What I Enjoyed the Most in 2009

It’s almost the end of the year and the time for lists, so I thought it would be appropriate to list my most enjoyable reads of the year. There haven’t really been any duff reads and I think I only gave up on two books earlier in the year before I started my blog in July.

1) The most enjoyable thing this year was starting my blog! I was really nervous about this and, having been surreptitiously reading book blogs for about a year beforehand, I felt rather intimidated at the professional manner in which many blogs are maintained. They are all so lovely, funny and well thought out. But I took the plunge and I’m really glad I did, because it’s so much fun and I’ve met some incredibly nice bloggy people.

It’s made me think a lot more about why I read and the books that I choose. I also found it surprisingly hard to write a negative review and made me think about the honesty in my writing.

2) OK books, here we go. In 2009, I really liked reading and writing about:

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam
Love Marriage by V.V. Ganeshananthan
The Night Watch by Sarah Waters
The Boat by Nam Le
The Makioka Sisters by Junichiro Tanizaki
A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
Graceling by Kristin Cashore
The Season of the Witch by Natasha Mostert
The Chalk Circle Man by Fred Vargas

I also liked the following which I didn’t write about, as I read them before I started blogging, but highly recommend:

The Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erickson
The Book of Other People edited by Zadie Smith
Alexandria by Lyndsey Davis
All the Sad Young Literary Men by Keith Gessen
In the Woods by Tana French
Tokyo Year Zero by David Peace
Singled Out by Virginia Nicholson

I realise that I haven’t written about my favourite book of the year, Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erickson since I read it way back in January, but as I’ll be reading the second installment in the 10 book sequence next year, I promise to write a big juicy post about the Malazan Book of the Fallen series when the time comes.

3) I found some amazing book challenges this year including RIP IV and the Japanese Literary Challenge 3 which put me in touch with some lovely people, the Clear Off Your Shelves Challenge which actually motivated me to read something off my TBR shelf and the Women Unbound Challenge which has made me veer towards some thoughtful reading. I’m also enjoying the Hello Japan! challenge which has made me look at Japan anew.

4) I also reconnected with my love for Japanese drama and film. This year’s favourites were Crows Zero, Sakuran and Gokusen.

♥  Thank you to everyone who has taken their time to read my blog and post comments. I always enjoy hearing from you and I look forward to getting to know you all a lot more next year! ♥

And I’ll leave you with my favourite book and cover art of the year.

Last book buys of the year. Honest.

I just couldn’t help it, it’s been snowing (which is lovely) and freezing (which isn’t) and to cheer myself up on a cold afternoon I popped into two charity shops and bagged myself some books.

Diary of an Ordinary Woman by Margaret Drabble – I’ve never read any books by her and have only read Possession by her sister A.S. Byatt

The Road by Cormac McCarthy – he’s supposed to be one of the best American writers of the decade and I want to read the book before I see the film (which has Viggo Mortensen!)

The Ascent of Woman: A History of the Suffragette Movement and the Ideas Behind It by Melanie Phillips – need I say more? I just couldn’t resist!

The Diary of a Provincial Lady by E.M. Delafield – this has been all over the book blogosphere so I think it was fate when I set eyes on this Virago Modern Classics edition.

Dancing with Mr. Darcy – a collection of original short stories inspired by Jane Austen and commissioned by Chawton House Library and introduced by Sarah Waters.

I must say, I like the selection in the Oxfam bookshop in Kentish Town. Less pricey than some of the Oxfam bookshops in more upmarket areas and with an interesting collection.

I’m going to try and finish my current reads before the new year so that I can start reading for my various challenges. I also received a gift card for my birthday and will be debating with myself on which books to purchase in the new year. Looking good!

Film: Crows Zero and Crows Zero 2

I wasn’t planning on writing about Crows Zero (2007) but, thanks to a vicious cold, I’ve recently been on a Japanese drama and film binge and watched it’s sequel Crows Zero 2 (2009). So then I had to go back and watch the first film again which shows just how much I liked it. Absolutely. It was probably one of the best films I saw this year. Based on the manga series Crows by Hiroshi Takahashi, Crows Zero is an original prequel written by Shogo Muto and directed by Takashi Miike and features some of the original characters from the manga but is essentially a different beast. And it’s a beast of a movie, but one with a heart.

