction; translation; reread)
– The Juniper Tree by Barbara Comyns (1985; fiction; review here)
– The Vigilante by John Steinbeck (collection published in 2018; short stories; review here)
– The Missing Girl by Shirley Jackson (collection published in 2018; short stories; review here)

August:
– The Lost Garden by Helen Humphreys (2002; historical fiction; review here)
– Africa’s Tarnished Name by Chinua Achebe (collection published in 2018; essays; review here)
– The Red Tenda of Bologna by John Berger (collection published in 2018; essays/autobiography; review here)
– The Gigolo by Francoise Sagan (collection published in 2018; short stories; translation; review here)

September:
– The Haunted Boy by Carson McCullers (collection published in 2018; short stories; review to come)
– A Haunted House by Virginia Woolf (1921; short story; reread)
– A Wreath of Roses by Elizabeth Taylor (1949; fiction; review to come)

October:
– People in the Room by Nora Lange (1966; fiction; translation; review to come)
– Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold by Stephen Fry (2017; fiction, retellings; review to come)
– Poems of the Great War, 1914-1918 (1998; poetry)
– Nothing But the Night by John Williams (1948; fiction)
– The Library Book by Susan Orlean (2018; non-fiction)

November:
– Regeneration by Pat Barker (1991; historical fiction; review to come)
– Normal People by Sally Rooney (2018; fiction)
– The Snowman by Michael Morpurgo (2018; adaptation)

December:
– The Emperor’s Children by Claire Messud (2006; fiction; review to come)
– The majority of Carol Ann Duffy‘s Christmas poetry books
– Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans (1939; children’s poetry; reread)
– Winter Sonata by Dorothy Edwards (1928; fiction; review to come)

 

As ever, my favourites have largely been fiction choices, which fall into various sub-genres.  I have read a lot of wonderful non-fiction this year, but not much of it has made it into my top books list, unfortunately.  Have you read any of these books?  Which have been your top picks of your 2018 reading?

Purchase from The Book Depository

January and February 2018 in Review Part 2: Podcasts, Languages and Visual Entertainment

Apart from my rather disappointing (with the exception of a couple of gems) reading wrap-up of the first two months of 2018, some other things I really enjoyed in January and February were language learning (as I’m trying to improve my Japanese and reconnect with my French), some podcasts, a blog and a YouTube channel, a theatre performance, a film and two TV series.

I really like podcasts and I have found so many interesting (and uninteresting) ones over the years, but I never seem to have any appropriate time to devote to them since I don’t currently commute or travel as often as I used to and I always find myself doing other things while I try to listen to them at home and thus not concentrating enough on what is being said. However, I made some new discoveries lately which I would like to share with you.

I first discovered the Books and Boba podcast back in October, but I started listening to it properly only this January. It focuses mostly on Asian-American literature and the hosts, Reera and Marvin, are truly great to listen to, even more so since one of their missions for this podcast is to promote and enjoy works by marginalised authors and give priority to stories told from an Own Voices perspective. They have a Goodreads group, where they pick a book to read and discuss each month and they also talk about recent and future releases, they invite guests and authors over and they also discuss other important current events. Their January read was Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko (which I lauded in my previous post) and I was so excited to hear my name mentioned in that episode‘s discussion! The books they choose cover a wide array of genres, so I would highly recommend you give their podcast a try.

The next podcast I started listening to in February is Journey to the West, a podcast by Asian women discussing Asian issues, as the podcast’s own description reads (plus, the name of the podcast is an homage to the great Chinese epic of the same name). The four lady hosts are all very eloquent and they tackle a wide variety of topics such as racism, body image, the Olympics, feminism as well as culture appropriation (starting with the shameful Logan Paul incident in Japan recently). Their podcast is fairly new, it began approximately two months ago, but I really enjoyed listening to the discussions they brought up as well as listening to a slightly different perspective (that of Asian women) which we don’t usually get to hear very often.

Next, I have a blog and a YouTube channel I immensely enjoyed spending time on lately, both related to language study. Inside that Japanese Book is a blog focusing on Japanese and general language learning, providing motivation, study tips, book reviews and so many wonderful things. The girl behind it, Inhae, is French and is currently learning Japanese (with very impressive results) while also trying to improve her English writing skills. Her posts are always incredibly motivational and she has definitely been one of my main sources of inspiration for my own Japanese study lately. Plus, she always includes such cute drawings of herself and her cat in her posts.

