The Happy Reader - Issue 15

The Happy Reader #15

by Penguin Classics

Beaches, books and juniper berries: this season’s cover star SARAH JESSICA PARKER is photographed by Roe Etheridge in Amaganesett, Long Island

Our Book of the Season, JAPANESE GHOST STORIES, is centre of gravity to a series of hallucinatory artworks; correspondents around the world compile an obsessive yet fragmentary portrait of the book’s odd author, Lafcadio Hearn. Contributors include Lieko Shiga, John Self, Travis Elborough, Bess Lovejoy and Moeko Fujii.

Genres: Nonfiction

Unknown Binding

Published October 29, 2020

About the author

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world, providing readers with a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. We focus on bringing together the best of the past and the future, using cutting-edge design and production as well as embracing the digital age to create unforgettable editions of treasured literature. Penguin Classics is timeless and trend setting. Whether you love our familiar black-spine series, our Penguin Classics Deluxe Editions, or our Penguin Enriched eBook Classics, we bring the writer to the reader in every format available.

Reviews

[Austra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Viens no interesantākajiem THR numuriem, gribējās tikai vairāk par grāmatām sarunā ar SJP un vairāk par japāņu spoku stāstu ietekmi, nevis tikai to apkopotāju. Bet tāpat bija ļoti labi.

[massmarketbareback · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd never really had an appreciation of SJP until now. There magazine are always s delight.

[Roos · Rating 3 out of 5]

5 stars for the interview, 2 for the rest.

[Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sarah Jessica Parker interview was... meh.
Back half about Lafcadio Hearn (especially the short essay critiquing him) and the series of ghostly photos from Lieko Shiga was what I was looking for.

[steph · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stumbled across this publication and am so glad that I did. It is the perfect "bookish magazine" as it describes itself. All of the writing in it is excellent.

I enjoyed the interview with Parker and all the book recommendations it contained. It captured perfectly the odd year that was 2020.

The staff picks are great, I'd love them more if they came with accompanying pictures of the books but that's only because I love visual representations (and book covers!).

The whole last section on Lifcadio Hearn was supremely interesting and I have subsequently ordered his book, Japanese Ghost Stories. I love learning so much about authors and their work.

It's super handy how the magazine wraps up with a summary of the text that the next issue will focus on so you have time to read it beforehand if you so please.

This magazine is doing a superb job at offering up a piece of community that has been challenging to facilitate in recent times due to the pandemic. *Rushes off to buy all the back issues*

[Simon Sweetman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice format. My first time reading this literary mag. The feature interview was great, a nice surprise frankly. And the look and feel of the mag is wonderful too. Will look for back-issues. Keen to collect from here.

[Resa Koleva-Demonty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to this magazine I first learned about Lafcadio Hearn and his incredible life journey, and read his thrilling and enchanting Japanese ghost stories. For this I am forever grateful to the Happy Reader. One of my favourite issues.

[cumrade · Rating 2 out of 5]

I hate to say this magazine is becoming infuriatingly mediocre with their incessant batches of boring interviewees.

[Claire (find me on Storygraph) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. So glad this magazine is back.

[Susanne (Pages of Crime) · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is so refreshing to read a magazine that isn't full of ads.