Starring Shun Oguri and Takayuki Yamada, Crows Zero opens with the arrival of Genji Takiya, son of a Yakuza boss, at Suzuran Boys High School, one of the toughest and most violent schools in town. Genji has a difficult relationship with his father and to prove his worth, he must take on and unite the warring gangs at Suzuran, something that has never been done before. His ultimate goal is to fight Tamao Serizawa, the monster third year student who is currently the strongest boy in the school.

Like with Gokusen, I don’t know why I like watching dramas and films about delinquents so much. Maybe when I was growing up, they seemed to have a thirst for life and freedom which I never sought in the simple and happy environment I grew up in (not that I’m complaining – what with all the travelling, I had a pretty exciting childhood). Maybe you’re just drawn to something which you’re not. I definitely wasn’t a delinquent, so maybe I just find it exotic.

Takeshi Kitano (or Beat Takeshi as he’s better known in Japan), famous Japanese comedian and film maker (Sonatine, Brother, Zatoichi) once said that he makes films about the yakuza because they are the only people that embody the Japanese spirit (kokoro) which has vanished from modern Japan. I don’t agree with him (because the underworld, when you come down to it, is criminal and feeds off people’s fear and suffering, plus they kill people), but I do understand what it is he is trying to say. These people (in the fictional world) live whole heartedly and give their all. Every day is life or death for them. There is no mask one wears in public and private. In the same way, when I watch dramas and films about high school delinquents, they tell me about the problems in Japan’s society, and how the young people try to understand and overcome the issues thrust upon them by the adult world. And they do it with all their being, maybe not in the best or politest way, but in an honest way. Like crows, these boys follow their own rules, freely and not bowing to a society that despises and refuses to understand them.

Pondering this issue, I began to wonder why so many Japanese tales are set during adolescence as opposed to the West where people are more focussed on life as an adult. And I realised that it had to do with freedom. In Japan, you are essentially free to follow your dreams and live freely until graduation, only having to follow the rules set down by your parents and school. Upon graduation, you become a shakai-jin, a person of society, and must now live within the rules of society, which are numerous and severe. You join the working masses and most people give up the dreams of their youth. In the West, it is only once you graduate that you can earnestly begin to pursue your dreams. The working life is more flexible and people can shake off the ties of family and school. I’m not saying that there are no societal rules in the West, but that people don’t necessarily feel as shackled. Maybe I’m simplifying this too much, but it’s why I feel that there is always this nostalgic view of school life, this yearning for a simpler time filled with hope and dreams. What they call their seishun jidai.

Anyway, back to Crows Zero, we follow Genji as he tries to beats his foes into submission and gather allies. In the process he is befriended by a low-level yakuza named Ken, a likeable fellow who dropped out of Suzuran many years ago. He shows Genji how to make allies by earning their respect and friendship. However Ken belongs to a rival yakuza family and is ordered to kill Genji. Unable to kill his friend, Ken visits Genji’s father and returns to his own boss to face the consequences.

Genji also meets Ruka, a singer at the dive he frequents, with whom he forms a tenuous friendship. When Ruka is kidnapped by one of Serizawa’s gang, all out war begins, and Genji and Serizawa must battle it out to see who is the strongest.

When I first watched Crows Zero, I was struck by the violence and the amount of fighting in the film. But it melts beautifully into the story of Genji and what he learns about friendship, respect and loyalty. With Crows Zero 2, however, there was a lot more scenes of violence and a little less story.

Crows Zero 2 is set one month after and begins with the release of an ex-Suzuran student from juvie. Upon his return to town, he is chased by a gang from Housen High School, a rival school whose leader he had stabbed and killed and for which he did time. He flees straight into Serizawa and his boys, and when Genji turns up, he inadvertently breaks the truce between the two schools culminating in a dramatic fight to avenge the murder of the Housen leader. In the meantime, Genji’s father is gunned down and Genji’s world slowly falls apart as he tries to deal with his complex feelings for his father and the heavy burden of being the leader of his group and trying to gather support for the fight against Housen. For someone who has always fought alone, Genji must learn to trust the people around him and work as a team.