Lindie Botes is another incredibly inspirational language learner, as she can speak ten (!) different languages. Of course, I mostly enjoy her Japanese/Korean/Chinese language learning videos, but she also makes videos about other languages such as French and Hungarian. No matter what language you’re learning, Lindie’s videos will definitely be an inspiration for you – I especially enjoy her ‘Study [insert language] with Me’ videos as well as the discussion videos she makes on various linguistic topics.

Having spent most of my February in Athens, I grabbed the opportunity to go to the theatre after a very long time. The performance I watched is called Το Ψέμα (To Psema/The Lie), a comedy about relationships, faithfulness and how even the most trusting couples actually have their own deeply buried secrets. Although it’s not the type of theatre performance I usually go for, I really enjoyed this one, mainly because of the excellent performances of the main actors.

My favourite film was The Post, with incredible performances by Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks, and two of my favourite TV series were Mindhunter and Dark. Mindhunter is an American TV series set in 1970s in which Holden, the protagonist, embarks on the groundbreaking endeavour of analysing criminals’ psychology and past experiences in order to start building patterns in which to categorise their crimes – thus marking the creation of the term ‘serial killer’ for the first time. I love crime/mystery stories and Mindhunter was nearly excellent, providing both crime cases the protagonists are called to solve as well as their struggles with academia and the police force in getting their research accepted and funded.

Dark is a German series (the very first one I watch) and a very impressive one. The story is very reminiscent of Stranger Things, initially, as it involves a child’s disappearance under mysterious circumstances and the uproar that is created in the small town due to this event. Although there is something supernatural involved, Dark‘s story soon diverges from that followed by Stranger Things and it manages to create a very unique, intriguing and incredibly visually beautiful outcome. It will definitely keep you glued to your screens until the very last minute.

 

Have you seen or listened to any of those? Which were your favourite non-bookish things so far in 2018?

January and February 2018 in Review Part 1: Reading

Since my review posting schedule has yet to become regular (if it ever will), I thought it would be a nice idea to create a wrap-up post of my reading and a few other stuff I absorbed and loved in the first two months of 2018. So as for the post not to become unreasonably long, I have divided my wrap-up into two parts.

I have read a total of 14 books so far (7 for each month) but, apart from a few exceptions, I have been very disappointed by my reading this year. Is this a sign of a reading slump? I am a mood reader and due to my constant moving around from my hometown to Peterborough to Athens and god knows where to next, I haven’t been able to carry many of my books with me – which results in me beginning the books I do have but actually not being in the right mood to currently read them. I also read more e-books these two months than physical books due to the same reason, something which makes me feel kind of uncomfortable. Maybe that’s why I haven’t enjoyed my reading as much? Anyway, let’s move on to the books.

January

> Time Killers: Short Story Collection by Kazue Kato ***** (manga)
> The Sun and Her Flowers by Rupi Kaur *** (poetry)
> Pachinko by Min Jin Lee ***** (novel)
> Love by Hanne Ørstavik *** (novel)
> The Lost Path by Amélie Fléchais **** (picture book)
> Late in the Day: Poems 2010-2014 by Ursula K. Le Guin *** (poetry)
> The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin **** (short story)

 

February

> Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb **** (novel)
> The Lime Tree by César Aira *** (novella)
> The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night by Jen Campbell *** (short story collection)
> Daubigny’s Garden by Bruno de Roover and Luc Cromheecke ** (graphic novel)
> Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card Volume 1 by CLAMP **** (manga)
> The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert DNF (YA novel)
> Cult X by Fuminori Nakamura **** (novel)

My highlights for each month were definitely Pachinko and Cult X – both quite hefty and complicated novels. Pachinko, especially, must be one of the best books I have read in recent years; I hadn’t been so absorbed by a book in a very long time and I just adored it. You must know how when you love a book so much it becomes even more difficult to write a review about it, partly because you want to do it justice and convey its magnificence to the rest of the world who has still yet to witness it and partly because you sometimes feel your words are inadequate and ultimately incapable of achieving this. This is why I haven’t posted my review of it yet – adding to the fact that it’s such a complicated book spanning three generations of a family and tackling so many important issues and themes that I hardly know where to begin talking about it.

