Read Women discussion

Are you participating in #JanuaryinJapan next month? Share your reading plans here, or if you want recs, seek them here.

I didn't know about January in Japan. Thanks for the heads up. I'll probably read a bunch of manga!

I've got just three books in my tbr list and I'll try to read at least one. (I'll add the links asap)

Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami
Territory of Light by Yūko Tsushima
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

I didn't either - thanks for sharing! I'll be following for recs.

Here's one I recommend to everyone :)

It's YA magical realism which isn't a genre I typically read, but it's so good.

I have to be honest, I am very partial to literature from Japanese authors. These are the ones that I have read since 2016 and recommend everyone of them:

The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka - the author is Japanese-American and deals with immigration in her stories.
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
Goodbye Tsugumi by Banana Yoshimoto (I'm always tickled with her first name and was the reason I read her for the first time)
Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami - I know, I know. He's male but I could not leave him off the list...
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro - again, a male, but again had to put him on
Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami
The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino - male but this book is a brilliant mystery
The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yōko Ogawa
The Nakano Thrift Shop by Hiromi Kawakami
When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka - Japanese American author

My favorite? Can't pick one. They are each very special for their own reasons.

What I have on my shelves for Japanese women:
The Invisible Man and His Soon-to-Be Wife Vol. 1 by Iwatobineko, manga with what sounds like a really cute story. First in a series. Can't begin to tell you the amount of sleuthing I had to do to actually find out the author is female.
What You Are Looking For Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama

I will likely only be able to read The Invisible Man in January.

I’m also excited for recs from this thread.

@Gail, I’m happy to see a rec for Banana Yoshimoto other than Kitchen which I remember enjoying. It’s long enough now I don’t remember it well and wanna revisit the story.
My fav Ishiguro I highly recommend is The Buried Giant.

I will also recommend Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata. I just recommended it on another thread before seeing this one! :)

Jen wrote: "I’m also excited for recs from this thread.

@Gail, I’m happy to see a rec for Banana Yoshimoto other than Kitchen which I remember enjoying. It’s long enough now I don’t remember it well and wanna..."

Jen, if you like Yoshimoto, I recommend
Hardboiled & Hard Luck and Asleep

Oh cool, thank you, Antonia!

Hello! New to this group but I just finished reading + highly recommend:

Concerning my Daughter by Hye-jin Kim
Connivence Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job Book by Kikuko Tsumura

Currently plan on picking up:

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa
Breast and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami

Gail W wrote: "I have to be honest, I am very partial to literature from Japanese authors. These are the ones that I have read since 2016 and recommend everyone of them:

The Buddha in the Attic ..."

Me, too, Gail. JLit is my happy place.

I heartily recommend Yōko Ogawa's The Memory Police in addition to The Housekeeper and the Professor. I'm also a big Higashino fan and agree that Devotion of Suspect X is the best on-ramp for those new to Japanese mystery novels.

This January, I'm hoping to read 2 of these 3 nonfiction books. Memories of Silk and Straw: A Self-Portrait of Small-Town Japan by Dr. Junichi Saga (male author), When Can We Go Back to America? Voices of Japanese American Incarceration during WWII by Susan H. Kamei, and The Bells of Old Tokyo: Meditations on Time and a City by Anna Sherman.

Mavi wrote: "Hello! New to this group but I just finished reading + highly recommend:

Concerning my Daughter by Hye-jin Kim
Connivence Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job Book by..."

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop looks fun, Mavi - thanks for sharing.

The Uthor of Concerning my daughter is Korean, not Japanese

I am planning to read Breasts and Eggs for this challenge (which I'd never heard of before, so thank you!).

I'm feeling overbooked with reading plans but of course I wanna try something for January in Japan. A graphic novel seems very manageable and actually I almost just nominated this for the February 2024 LGBTQ+ nonfiction group read: My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness by Kabi Nagata. Yay!

Graphic novels and light novels are a great way to participate without getting bogged down —

I popped in the library today and borrowed the "territory of light". I'm ready to visit Japan when January comes!