It’s still good, but not as good as its prequel. The best thing about these two films is Shun Oguri who plays Genji and Takayuki Yamada who plays Serizawa. They outshine everybody and deserve the critical attention they both received for their roles. Oguri won the 17th Japan Movie Critics Awards for Best Actor for Crows Zero and Yamada was nominated for his supporting role for the 50th Blue Ribbon Awards.

Even if violence is not your thing (and it really isn’t mine, although I like a bit of kung fu and kickboxing), if you give Crows Zero a go, you might be pleasantly surprised.

Who’s Reading What: December 2009

Well, last month I managed to debut my first Who’s Reading What post. I like knowing what people are reading and am forever peering into my friends’ bags and checking out their bookshelves whenever I visit.

This month, my sis and two dear friends on the other side of the globe are reading:

Watching the Tree by Adeline Yen Mah
A Happy Marriage by Rafael Yglesias
Out by Natsuo Kirino
Mao: The Unknown Story by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday

Of these I’ve only read Out.

What about you?

Original TBR 2010 Challenge List

I’ve been thinking long and hard about what I want to read for the Original TBR 2010 Challenge hosted by MizB and I’ve come up with the following, in no particular order:

1) A Room of One’s Own and Three Guineas by Virgina Woolf
2) Black Swan Green by David Mitchell
3) Nation by Terry Pratchett
4) The Meaning of Night by Michael Cox
5) Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl
6) Mosquito by Roma Tearne
7) The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
8 ) The Affair of the Bloodstained Tea Cosy by James Anderson
9) The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher by Kate Summerscale
10) Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke
11) The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
12) Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose

My alternative list, if I change my mind is:

1) The City and the City by China Mieville
2) The Cairo Diary by Maxim Chattam
3) Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
4) Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris
5) The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
6) The Waves by Virginia Woolf
7) The Behaviour of Moths by Poppy Adams
8 ) A Very Great Profession: The Woman’s Novel 1914-1939 by Nicola Beauman
9) Life Class by Pat Barker
10) The Fairy Gunmother by Daniel Pennac
11) The Moving Toyshop by Edmund Crispin
12) Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

An Interview with David Mitchell

can be found here. Mitchell will be publishing his new novel The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet next year. Can’t wait.

Hello Japan! – December: Temples and Shrines of Kyoto

I was all set to talk about my favourite shrine in Nagoya, Atsuta Jingu, when I reread the December mini-challenge for Hello Japan! and realised I had to write about temples and shrines in Kyoto. Kyoto is one of the places that all Japanese people would have visited at least once in their lives as it is a popular destination for school and family trips. My family and I used to visit Kyoto when we lived in Japan and although I was young and uninterested in temples at the time, Kiyomizudera with its beautiful wooden structure is one of my favourite temples in the world. However as it is so famous, I decided that I would choose another temple for this task and who better to ask than my mother.

One of her favourite temples is Nanzen-ji with its beautiful zen garden where one can contemplate the nature of life and the universe. Although I don’t remember much of the temple when we visited over twenty years ago, I do however remember the garden with its carefully placed stones representing the islands and the precisely raked gravel representing the sea that surrounds them.

The Zen Garden (photo by Dao-hui Chen at Sacred Destinations) and Sanmon Gate (photo from Wikipedia)

Nanzen-ji was built during the middle Heian period in 1291 by Emperor Kameyama on the site of what used to be an imperial palace.

A famous story attached to Nanzen-ji is that of Ishikawa Goemon, a legendary hero and thief reminiscent of Robin Hood, who was famously boiled alive in a cauldron for attempting to assassinate Toyotomi Hideyoshi during the sengoku or warring states period in 16th century Japan. Goemon is the subject of many kabuki plays and in the most famous one, in an act titled Sanmon Gosan no Kiri, sits on the roof of Sanmon gate smoking a pipe and enjoying the view.

