Please recommend a book

[senseiman]

I read that "breaking into Japanese literature" when it first came out a couple years back. It was a real help, now just about all the books I read are in Japanese. I can get just about any book for 100 yen at the used book store. WAY cheaper than buying English books.

 

[Duo]

I have a couple of books that are really good to understand more about Europe.

1- Homage to Catalonia, by the great Orwell, when he fought in the spanish civil war, so funny and dramatic

2- and if u want to know more about Eastern Europe then here is a very good book, Cafe Europa, by Slavenka Drakulic, a very good short book, the both of them actually

 

[Ma Cherie]

Books...........

How about

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

The Blackwood Farm by Anne Rice

The Vampire Armand also by Anne Rice

Red Azalea by Anchee Min

and the Beauty series by Anne Rice just to name a few. But only if you are interested in erotica . Can anyone recommend any fictional books about Asia?

 

[Ed-E]

"Goodbye Tsugumi" by Banana Yoshimoto.

Still my favourite book of all time. Captivating, drenched in nostalgia, evocative, heartbreaking. It's made me yearn to visit the Japanese seaside, anyway...

 

[goofy2feet]

don't forget the Russians...

I would definately recommend Umberto Eco's Foucaults Pendulum as the first book to read!

Here!Here! - That book was my favourite for years...

Other big favs are 'The Master and Margarita' by Mikhail Bulgakov, 'The Brothers Karamazov' by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (long...) and for non-fiction (kind of anyway) 'Opening the Hand of Thought' by Kosho Uchiyama (available from Wisdom Publications.

Actually the Bulgakov book was supposed to be being made in to a movie - not sure who by, but they'll probably ruin it ... i'd still go and see though just in case it was as great as the novel...


http://www.bdbtjapan.com

 

[Alek]

I'd like to racommend Murakami's DANCE DANCE DANCE and for the italian guys who want to know more about how the japanese girls and women live in the japanese environment, Nel Giappone delle Donne by Antonietta Pastore edited by Einaudi, is a very useful tool to get more and more about Japan.

 

[Timsan]

1984 - George Orwell
A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole (the best book ever written, my bible)

 

[ToySoldier]

I'm reading now Ryu Murakami's book Coin Locker Babies, and it seems promising.
And must-read-books are Robin Hobb's
The Farseer Trilogy:
Assassin's Apprentice,
Royal Assassin,
Assassin's Quest
and The Tawny Man Trilogy:
Fool's Errand
The Golden Fool
Fool's Fate

 

[tanpopo]

...

One of the most important authors is Wolfgang Borchert for me. His complete works are not much to read, as he died very young, but really great.
Did anybody once read him?

Well, I do also like: Hermann Hesse, Murakami Haruki, Natsume Sﾃｴseki, Jon Fosse.

And here's a little poem for you:

三好達治

雪

太郎を眠らせ、太郎の屋根に雪降り積む
次郎を眠らせ、次郎の屋根に雪降り積む

 

[Apollo]

Murakami's Norwegian Wood

Dan Brown: Angels and Demons. (I guess most people have read it already).

Ishiguro's The Unconsoled

 

[Mycernius]

One of the best books I've ever read was 'Imajica' by Clive Barker. One of my favourites is 'The Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy' by Douglas Adams

 

[Alma]

One of my favourites is 'The Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy' by Douglas Adams

Mine too. I love this book. everyone should read it!

:haihai:

 

[sadakoyamamura]

Yey this thread came back!

1.dune - frank hurbert ...

Loved the movie version. I used to see this book lying around the house when I was still in elementary. I still couldn't find it anywhere in the house and its not even a mansion.

Last book I read was a collection of classic American short stories written by the likes of Hawthorne, Melville, Twain etc.

Currently I'm reading a book by Carson McCullers called The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. This one was recommended by Oprah in her book club. I was instrigued because she is O. She didn't disappoint me. The book tackles race, physical/emotional disability and more. It's riveting and so human and to think that the author wrote it when she was only 23!

 

[King_Ghidorah]

Happy to see some other Murakami readers. My favorite is Hard boiled wonderland and the end of the world. Osamu Dazai is also one of my favs. If you run accross a copy of "Blue Bamboo, Japanese tales of fantasy", published by Kodansha, pick it up. Great storytelling.

 

[Apollo]

Happy to see some other Murakami readers. My favorite is Hard boiled wonderland and the end of the world. Osamu Dazai is also one of my favs. If you run accross a copy of "Blue Bamboo, Japanese tales of fantasy", published by Kodansha, pick it up. Great storytelling.

I love Murakami's Norwegian Wood...what other good book written by him can you recommend??

 

[King_Ghidorah]

Hard-boiled Wonderland would be #1. A Wild Sheep Chase was the first Murakami I read. would say it's best for a first read or second.

 

[Kinsao]

Not Japanese or related in any way to Japan, but...
I really recommend anything by Jorge Luis Borges, and 'le petit prince' (Antoine de St-Exupery) but in the original French *not* translation!

 

[stalky]

my book is not related to japan in any way too but i think it's still worth to read it - "the glass bead game" and also "narcissus and goldmouth" both by herman hesse

and like kinsao i like borges (just started to read labyrinths and some selected poems and i'm really impressed)

 

[Tim33]

I think you should ignore japanese books and read the Dark Tower series by Steven King

 

[Davey]

the diary of ANNE FRANK!!!!!

its a great diary, and really touching!!!! she was a really nice girl, and its really amzing to read how they needed to live in such a small place...

i have been to the house last winter with my girl, and she just cried all the time, just such a sad story, with a big meaning, for peace, and freedom in the world!!!!!!

 

[Alma]

Okay, I guess not, but I have to ask, did anybody heard about Miljenko Jergovic? Hmmm, I guess hard to read or remember the name for you... He is a Bosnian writer, most popular around these couple of countries around, but also well known in Europe. I would recommend reading whatever you can find from him.

http://www.wordswithoutborders.org/bio.php?author=Miljenko+Jergovic here you can find some writings

:hai hai:

 

[Davey]

i liked the diary of Zlata Filipovic , alma!! but even that was a long time ago when i read that!!!

have you read it?

 

[Alma]

no i havent... it seems it is well known everywhere else, but here... i wonder why :? i never had chance to read it, but hopefully i will

and if you can find 'sarajevo marlboro' - read it (everybody should)

 

[phantasmagoria]

Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
The Tales Of The Otori (Lian Hearn. Teenage fiction.)
Stravaganza (Mary Hoffman. Teenage fiction)
Fleshmarket (Nicola Morgan. Teenage fiction)
The Witching Hour (Anne Rice. Need I say more?)
Nineteen Eighty Four (George Orwell. Classic)
The Wire in The Blood (Val McDermid. I reccommend any of her books. About solving crimes through making psychological profiles. Fiction)
Mort (Terry Pratchett.)
Hide & Seek (Ian Rankin. Crime)
Funeral In Berlin (Len Deighton. Spy)

 

[Libby]

I'm suprised 'Snow Country' by Kawabata Yasunari or 'Some Prefer Nettles' by Tanizaki Junichiro haven't been mentioned yet as I've always regarded them as 'classics' of Jap. Lit and are definitely my favourites!