I loved breasts and eggs, I also really liked Heaven but not All the Lovers in the Night (a DNF for me) by the same author. I liked convenience store woman but much preferred Earthlings and Life Ceremony by the same author. Beware they are both quite dark and twisty! I second recommendations of ogawa. Oh and of course my favourite: The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa

Jen wrote: "I'm feeling overbooked with reading plans but of course I wanna try something for January in Japan. A graphic novel seems very manageable and actually I almost just nominated this for the February ..."

This looks really interesting Jen, thanks I hadn't heard of it. I might try this and/or Scattered All Over the Earth by Yōko Tawada next month. Another recommendation is The Last Children of Tokyo by Tawada. A very short read

@Hannah- join me! I’d love a little read-along with someone :) Oh perhaps I’ll suggest it in the buddy read thread.

Jen wrote: "@Hannah- join me! I’d love a little read-along with someone :) Oh perhaps I’ll suggest it in the buddy read thread."

Yeah let's do it! Suggest it in the buddy read thread to see if anyone else wants to join in

Hannah wrote: "Oh and of course my favourite: The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa."

Yes! I loved this book so much. I was bawling at the end - which was not good because I was listening to it in the car and trying to drive home from work. LOL.

I've read several of the books already mentioned, but I've picked up several others. Thanks for all these great recommendations.

Glad I found this thread! I have a library hold on What You Are Looking For Is in the Library and hope it comes in time to read in January.

Yōko Ogawa is an author I love, too - I'd love to get to her newest title soon.

EDITED: I have copies of Yoshimoto's Lizard and Kirino's Out and will aim to get to at least one of those, too.

I had some other books to finish, but for this month I really wanted to read more Japanese novels! In the past, I mostly read classics like I Am a Cat and various manga. For this month I've planned a small reading list:

1. Men Without Women by Haruki Murakami (Male author, but title sounded promising. Unfortunately, it was overflowing with misogyny and objectifying women. Definitely won't touch any Murakami book afterwards.)
2. What You Are Looking For Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama
3. Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami
4. Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
5. The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa

Finished the first two so far and looking forward to reading the other books which I've also seen mentioned in this thread a lot. If there's any buddy reads for these other books, I'd love to participate.

Ryo wrote: "I had some other books to finish, but for this month I really wanted to read more Japanese novels! In the past, I mostly read classics like I Am a Cat and various manga. For this month..."

Murakami is known for his problematic portrayal of women, have you come across his interview with Mieko Kawakami where she probes into his representation of women?

https://lithub.com/a-feminist-critiqu...

Murakami is known for his problematic portrayal of women, have you come across his interview with Mieko Kawakami where she probes into his representation of women?

I wasn't aware of it and did read the interview now. It seemed to tiptoe around a bit the topic and Kawakami even compliments some of his stories for writing women organically. I guess I'm not surprised to hear how Murakami never really thought much about it all and just wrote his stories resulting in some stereotypical portrayals, likely through his own uncritical projections. I guess this quote from the interview really shows his sexism:

I was exploring a kind of cruelty that women seem to possess. I can feel it when it’s there, but can’t claim access to it. I don’t want to get in trouble for going back to differences between genders, but I think this sort of cruelty is rare in men. Men can of course be cruel, but I think they go about it in more structured ways. They come at you with logic, or like a total psychopath. But the cruelty of women is more ordinary, everyday. Now and then, they catch you unawares.

Sure, might be how he experiences it in his subjective views though.

I've only read one short story by Murukami and it left me feeling uneasy. I think I tried reading one of his novels a long time ago and hated it. I have found very few male authors who write female characters well (huge overgeneralisation I know)
Thanks for sharing the article Alwynne. He does dance around the subject a lot. "I wasn’t making any conscious effort to explore the female mind" about sums it up really doesn't it?!

Considering The Memory Police this month - has anyone read it and have thoughts to offer?