Apart from plays, there are numerous stories and films about Goemon, and he is even credited as an illustrious ancestor of Ishikawa Goemon XIII in one of my favourite anime series Lupin III by Monkey Punch which I used to watch as a child. A re-imagined historical fantasy film Goemon directed by Kazuaki Kiriya was recently released in Japan.

I seem to always go off topic, but I love to hear stories that are attached to monuments and buildings which bring their history to life.

The Makioka Sisters by Junichiro Tanizaki

I was expecting Junichiro Tanizaki’s The Makioka Sisters to be a challenging read. Tanizaki, after all, is one of Japan’s most famous writers and the book is a good 530 pages of small print. After reading Naomi which impressed me considerably, I finally took The Makioka Sisters off my TRB shelf after it lay there languishing for too many years. And it was a revelation.

Naomi took as its main character a young woman in Tokyo who falls into a degenerate and modern lifestyle as opposed to the traditional Japanese lifestyle that was slowly vanishing. The Makioka Sisters, on the other hand, tells the story of four sisters belonging to an old and venerable merchant family in Osaka who are clinging to the traditional way of life amidst the onset of war and financial hardship.

Tsuruko and Sachiko are the two elder sisters who have been married for over ten years to Tatsuo and Teinosuke who have both taken the Makioka name, Tsuruko’s husband Tatsuo becoming the head of the Makioka family after their father’s death. The story follows their attempts at getting the third sister Yukiko married. Until she does, the youngest sister Taeko (or Koi-san as she is known) is unable to get married herself. The search for a suitable husband proves to be full of obstacles not least of which is an old scandal involving Taeko and the youngest son of a rich Osaka family. Compared to Yukiko who is passive and non-commital, Taeko is full of life, wanting to try new things and making a living for herself (which is frowned upon as unsuitable for her social station by her brother-in-laws). As the years go by, with Japan’s military intrusion into world affairs and the rise of war in the West, the Makiokas themselves begin to feel that what is acceptable behaviour in society is slowly beginning to change.

Tanizaki portrays each sister with different characteristics, but because it is Sachiko, the second sister, who narrates most of the novel, it is a little difficult to discern the thoughts of Yukiko and Taeko about whom she worries so much. In fact, I found Yukiko’s passivity and Taeko’s rebelliousness baffling at times because we are unable to understand their motives. In a society where marriage is equal to social status, being unmarried was a stigma not only for that person but for the whole extended family. Even though this was so, Yukiko who is in her early thirties seemed unbothered by her single status. Taeko on the other hand is eager to get away and start a life of her own. Although the Makioka family is far more lenient than would be expected during this period (both Yukiko and Taeko are allowed to stay with Sachiko instead of Tsuruko and still keep their allowance) and although their family fortune has dwindled since their father’s death, their life is still one of luxury and leisure.

Tanizaki does not focus on eroticism and degeneracy as in some of his other work, but there is still a hint of it with Taeko’s involvement with the unsuitable men in her life. It would seem that by the time Tanizaki came to write The Makioka Sisters (or Sasameyuki, it’s Japanese title), he had fallen out of love with everything modern and Western and had moved away from Tokyo towards Osaka and Kobe where most of this novel is set. Even so, Tanizaki cannot help including snippets of detail such as the cafe Juccheim’s in Kobe (which still exists) and the Leica with which the Makioka sisters take photographs of the weeping cherry trees in Kyoto. They are always eating out at European restaurants and seem to have a fondness of everything German including German beer and medicine. In a sense I found that Tanizaki was caught between his love for the modern and Western and the traditional and Japanese. He also highlights the difference between the people of Osaka and Tokyo in their manner and their use of language which still exist today.

Tanizaki’s treatment of the Makioka sisters portrays the confusion in the changing social milieu and mirrors the theme of modern vs. traditional which runs through the novel. But it is not a simple delineation between the two as all four sisters portray both aspects from switching between kimonos and dresses to drinking sake and wine, smoking and even preferring European food. Ultimately the sisters are brought back into the traditional fold through marriage and it is only Taeko who becomes more modern, and therefore degenerate, who pays the price for her choice. I don’t know whether this was intended but it seemed a little harsh that Taeko who strived to do things her way and make her own life was ultimately punished for refusing to think of the consequences of her actions for the people around her.