Other than that, I feel like I don’t really have much to say about the rest of the books I read. They were either unimpressive or my thoughts on them would fit in a few sentences. If, however, you’d like to hear my thoughts on any of the books listed above, please let me know and I will do my best to write a post about it 🙂

My Official TBR Pile Challenge is also not going well at all. I’m currently reading Agatha Christie’s The Body in the Library because whenever I’m not in the mood to read anything, a good mystery is always the solution, but unfortunately I’m not feeling this one at all. I don’t know if it’s the book or me in my current situation of disatisfaction with mostly everything. Other books I’m currently reading include:

> The Good Immigrant edited by Nikesh Shukla (an essay collection about the experience of being an immigrant (or the child of immigrants) in the UK and the various (mostly racial) issues that arise)
> Enchantress of Numbers by Jennifer Chiaverini (a historical novel about Lord Byron’s daughter, Ada, and her fascination with mathematics and science)
> 日本人の知らない日本語 (The Japanese Japanese People Don’t Know) by Umino Nagiko (because I’m trying to improve my Japanese reading skills and this book is such a treasure for language learners)

I hope I manage to overcome this disatisfaction that has been plaguing my reading lately and find books that make me excited and passionate, books that are well-written and important and, preferably, physical paper books rather than e-books (I need to settle in a place before that happens and I know that won’t be any time soon…). Until then, I have to focus on various life matters, job applications and finishing the many books I have already started…

How has your reading been so far? Do you have any mind-blowing book suggestions for me? Let me know in the comments below have a great reading March 🙂

 

2017’s Yearly Challenge: Round Up

I decided to put together four lists this year – one of authors I wanted to read, another of books which had caught my eye, and projects made up of French and Scottish-set books.  I have not done anywhere near as well with my yearly challenges as I had anticipated.  I overstretched myself rather; although I’ve been doing a lot of reading this year, I have neglected these lists over the last few months, and have been reading at whim instead.  I thought that I would just write a relatively concise post about how I did with my challenges in terms of numbers, and which books were particular highlights for me.  You can see my full list, with all of the titles, here.  On a brighter note, I did manage to complete my Reading the World challenge, where I scheduled a review of a piece of translated literature every Saturday.  My full list can be found here.

George Sand

With regard to the authors, I actually did rather well.  Out of nineteen pinpointed, there were only four which I did not get to (Amelie Nothomb, Lydia Millet, Leena Krohn, and Gunter Grass).  Wonderful discoveries for me from this list were George Sand, John Wyndham, Ira Levin, and Anita Desai.  It was lovely to revisit some favourite authors too – Rebecca West and Agatha Christie, to name but two.

With regard to my book list, I fared worse.  Out of quite an extensive list of titles (thirty-four in all), I only managed to read seventeen.  There were a few books which I was disappointed with (The Shining by Stephen King, The Folded Clock by Heidi Julavits, Geek Love by Katherine Dunn), but I found some new favourites too.  Amongst those which I rated the most highly are the beautiful, quiet Welsh novel The Life of Rebecca Jones by Angharad Price (review here), the gorgeous and immersive This Must Be the Place by Maggie O’Farrell, the perfectly paced The Blank Wall by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding, the haunting and strange Fell by Jenn Ashworth, the hilariously funny Where Am I Now? by Mara Wilson (review here), the profound and beautifully poetic The Tidal Zone by Sarah Moss (review here), and the downright creepy The Dumb House by John Burnside.

My efforts for my French reading project were paltry; I only read nine books out of a list of thirty.  Particular standouts for me were the lovely non-fiction account by Peter Mayle of his move to France, entitled A Year in Provence, Julia Stuart‘s terribly charming The Matchmaker of Perigord, the wonderfully bookish A Novel Bookstore by Laurence Cosse, and the beautiful Strait is the Gate by Andre Gide.  Of my rereads, I very much enjoyed revisiting Irene Nemirovsky, whose books I adore, as well as Elizabeth McCracken‘s searingly touching An Exact Replica of a Figment of my Imagination.

My Scottish reading project was a little better.  Out of twenty-nine books, I read eight, and gave up on four.  I was particularly charmed by Anne Donovan‘s Buddha Da, my reread of Maggie O’Farrell‘s wonderful The VanishingAct of Esme Lennox, and Jenni Fagan‘s engrossing, and awfully human, The Sunlight Pilgrims.

I have set my sights a little lower for my 2018 reading challenge, choosing only to participate in the Around the World in 80 Books group on Goodreads.  I will be reading books from, or set within, eighty different countries around the world, and could not be more excited about what I will discover.

How did you get on with your 2018 challenges?  Do you always set reading challenges, or do you prefer to read without any restrictions?