Lindsey wrote: "Considering The Memory Police this month - has anyone read it and have thoughts to offer?"

I've read The Memory Police. From my review:

Told in simple, subdued, unemotional language, the narrative illustrates the vital role memory plays in fighting oppression, and the deleterious impact the collective erasure of a remembered past can have on freedom.

I thought it was good, but I preferred her The Housekeeper and the Professor.
I've also read her Hotel Iris, which was full of horrifying scenes of sado-masochism. I just couldn't figure why or what she was doing with that one. I haven' read any more of her novels since then.

Lindsey wrote: "Considering The Memory Police this month - has anyone read it and have thoughts to offer?"

I loved memory police. I thought the poignant language and created a world very close to home and it was a really smart allegory. I've read the same 3 as Tamara but unlike most I didn't care much for the housekeeper. The long descriptions of mathematics and baseball put me off. Yeah, hotel iris is.... interesting but also horrifying

Just finished reading by Michiko Aoyama 3⭐ for me. Its an interesting and nicely written book about five different people who find their way to a rather special library at a time when they need help in their lives. Such a heartwarming and cozy read. The story doesn't blow me away but each is unique and encouraging. What a great book to start the year!

Hannah and Tamara - Thanks so much for sharing your reviews and thoughts!

Hannah wrote: "I have found very few male authors who write female characters well (huge overgeneralisation I know)"

Honestly, I think that is pretty spot on. I read far more women authors than I do men authors now, and it actually gets on my nerves a lot! When you read far more from a woman's point of view, I think the differences begin to really stand out. That has been my experience anyway.

I am finished with my small book list of the Japanese literature I've chosen and there's still so many days left...
So I've decided to pick up Lonely Castle in the Mirror by Mizuki Tsujimura now! I think that'll be my last book regarding for January in Japan.

So far, I can really recommend What You Are Looking For Is in the Library for being such a nice, comfy story which had me smiling throughout and The Travelling Cat Chronicles for having such a depressing, yet hopeful ending. It was dragging a bit, especially the first few chapters, but it got a lot better towards the end.

Ryo wrote: "I am finished with my small book list of the Japanese literature I've chosen and there's still so many days left...
So I've decided to pick up Lonely Castle in the Mirror by [author..."

That's a heckuva list to devour in 8 days - props to you, Ryo! If you're interested in joining our buddy read of the graphic novel, [book:My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness|33113683] by Kabi Nagata, check out the thread here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

If you're interested in joining our buddy read of the graphic novel, My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness by Kabi Nagata
It seems like a light read and the topic is definitely up my alley, I'm just hesitant since it's a part of a series of 5 books. When I usually start reading one, I'd also want to read all the others so I'm unsure about it. I'll think it over after I've finished my current read, thanks!

I just finished a delightful book in manga, first in a translated series, called The Invisible Man and His Soon-to-Be Wife Vol. 1.

It only took me 5 minutes to figure out that the book had to be read from back to front and then the pages right to left. And then a few minutes to wrap my head around that and get into the hang of reading it that way! The Invisible Man owns a detective agency and his Soon-to-be-wife works for him and is blind. This first book introduces them, the other two people in the office, a case, and their beginning to date.

I won't read another, because manga is not my thing (my brain is not wired to read this way), but I'm glad I read it. Sending to my granddaughter as a test!

Gail W wrote: "I just finished a delightful book in manga, first in a translated series, called The Invisible Man and His Soon-to-Be Wife Vol. 1.

It only took me 5 minutes to figure out that the..."

This sounds so fun.

I started The Bells of Old Tokyo: Meditations on Time and a City by Anna Sherman and it’s wonderful. Beautiful sentences, a rarity in nonfiction. Lots of culture, history, observations without research dumping. Yay.

Carol wrote: "I started The Bells of Old Tokyo: Meditations on Time and a City by Anna Sherman and it’s wonderful. Beautiful sentences, a rarity in nonfiction. Lots of culture, ..."

This sounds fantastic, Carol - I love books about cities. Adding it to my tbr mountain!