The Makioka Sisters felt as though it was a very modern novel, albeit one set in the late 1930s. Considering Tanizaki’s main characters were mostly women in this novel, I thought he was fair in their portrayal, although veering slightly towards the extreme in the case of Yukiko and Taeko. But his portrayal of Sachiko and her marriage was beautiful and sympathetic and you can see his fascination with women and their struggles. As much as it is a novel of the four sisters, it is also a novel of the men in their lives, the husbands, the brother-in-laws and the suitors. Together you can build a picture of a society struggling towards modernity but constantly being held back by convention.

I didn’t expect to enjoy The Makioka Sisters so much. And I appreciated it more as I read along. It’s a book to savour and enjoy and this may be due to its origins as a serial novel. I only wish it was a little longer because I wanted to know how the sisters fared. Did they find their own happiness in the end? How was the family affected by war? I was surprised at how much I cared about the gentle Makiokas and how much they made me think about life as a woman and the choices we are given.

Following on from Naomi, The Makioka Sisters has whetted my appetite for Tanizaki’s writing and I will definitely seek out more books by Tanizaki to read.

I am counting this book for both the Japanese Literature Challenge 3 and the Women Unbound Challenge.

Something cheerful for a cold day – new books!

I went up to Yorkshire to visit a dear friend and her baby this weekend and seem to have come back with a cold… but that’s not all I came back with!

Said dear friend gave me Terry Pratchett’s Unseen Academicals as a birthday gift and I’m as happy as a dessert fiend let loose in Ladurée. Their orange blossom macarons are scrumptious.

I also won a signed copy of Silver Lies by Ann Parker from the author herself. I’ve heard a lot of great things about this book, a historical mystery set in the silver rush of 1880s Leadville, Colorado, and cannot wait to start reading it. I’m not a connoisseur of Westerns (even though my Japanese granddad was an avid John Wayne fan) but anything that’s had such glowing reviews is a must read.

And, I popped into my local library and what did I find?

The Devil in Amber by Mark Gatiss
Black Butterfly by Mark Gatiss
The Painted Man by Peter V. Brett

I’d been meaning to read Mark Gatiss’ sequels after enjoying The Vesuvius Club featuring man about town and detective Lucifer Box which I enjoyed tremendously many years ago. So what luck to find both books at the library.

I have also read so many wonderful fantasy books this year, and The Painted Man has been causing quite a stir in the sff world, so what better way to start the new year with something good. I seem to be spoilt for choice.

2010 Challenges

Seems to be the season for announcing challenges. I don’t know what it is about reading challenges but I think I’m drawn to them like a moth to a flame because they put a structural emphasis to my reading and gives it a pattern and some sort of rationale. Instead of reading random books and quickly forgetting about them as soon as I switch genre, they make me think about the plot, character and histories within each book and allows me to connect them with other books, the bigger picture and my life. I quite like that, it makes me feel as though I am part of something fluid yet tangible.

I have seen many mouthwatering challenges popping up all over the blogging world and have finally succumbed to several. I was going to write separate posts for each, but I’m already getting confused myself and have decided to put it all under one roof.
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The South Asian Author Challenge
January 1st – December 31st 2010

Here is a challenge I cannot possibly ignore. The South Asian Author Challenge is hosted by the lovely Swapna of S. Krishna’s Books who also hosted the Clear Off Your Shelves Challenge. Busy lady!

The rules are a little tricky so I’ll need to choose my books carefully:

There are two requirements for a book to qualify for the South Asian Author Challenge, both of which must be met:

1) The author must be of South Asian descent. It doesn’t matter if they’re third or fourth generation, or are only half South Asian – I’m pretty flexible on this issue.

2) The book must be about South Asia in some way. It doesn’t have to be set in South Asia, as long as it’s about the culture or history in some way. On the other hand, it can be set in South Asia and not be about South Asians.

