Japanese Literature... Which would you recommend?

[Kdar]

I just finished reading "Taiko" by Eiji Yoshikawa.
It was great book.. Enjoyed it a lot..
I still plan to read his "Musashi"..

But I thinking to read it a bit later..

But.. what other good Japanese book or good Japanese authors are out there?

What would you recommend besides Eiji Yoshikawa?

[AJBryant]

Have you read "The Signore" by Tsuji? Hella great book.


Tony

[Daiki]

[center]BREAKING INTO JAPANESE LITERATURE[/center]

Edit: fixed link

[Harisenbon]

Daiki wrote:
BREAKING INTO JAPANESE LITERATURE:

My friend has that book. It's got some really good stories in it, and is well laid out with all the vocab on the bottom half of the pages, as well as English Translations.

I think it's actually a series now.

[Infidel]

Daiki, use tiny url or learn to do a short link, you're screwing the page format.

[inuinu]

武蔵を読むなら、
司馬遼太郎などの武蔵も読んで、
色々な武蔵を比較してみてはいかがでしょうか。
歴史上の人物に対する、それぞれの小説家の解釈の違いを楽しむのも、
歴史関係の小説の楽しみ方のひとつですからね。

武蔵自身が書いた「五輪書」をあわせて読むと、
小説の世界に深みが増して面白くなるかも知れませんよ。

http://www.geocities.jp/themusasi/01.html

[Kdar]

Is there any good Japanese novels on themes like..... WW2 or something a bit more modern?

[HeyItsMatt]

Kdar wrote:
Is there any good Japanese novels on themes like..... WW2 or something a bit more modern?

Unfortunately I haven't read many older Japanese works (before the 50's I guess), and I can't think of any I've read that were directly related to WWII, but I can recommend stuff I've read in the last few years that I liked.

"Out" by Natsuo Kirino - This is a crime / mystery novel about some housewives who work at a boxed lunch factory, one of whom kills her abusive husband and attempts to cover it up. Things get darker from there. I enjoyed it, although just as a warning it has some graphic stuff in it at times.

"Woman in the Dunes" by Kobo Abe - Basically a guy is stranded in a village that is overtaken by sand dunes, and the inhabitants have to continually shovel the sand away to prevent it from destroying their houses. It's kind of an existentialist novel - if you like Franz Kafka you'll probably like this.

"Dance Dance Dance" by Haruki Murakami - I don't really know how to describe this one. Postmodernist? I don't know. It's entertaining though, especially if you like things that make you go "what the hell was that?" at the end.

"The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea" by Yukio Mishima - This one is also strange but good. It's about a boy who hangs out with a group of deliquent-ish friends and idolizes a sailor who his mother is interested in. One of those books that looks simple on the surface but seems to be dealing with some pretty deep themes about how to live life.

"Battle Royale" by Koushun Takami - The book that the movie was based on. It's not really "high literature" like some of ones I mentioned above, but I thought it was entertaining. Just to warn, it has a lot of violent content.

[Shibakoen]

I'm reading Murakami's "Wind-Up Bird Chronicle," in English, though. But I still find it REALLY good. It's super strange but funny and it sucked me in.

[Kdar]

"Out" sounds interesting.. Maybe I will read this one..
and our city library have it.. so

I also saw another book by same author, Natsuo Kirino, "Grotesque". Did you ever readed it before?

[richvh]

I've been reading Ono Fuyumi's 藷?窓L series. The first-written one (and the first I've read) (魔性の子) is contemporary horror-fantasy, the rest are pure fantasy, set in a different world. I'm currently reading the second volume of the second novel, 月の影　影の海.

[hungryhotei]

I've read a lot of the 藷?窓L series, but I think that 月の影 has been my favourite so far.

[Kdar]

Hmm just finished Musashi today..

very good book! I like it a lot.
Probably will pick something else to read today from Library..

[Shirasagi]

Are you reading in Japanese or in English translation?

If you are reading in Japanese, two books I read this year that I really enjoyed were 「推理小説」 and its sequel 「アンフェアな月」, by Tatehiko Hata (秦　建日子). They're mysteries, and so a little pulpy (the heroine is a hard-drinking cop in her late 30s...with a dynamite body), but IMO they are very excellent examples of the genre. The first book has a kind of unusual book-within-a-book format. It was used as the basis of the television drama 「アンフェア」. The second book is written in a more straightforward style, but in my estimation may be even better than the first.

[japanfreak]

Here's my recommendations:
Old School
-Genji Monogatari,
-Heike Monogatari,
-Makura no Soshi,
-All of Yasunari Kawabata's books,
-Kokoro.

New School
-No Reason for Murder,
-Strangers,
-Betty-san.