Japanese Literature discussion

Would some of you be interested to read a short story in Japanese for April-May? I'm thinking about a dozen of pages, so that it's not a huge time investment and more can join in!

Maybe this? If it's somewhat popular, we could later read other stories from the same collection, so that it's not too much of a waste of $ :P (this one costs 9USD on yesasia). Maybe also one of the Palm-of-the-Hand Stories, but I'm not sure how difficult the language is, I couldn't find any preview.

Anyway, reply to this thread if you have some interest or a different work to suggest!

That's a great idea! Novels still seem too daunting for me, but short stories should be perfect for practicing my reading in Japanese :) I will try to get a hold of the collection you mentioned Christian, but the thing is that most transactions with foreign companies/vendors are currently disabled in my country, so I don't know if I'll be able to get it (at least for now) :/

I've read Palm-of-the-Hand Stories in Greek translation and they were excellent, but maybe Kawabata's language will be a bit challenging.

Cool Akylina! I haven't gotten it yet either... but it looks interesting: different authors, different genres (romance, SF, mystery...) and a common theme of "20", whatever that means lol. And 360 pages means an average of 18 pages per story, which is perfect I think.

Let me know if you manage to order it and I'll get it too!
Here are two links I found for it: Yesasia, HMV.

I'll try to join again this time! Sorry, I never quite got through インストール and stuff happened so I really wasn't up for reading TUGUMI either :(

Here's the link for CDJapan.

Yes, I'd be up for this as well.

Yay, I'm glad you guys are interested!

It's settled then. Thanks for the CDJapan link Carola, I love all the different shipping options they have... didn't know they had books there :O

The person who gets it first gets to pick the first story hahaha ;)

You're welcome! I used to buy tons of cd's there in the past and always magically have points to spend even though I rarely buy anything any more haha. But yep, their shipping options are pretty good (and I get a free book now) :)

My copy arrived in the mail today :D It looks small and cute, but after a quick glance it'll probably be quite demanding for me ;)

Oh really? You're first, so if you want to pick one, go ahead! ;)

Mine arrived a week ago but I haven't had a chance to look at it yet XD Let me know what you'll pick Akylina!

It's only fair that you should pick the story then, Carola :) To be honest, since I'm not familiar with most of the authors included in this anthology, I would probably pick either Natsuo Kirino or Inoue Areno, but it's really intriguing to see so many new names here :)

Finally got it lol! They're pretty much all the same length and I know almost none of these authors, so it really doesn't matter, we can start we the first one if no one wants to choose ;P

I wouldn't mind starting with the first one, so we might as well do that :)

I just noticed there's a story from Kaori Ekuni in there! 蒸籠を買った日 (~the day I bought a steam basket), pp. 77-91.

I'll be reading it soon, in case anyone wants to join!

I'm joining you! Starting now :)

[edit] Almost finished, and loving it!

I will also join you starting tomorrow :)

Finished it in one go (I'm glad my Japanese hasn't gone downhill too much, after not doing any extensive reading for months). I loved it! Can't wait to hear your thoughts :)

Nice! I just finished it too ;) It did take me a couple of short reading sessions though. I find short stories more challenging in general. I guess it's because there's a lot of new information... or because I approach them as "intensive reading".

I'm never sure what ぼんやり really means. I'm only familiar with the "vaguely" meaning and I've seen the other definitions but how would you translate that line near the end?

「たしかに『ぼんやりした』マッチ売りの少女だったな」(p.90)

Is she the "absent minded" little match girl, the "dim-wit" little match girl or something else? Like the main character, I also didn't quite understand the comparison in the first place lol.

Anyway nice story! Congrats Carola for reading it in one go! I remember reading you took a JLPT test?? (from your blog maybe? can't find it back... Or someone told me in a train?)

Good question... I read it like absent-minded the whole story, but maybe dim-witted (you know, because she's all ??? about who the people on the train are?) would fit too...

What did you make of the reference to Andersen's Little Match Girl anyway?

By the way, the specific sentence I referred to in my mini review was (view spoiler)[「生きてる人の髪に触ったのはひさしぶり」 (hide spoiler)] What do you make of that? :p (view spoiler)[I thought it was all in her head up until that point! (hide spoiler)]

(As for thr JLPT... I took it. Let's leave it at that hahahaha m(_ _)m )

Yeah, that's like the "key" sentence... (view spoiler)[Before that I thought she had died and was leaving for the other world or something. (hide spoiler)]

For the comparison to little match girl, they both stand behind a glass separating two worlds I guess. Mmh... there's also (view spoiler)[ friendly ghosts like LMG's grand-mother. I wonder why they met though... was it so important to tell her about her boyfriend? Or did she step in by accident in the "ghost wagon"? (hide spoiler)]

Oh sorry to hear that... At least you tried. I'm in the "too-scared-of-failure" category ;P

Oh but where's the reference to 20? Isn't it supposed to be on the theme of "20"?? Not that it really matters (what a weak theme LOL)