I think I will attempt 5 books in this challenge, maybe more depending on what I find on my up-coming trip to Sri Lanka. Some of the books will be from my list in preparation for the Galle Literary Festival 2010 posted here to which I also want to add Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children which I found the other day on my TBR shelf and Story Wallah a collection of short stories by South Asian writers edited by Shyam Selvadurai.
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The Flashback Challenge
January 1st – December 31st 2010

Seems like I’m addicted to challenges. I keep finding more and more that I want to join especially if it fits in with what I’ve been planning to or have been thinking about reading for a while. The Flashback Challenge is hosted by Aarti at Booklust and Kristen M at We Be Reading. Aarti is also one of the hosts of the Women Unbound: A Book Challenge together with Care of Care’s Online Book Club and Eva of A Striped Armchair. It’s a longish challenge so that gives me time to try and clear my TBR shelf and complete my other challenges.

The Flashback Challenge is exciting because now I get to reread my favourite book of all time. Yes, it’s the beautiful The Secret History by Donna Tartt. I don’t think I’ve looked at it since I first finished it in the summer of 1993 when I was revising for my first year finals. I think I’ve been a little scared to revisit what was a sensational reading experience, just in case I don’t like it so much. But you know, I like rereading books, and I normally do so when I’m back at home on holiday. I don’t know how many times I’ve read Anne of Green Gables, The Witching Hour and all of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels plus all the manga I have at home including Asterix.

I will also be giving Joe Abercrombie’s The Blade Itself another shot. I read this a few years back and didn’t really feel the love (he is one of the brightest stars of fantasy together with my favourite Scott Lynch), so I want to see whether it will be better second time around.

I will be opting for the Bookworm level which means I will be rereading upto three books. I think that’s doable.

My final book will probably be a Terry Pratchett which takes me neatly to…
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The Terry Pratchett 2010 Challenge
December 1st 2009 – November 30th 2010

See, another challenge I cannot bypass. I seem to be addicted to reading challenges and I’m also addicted to Terry Pratchett’s Discworld. So this is like a dream come true. Reading Adventures is hosting the Terry Pratchett 2010 Challenge. I’ve read most of Terry Pratchett’s books except for his latest two, Nation and Unseen Academicals and his childrens books which form The Bromeliad. So I think I’ll be tackling those first before doing some rereads. I generally tend to reread Terry Pratchett’s books as part of my comfort reading package: bath, book and cake.

I will be participating as a Guard of the City Watch (my favourite group of characters together with the assassins of the Assassins’ Guild and the wizards of Unseen University) which means I will be reading/watching tv adaptations of 4-5 books.

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The Thriller and Suspense Challenge
January 1st – December 31st 2010

I found the following two challenges on Melody’s Reading Corner and will be joining them because 1) my favourite genre is mystery and 2) I am determined to decrease my TBR pile next year.

The Thriller and Suspense Challenge is hosted by Book Chick City. The challenge is to read 12 mysteries in 2010 and the books can crossover into other challenges. This is great as I probably read more mysteries than any other genre. I’ll be posting about some of the prospective titles a little later.

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The Original TBR Challenge
January 1st – December 31st 2010

After completing the Clear Off Your Shelves Challenge, I feel more optimistic about doing this. It was fantastic to go through my TBR shelf and slowly start reading some of the books that have been sitting there for over a year. All the books I have are books that I actually want to read. It’s just that I want to read everything so reining in my enthusiasm when confronted with the library and bookshops is really tough. And since I’ve started reading book blogs, it’s even tougher. There are just so many intriguing books out there.

Instead of the TBR ‘Lite’ Challenge, I think I will try the Original TBR Challenge for 2010, both hosted by MizB’s Reading Challenges. The Original TBR Challenge is a bit more hardcore: you have to make a list of 12 books to read from your TBR pile to read in 2010 and you cannot change that list after January 1st. However, you can make an alternative list of 12 books from which you can substitute books. So not bad. I’ll just have to have a long hard think about which books to read so that I can read a book for several challenges at once (since I’m doing so many challenges I have a feeling I will end up very dazed and confused). I’ll be posting my list up soon once I have a quick scrutiny of my TBR pile and see what treasures I can find.