Ana PF > Recent Status Updates

Finally read something by Alexander Chee! :) And a really good short story it was! Next one by Kimiko Hahn I didn't particularly enjoy, but still, excited to be introduced to these writers' works. On Alice Sola Kim's piece right now!

Loving the prose and the story is gripping so far, but if Yuki's character got a hundred dollars every time she makes a terrible decision, she'd be rich by now. Her son is also not a nice person!

Dense but useful book. Also I feel so cool for knowing some names and stuff from page one, haha. :') #socultured

This is a really heavy book. It takes a big effort to read without throwing judgement towards its author, which is what I am trying not to do. Some parts I can get close enough to understand, some others throw me off completely. Hmmm. One thing is for certain, it's a book that can really hook the reader.

Boy, am I glad I got this book as a present. At this point on my reading I already knew that Martin knows his stuff on Japanese music, but I am L-O-V-I-N-G the chapters on the challenges Japanese musicians face when going abroad / being exported, the brilliant, honest analysis on Japaneseness and the responsibility *both* the Western world and Japan have on stereotyped views of the latter and much, much more. Bravo.

Whoops! I think I now get some of the criticism to this book that it glossed over enka. Either I have yet to get to the part where the author picks it up again or it only had a really small chapter that wasn't even exclusively dedicated to it!

Yes, I'm reading four books atm LOL. Hoping to gain some understanding of Japanese music beyond J-pop from this one. So far, rather engaging and easy to read, although I need to listen to the groups that Martin mentions.

Me: Let's start reading ~academic stuff~
Also me: *a million books cascading into my Kindle*