Reading the World: Wrap-Up

This post marks the end of my 2017 Reading the World Project.  When setting out what I wanted to achieve with this particular challenge, I wrote that I wanted to consciously choose and review works of translated literature.  I thought that a structure such as the one which I came up with would allow me to continue with my project throughout the year, without reaching that mid-July slump that I invariably get with reading challenges.  I am pleased to report that I have found the exercise thoroughly successful, and have discovered some new gems, and some little-reviewed tomes too.

Without further ado, I thought that it would be nice to have a wrap-up post to show the best of the books which I read for this challenge, as well as to tot up the numbers of distinct languages which I chose to include.  For this project, I wrote forty-six original reviews, and also included six from the archive.

My top ten picks in translation:

1. Gilgi, One of Us by Irmgard Keun (German)
2. The Leech by Cora Sandel (Norwegian)
3. Fire in the Blood by Irene Nemirovsky (French)
4. The Life of Rebecca Jones by Angharad Price (Welsh)
5. Les Enfants Terribles by Jean Cocteau (French)
6. Strait is the Gate by Andre Gide (French)
7. The Immoralist by Andre Gide (French)
8. Poor Folk by Fyodor Dostoevsky (Russian)
9. Art in Nature and Other Stories by Tove Jansson (Finnish)
10. The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa (Japanese)

 

Language breakdown by number of books read (I think one can say that I like French literature!):

1. French: 15
2. Korean: 4
3. Norwegian: 4
4. Russian: 4
5. Finnish: 3
6. Austrian German: 2
7. Dutch: 2
8. German: 2
9. Spanish: 2
10. Swedish: 2
11. Japanese: 3
12. Argentinian Spanish: 1
13. Chinese: 1
14. Danish: 1
15. Hungarian: 1
16. Icelandic: 1
17. Kannada: 1
18. Portuguese: 1
19. Turkish: 1
20. Welsh: 1

 

I have also discovered some wonderful new authors whilst reading for this project.  They include Clarice Lispector, Cora Sandel, Irmgard Keun, Annie Ernaux, Samanta Schweblin, Angharad Price, Jean Cocteau, George Sand, Andre Gide, and Albert Camus.

For a full list of my 2017 Reading the World books, as well as links to their reviews, please visit this page.  Please let me know which of these books you’ve read, and which review has been your favourite.

Non-fiction November and German Lit Month Wrap-Up

The beginning of December finds me in a very strange situation personally, a situation which affected most of my November activities as well. As much as I would have liked to read more and participate in all the lovely events organised in the bookish community, I did the best that I could given my circumstances.

That being said, whilst I immensely enjoyed my minimal reading for both Non-fiction November and German Literature Month as well as reading other people’s wonderful posts, I wish I could have done more.

For Non-fiction November, I managed to read almost all of the books I had set as my TBR. Ursula Le Guin’s No Time to Spare was the first book I completed and I utterly loved it. Since it’s being published on December 5th, my review is scheduled for that date.

Italo Clavino’s Why Read the Classics? was the next one on my list, a collection of essays which I read rather selectively, since most of them referred to books and authors I hadn’t read and I didn’t see the point in reading analyses of literature I’m not familiar with. I read this in my Greek translation copy and I was reminded once again how much I adore Calvino’s writing. His love for literature and for the classics specifically shines through his wonderful prose and he makes you want to pick up the nearest classic and immerse yourself in its glory.

The last book on my TBR for this event was Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life, which I haven’t completed yet. I love Shirley Jackson’s writing and as soon as I saw this biography of hers, I knew I wanted to learn more about her. I listened to this on audiobook and this is probably why my progress has been so slow, since I don’t do very well with audiobooks. I’ve listened to 7 chapters so far and I was not as impressed as I expected to be. While some parts are absolutely fascinating, I often feel like the book is too unnecessarily detailed and that makes it somewhat dull in parts, such as when the author listed all the Christmas gifts Shirley and each member of her family received – a detail I could have lived without being made aware of, and without spending 10 minutes listening about. Perhaps it’s the format of the audiobook which makes it dull for me, I’ll try to find a paper copy to continue reading it.

As for German Literature Month, I also managed to read both books I had set as my TBR. Yoko Tawada’s Memoirs of a Polar Bear was definitely my favourite book of the entire month (perhaps of the year too) and you can read the full review I posted a few days ago here.

