books for the reading diary - 2020

A list in progress of books I'm looking forward to -


January

The Chronicles of Lord Asunaro - Hanawa Kanji trans. Meredith McKinney Red Circle

February

Where the Wild Ladies Are - Matsuda Aoko trans. Polly Barton - Tilted Axis Press
The Inugami Curse - Yokomiso Seishi  trans? Pushkin Press
The Man Without Talent - Tsuge Yoshiharu trans. Ryan Holmberg NYRC (amazon)

The Aosawa Murders - Riku Onda trans. Alison Watts - Bitter Lemon Press

March

The Swamp - Tsuge Yoshiharu trans. Ryan Holmberg - Drawn and Quarterly 

April 

The Running Boy and Other Stories - Megumu Sagisawa trans. Tyran Grillo - Cornell University Press

May

Breasts and Eggs - Kawakami Mieko trans. Sam Bett David Boyd - Picador

A Man - Hirano Keiichiro trans. Eli K.P William - Amazon Crossing

June

Echo on the Bay - Masatsugu Ono trans. Angus Turvill - Two Lines Press

August

Sachiko - Endo Shusaku trans. Van C. Gessel Columbia University Press
People From My Neighbourhood - Kawakami Hiromi trans ? Granta (Amazon)

Reconciliation - Shiga Naoya trans. Ted Goosen - Canongate

October

Earthlings - Murata Sayaka trans. Ginny Tapley Takemori -  Granta

November 

There's No Such Thing As An Easy Job - Kikuko Tsumura trans. Polly Barton - Bloomsbury 

Prefecture D: Four Novellas - Hideo Yokoyama trans. Jonathan Lloyd Davies 

books for the reading diary - 2019

a brief glance at some titles bookmarked for 2019, more forthcoming -



January -

Murder in the Crooked House - Soji Shimada trans. Louise Heal Kawai - Pushkin Press
The Beauty of Everyday Things - Soetsu Yanagi trans. Michael Brase - Penguin Books
The Little House - Kyoko Nakajima, trans - Ginny Tapley Takemori - Darf Publishers
Sacred Cesium Ground and Isa's Deluge - Kimura Yusuke trans. Doug Slaymaker - CUP

March -

Prefecture D - Hideo Yokoyama trans. Jonathan Lloyd Davies - Quercus

April -

Star - Yukio Mishima trans. Sam Bett - Penguin Classics
The Forest of Steel and Wool - Natsu Miyashita - trans. Philip Gabriel - Doubleday
The Frolic of the Beasts - Yukio Mishima - trans. Andrew Clare - Penguin Classics

May -

Fukushima Fiction: The Literary Landscape of Japan's Triple Disaster Rachel DiNitto HUP

June -

The Ten Loves of Nishino - Hiromi Kawakami trans. Alison Markin Powell - Europa Editions
Somehow, Crystal - Tanaka Yasuo trans.Christopher Smith  - Kurodahan Press

July -

Inhabitation - Teru Miyamoto trans. Roger K. Thomas - Counterpoint Press
Japanese Ghost Stories - Lafcadio Hearn - Penguin Classics

August -

The Memory Police - Yoko Ogawa Harvill/Secker
Life For Sale - Yukio Mishima trans Stephen Dodd - Penguin Classics

September -

The Miracles of the Namiya General Store - Keigo Higashino - Yen Press
Automatic Eve - Rokuro Inui trans. Matt Treyvaud - Haikasoru
Gold Mask - Edogawa Rampo trans. William Varteresian - Kurodahan Press

October -

The Factory - Hiroko Oyamada trans. David Boyd - New Directions
The Sheltering Rain - trans. Jim Hubbert - Kurodahan Press
Beneath the Sleepless Tossing of the Planets - Makoto Ooka trans. Janine Bachman Kurodahan Press

November -

Parade - Hiromi Kawakami - trans. Allison Markin Powell - Soft Skull Press
Travels With a Writing Brush - edited/trans. Meredith McKinney - Penguin Classics
The Refugee's Daughter - Ichikawa Takuji trans. Emily Balistrieri - Red Circle

December -

The Honjin Murders - Yokomizo Seishi tr. Louise Heal Kawai - Pushkin Press

readings in 2017

So as 2018 staggers into the headlights it's an apt time to note back on what else read in 2017, probably two books that stuck in the mind most were the Barbara Comyns and the Roland Buti, but also Ralf Rothmann and Shirley Jackson bowled me over.

