I read 3 novels, one nonfiction book, a novella and a manga in July!
Book review: 『予知夢』 by Keigo Higashino
This collection of five short stories is the second book in the Galileo series. The short stories were first published between 1998 and 2000 in the magazine オール読物 (よみもの). Review This second book in the Galileo series is slightly different from the first one, 『探偵ガリレオ』. In my review of this first volume, I said that physics-related..
Inhae reads the news: July 2020
This month's topics are: Tokyo court rejects a damage lawsuit by a victim of the Eugenic Protection LawYuriko Koike re-elected as Governor of TokyoCoronavirus cases in US military bases in Okinawa Topic 1: Tokyo court rejects a damage lawsuit by a victim of the Eugenic Protection Law I first learned about the Eugenic Protection Law..
Book review: 『探偵ガリレオ』 by Keigo Higashino
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..
How to start reading books in Japanese
Reading books in Japanese might sound intimidating, but once you start to practise and improve your reading skills, you can make progress faster than you might think. Here is some advice to help you get started!
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..
June wrap-up and reading challenge update!
I haven't read that much in June compared to the previous months, but I still managed to complete my June challenge of 4 books. I read two books of the Galileo series, one children's book with furigana and one novelisation. Finished! Galileo series 2 and 3: 『予知夢』 and 『容疑者Ｘの献身』 by Keigo Higashino (東野圭吾) I found..
Inhae reads the news: June 2020
The three topics I chose to study this month are: the George Floyd protests, the death of Shigeru Yokota and North Korea’s threats.
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).