Reading Keigo Higashino after quite a long time really feels good. I am always amazed at how good his short stories are. Even in a reduced number of pages you get all the thrill of a good crime novel. The short stories of 『探偵ガリレオ』 all follow a similar pattern with detective Kusanagi investigating a murder..
Book review: 『愛がなんだ』by Mitsuyo Kakuta
Introduction Mitsuyo Kakuta has written an impressive amount of books, including novels, essays, translations and children's books. She won the Naoki Prize in 2004 for her novel 『対岸の彼女』, translated into English by Wayne P. Lammers under the title Woman on the Other Shore. 『愛がなんだ』was first published in 2003 and adapted into a film in 2019..
Book review: 『駐在日記』 by Yukiya Shoji
Yukiya Shoji is a prolific author of fiction who wrote several mystery novels including the series "Tokyo Bandwagon" (東京バンドワゴン). 『駐在日記』 was first published in 2017 and got its first pocket edition this year (2020). There is a second volume entitled 『あの日にかえりたい』(published in 2019), which seems to be the direct following of 『駐在日記』. It is certainly..
Book review: 『運転者』by Yasushi Kitagawa
Introduction Yasushi Kitagawa is a popular writer of fiction. His works are translated in several Asian countries and all his books have amazing reviews on Amazon. He also has a beautiful website that includes a blog updated every day and even an online shop where you can buy Kitagawa coffee... Review 『運転者』 is a light..
Book review: 『ぼくはイエローでホワイトで、ちょっとブルー』by Mikako Brady
『ぼくはイエローでホワイトで、ちょっとブルー』is a nonfiction book published in 2019 (a bunko edition has since been released). It is divided in 16 short chapters (around 15 pages each). Review I bought 『ぼくはイエローでホワイトで、ちょっとブルー』because it had amazing reviews on Amazon, it won prizes for nonfiction, and most of all, because I was interested in (what I thought would be) the..
Book review: 『いま、会いにゆきます』by Takuji Ichikawa
A story about love, family and grief adapted into films by Korean director Lee Jang-hoon (지금 만나러 갑니다).
Book review: 『無人島に生きる十六人』 by Kunihiko Sugawa
When the Ryusui maru run aground in Pearl and Hermes Atoll in 1899, its 16 crew members had to find a way to survive on a small deserted island.
Book review: 『霧のむこうのふしぎな町』by Sachiko Kashiwaba
Illustrations: Hiromi Sugita 杉田比呂美 Aoitori (青い鳥文庫) is a collection of books for children. This book has complete furigana and targets primary school readers: 小学中級から. A lot of kanji words are written in hiragana only, the font is rather big, and there is a lot of space between the lines. 『霧のむこうのふしぎな町』 inspired Hayao Miyazaki who wanted..
Book review: 『ぼくらの七日間戦争』 by Osamu Soda
First published in 1985, 『ぼくらの七日間戦争』 is the first novel of the series ぼくら. I am not completely sure, but I think that the series follows the same characters over the years, as they grow up. In 『ぼくらの七日間戦争』, the protagonist Eiji and his classmates are in first year of middle school. We apparently follow them through..
Book review: 『錦繡』by Teru Miyamoto
First published in 1982, 『錦繡』is certainly one of Teru Miyamoto's most popular novels. It was translated into English by Roger K. Thomas under the title Kinshu: Autumn Brocade, and into French, Le Brocart, by Maria Grey. Review 『錦繡』 is an epistolary novel (only composed of letters). Aki and Yasuaki were once a married couple. They..
Book review: 『ファーストラヴ』by Rio Shimamoto
This novel won the Naoki Prize in 2018. Even though the plot was interesting, I was not able to feel involved in the story and did not like the characters.
Book review: 『私をくいとめて』by Risa Wataya
In this novel, we follow the daily life of Mitsuko, a single woman in her early thirties.