I couldn’t leave Stefan Zweig, one of my absolute favourite authors, out of German Literature Month. His Letter from an Unknown Woman is the second and last book I read for this challenge. Read in my Greek translation copy like the aforementioned Calvino book, it was a short novella which, like most of Zweig’s other works I’ve read, was filled with emotions and beautiful, beautiful prose. I haven’t encountered any other author who can write about and portray people’s feelings and the wide range of their emotions as eloquently as Zweig does. Whether you’ve found yourself in a situation like the one he’s describing (here, that of a woman’s unrequited youthful love) you will definitely feel like you have experienced this situation by the time you finish reading. This is how powerful his writing is.

These were my contributions to those two November challenges. I had a lot of fun participating in both and I hope next time I have much more time to devote.

Book Haul (January 2017)

I thought that I would begin to keep a record of books which I’ve purchased in each distinct month, particularly after it was suggested that I add more book hauls to the blog.  I used to film book haul videos, but since moving away from BookTube, I thought it would be a nice idea to create a relatively concise post at the end of each month.  Without further ado, here are the tomes which I bought during January.

I shall begin with book club reads, several of which I have chosen to add to my growing TBR pile ahead of time.  Being a full-time postgraduate student means that quite a lot of my time is spent buried in books, but I also have quite a busy social calendar, and want to ensure that I can get to group reads as far ahead of time as I possibly can.  That said, I bought the lovely The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa for mine and Katie’s book club, and a copy of Lori Schiller‘s The Quiet Room for the book group which I run on Goodreads.

I purchased three books with some of my Christmas money whilst on my way up to Scotland at the beginning of the month.  I chose a copy of Caroline Moorhead‘s A Train in Winter, which I have had my eye on for quite a while, and then took advantage of the half price offer in Waterstone’s, picking up Dan Boothby‘s Island of Dreams (which was a touch disappointing), and Agatha Christie‘s utterly brilliant The Witness for the Prosecution.

A couple of my January purchases were made with my 2017 reading projects in mind (see here).  I am planning to read Vita Sackville-West‘s Pepita in the next few months; it will sadly be one of my last outstanding of her novels.  The Cutting Room by Louise Welsh is a choice for my Reading Scotland list, and I want to get to it as soon as I possibly can because I so enjoyed The Girl on the Stairs.  A Novel Bookstore by Laurence Cosse is one of my most highly anticipated Reading France choices, and one which will also work nicely for my ongoing Reading the World project.

I also chose to purchase several books which could be included within my thesis.  I’m unsure as to which of these, if any, I will end up writing about, but it’s lovely to be able to read so diversely, and sample new authors, as well as those whom I have previously enjoyed.  In this vein, I chose to procure secondhand copies of Miriam Toew‘s A Complicated Kindness and Irma Voth, as well as Anita Brookner‘s Leaving Home and Kaye Gibbons’ Sights Unseen.

I rarely buy Kindle books, preferring instead to read free classics or sweep Netgalley for interesting tomes.  This month, however, I made an exception.  I had a sudden longing to read the rest of E.M. Delafield‘s Provincial Lady novels, and found them in a handy omnibus edition for barely any money whatsoever.  I also bought a collection of five of her standalone novels (Zella Sees Herself, The War Workers, Tension, The Heel of Achilles, and Humbug), which I am looking forward to getting to!

I shall finish with those tomes which I didn’t need, but couldn’t resist buying.  I scoured AbeBooks for a copy of Irmgard Keun‘s A Child of All Nations after so adoring Gilgi, and was rewarded with a first edition, which is just as wonderful.  I was keen to try some of Gail Tsukiyama‘s work, and plumped for The Samurai’s Garden as my inroad.  I saw a wonderful review of Sarah Rayne‘s A Dark Dividing on Goodreads, and had to get myself a copy; whilst I haven’t read it yet, it sounds as though it will be brilliantly creepy, and make the perfect read for a long winter’s night.

The Ice Museum: In Search of the Lost Land of Thule by Joanna Kavenna looked fascinating, and as my obsession with Scandinavia shows no sign of regressing, I had to buy myself a copy.  I was also intrigued by Maryrose Wood‘s Gothic children’s novel, The Mysterious Howling, which marks the first book in the Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place series.  I have read and very much enjoyed it already.  Last but not least, I bought a copy of Karl Pilkington‘s Happyslapped by a Jellyfish for my boyfriend (but I’ll more than likely end up reading it first).

Have you read any of these books?  Which tomes were added to your shelves during January?

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