Welcome!

I’m learning Japanese, Korean and Chinese to be able to read books in these languages. I mostly read crime fiction and post book reviews here. They are mainly reviews of mystery novels that I read in Japanese.

Reading projects:

  • I started two reading projects recently. The first one, started in January 2022, is to read all the winners of the Mystery Writers of Japan Award. A lot of books are sadly out of print and not available digitally, so I have to skip them, but I plan on reading all the ones I can buy from outside Japan.
  • In 2023, I got the collection called 『日本探偵小説全集』, an anthology of 12 volumes of Japanese detective fiction. I’m progressing slowly on this one, but my goal is to finish the 12 books (this might take me several years!).
  • In order to improve my reading level in Korean, I’ve decided to read one short story per week.
  • I’m also progressing very slowly on a Taiwanese novel that I plan on reading over the course of 2023.

I’m not on Twitter anymore, but you can follow me on Mastodon if you want! Here are my latest posts in the Fediverse:

#3GoodThings
🎉 Enjoying the Holidays!
📖 Bought a new book, and I’m looking forward to starting it this weekend.
🌳 Walk in the woods. It was quite pleasant and refreshing. Also saw a squirrel, but I was not quick enough to take a picture of it, so instead, this is just a picture of the trail we took.

28 September 2023 @ 12:36 pm

I finished the short story 냉장고와 넷플릭스 (Refrigerator & Netflix) by 홍지운 (Hong Jiun), a funny story of a ghost in a refrigerator. It’s from a short stories collection with the same title. With this I have already read my two short stories for this week! #Korean #ReadingChallenge

28 September 2023 @ 10:46 am

I could not resist buying Bora Chung (정보라)’s new novel!
The promotion material says that both author Kim Choyeop (김초엽) and translator Anton Hur recommend it.
@mollymay5000 Thank you for recommending this author! I still haven’t got around to reading Cursed Bunny, and I think I’ll start with this novel instead. It’s apparently a SF thriller on the theme of pain, so quite a heavy topic. #Korean

28 September 2023 @ 8:31 am

Currently Reading

  • Cover of 寝台特急殺人事件. The cover illustration is a picture of a train wagon taken at night. There is a logo on the train that represents a blue bird with the name はやぶさ written on it.
    寝台特急殺人事件 by Kyotaro Nishimura (西村京太郎)
  • Cover of 김대리가 죽었대. The cover illustration depicts a city with tall buildings at night or dawn. There are lights on several floors.
    김대리가 죽었대 by 서경희

I have been writing this blog since 2017, and it has changed a lot over the years. I now focus entirely on writing book reviews, but I used to write about learning Japanese in general and passing the JLPT. You can find older posts and discontinued categories here:

Mastodon