I read The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa; translated from the Japanese by Philip Gabriel.
I thought it was ok, but I found it a little simplistic and predictable.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I finished The Bells of Old Tokyo: Meditations on Time and a City and recommend it to Japanophiles, those who enjoy travel writing and history, and fans of thoughtful essays. Sherman's writing style reminded me of Rebecca Solnit, although I don't want to oversell it. It was 100% up my alley, but may not be everyone's, of course.

One caution, while the audiobook narrator is superb, they don't tell you that there's 100 pages of thoughtful, interesting footnote content that you'd have no idea exists unless you have a physical copy. I own a hard copy but consumed most of it via audiobook (the narrator is fantasic), and didn't realize until I'd finished it that I'd missed out on 1/3 more content and would have loved to have been reading those footnotes along the way, in context. Choose wisely : )

(male author) I also started Judgment at Tokyo: World War II on Trial and the Making of Modern Asia by Gary J. Bass and highly recommend it. If you're like me and tend to avoid 800 page tomes, push past your resistance if the topic appeals.

Jen wrote: "Carol wrote: "I started The Bells of Old Tokyo: Meditations on Time and a City by Anna Sherman and it’s wonderful. Beautiful sentences, a rarity in nonfiction. Lot..."

Jen, it's a special one - I wish it there were more second-hand copies in the market and that it were easier to obtain the US, but such is life.

Tamara wrote: "I read The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa; translated from the Japanese by Philip Gabriel.
I thought it was ok, but I found it a little simplistic and pr..."

I'm lacking the gene to appreciate this one, too. It has legions of fans, of course. : )

I have read Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami. I liked it overall but it was odd, and there were a few points in the novel when I wasn't sure I'd finish it. I did enjoy the emphasis on women's relationships with their own bodies and the ethical discussions surrounding using sperm donors or even having children at all. And the discussion of nipple colour in Part 1 of the book was fascinating to me and not something I was aware of being an issue.

If I'm being honest, I often find Japanese fiction odd but interesting, so maybe this just comes down to cultural differences or different ways of storytelling.

I previously read Heaven by this same author, and I preferred Breasts and Eggs.

I just finished The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa and although I enjoyed it, I'm afraid a lot of it was lost on me. It would be an excellent book club choice to discuss and hear others' impressions.

This is a great option for those who love being left with more questions than answers and don't mind an ending that leaves everything sort of hanging.
While it's not a style of book I generally enjoy, I thought the writing was beautiful.

Lindsey wrote: "I just finished The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa and although I enjoyed it, I'm afraid a lot of it was lost on me. It would be an excellent book club choice to discuss..."

So I was correct about The Memory Police being the title. I responded to you about this on another group where there was no title in your post. For me, The Memory Police was significant and thought provoking.

Lindsey wrote: "I just finished The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa and although I enjoyed it, I'm afraid a lot of it was lost on me. It would be an excellent book club choice to discuss..."

Lindsey - I totally love MP, but I struggled alot to understand exactly how the disappearances worked, e.g., what is the mechanism and how does it operate in the world, and I had to let that need go. It's part of why I'm not a great fantasy/sci fi reader because any lack of explanation or inconsistency draws my attention disproportionately. If you're interested in reading some other readers' thoughts to see if you agree with certain explanations or questions or if they resonate with you, access the 2019 Japanese Lit book club discussion of it. https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I also wasn't aware at the time I read MP, in fact - until earlier this month that - prior to the end of WWII, the Kempeitai suppressed dissent, among other things. This Wiki article gives a great description. Ogawa was born in 1962 so it didn't exist in her lifetime, but she surely knew of its history.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kempeitai

I'm not trying to change your mind - some books we all love are a miss for our friends, of course. I just thought you might find some of this an interesting epilogue to the read, at your option.

Signed, Memory Police Fan Girl : )

Shomeret - I must have missed your question. It was in this group, but another post? Glad you enjoyed it. I’d certainly call it though-provoking.