Thanks for reading, all the best to you.


Umberto Eco - Numero Zero
Antoine Leiris - You Will Not Have My Hate
Pierre Reverdy - Haunted House
Primo Levi - The Wrench
Elizabeth Strout - My Name is Lucy Barton
Mohsin Hamid - Exit West
Ivan Klima - My First Loves
Ali Smith - Autumn
Leonora Carrington - Down Below
Barbara Comyns - Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead
Cormac McCarthy - Outer Dark
Ralf Rothmann - To Die In Spring
Ernst Haffner - Blood Brothers
Andres Barba - Such Small Hands
Edouard Louis - The End of Eddy
Shirley Jackson - We Have Always Lived in the Castle
Guy Goffette - Forever Nude
V H Leslie - Bodies of Water
Ryu Murakami - Piercing
Sjon - Moonstone
Han Kang - The White Book
David Foenkinos - Charlotte
Roland Buti - Year of the Drought

books for the reading diary - 2018

As we enter the last months of 2017 it's time to look forward to some books due for 2018, obviously big news that a newly translated novel from Mishima will garner a lot of attention, rumours are abound that there maybe another from him appearing later in the year too. Another I'm much looking forward to reading is Go by Kazuki Kaneshiro due in March, a book that was/is massive in Japan. Looking at the list for 2017 it looks like it needs a few updates and no doubt, hopefully as we go on this one too will see more additions.



January

The Bear and the Paving Stone - Toshiyuki Horie trans. Geraint Howells - Pushkin Press
In Black and White : A Novel - Jun'Ichiro Tanizaki - trans. Phyllis I. Lyons - CUP
Heaven's Wind - Edited by Angus Turvill - Japan Society

February

Of Dogs and Walls - Yuko Tsushima - Penguin Books
Three Japanese Short Stories - Uno/Nagai/Akutagawa - Penguin Classics
The Red and White Ghost:Selected Essays and Stories - Kita Morio trans. Masako Inamoto - CEAS
Seventeen - Hideo Yokoyama - trans. Louise Heal Kawai - Quercus

March

The End of the Moment We Had - Toshiki Okada trans. Samuel Malissa - Pushkin Press
The Beast Player - Nahoko Uehashi trans. Cathy Hirano - Pushkin Press
Hideyoshi and Rikyu - Nogami Yaeko - trans. Mariko Nishi LaFleur - UHP
Go - Kazuki Kaneshiro trans. Takami Nieda - Amazon Crossing
Five Faces of Japanese Feminism - Ineko Sata trans. Samuel Perry - Hawaii Uni Press

April

Territory of Light - Yuko Tsushima trans. Geraldine Harcourt - Penguin Classics
Sisyphean - Dempow Torishima trans. Daniel Huddleston - Haikasoru
Lion Cross Point - Masatsugu Ono - trans. Angus Turnvill - catranslation

May

Cult X - Fuminori Nakamura trans. Kalau Almony - Soho Press
One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each - trans. Peter MacMillan - Penguin Classics
Slum Wolf - Tadao Tsuge - trans. Ryan Holmberg - nyrb
Hybrid Child - Mariko Ohara - trans. Jodie Beck - Minnesota University Press

June

The Memory Police - Yoko Ogawa trans? - Harvill Secker
The Thousand Year Beach - Tobi Hirotaka trans. Matt Treyvaud - Haikasoru
The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories - edited/trans. Jay Rubin - Penguin Classics
The Last Children of Tokyo - Yoko Tawada - trans. Margaret Mitsutani - Portobello Books

July

Frolic of the Beasts - Yukio Mishima trans.? - Vintage International
Convenience Store Woman - Sayaka Murata -trans. Ginny Tapley Takemori - Portobello Books
Another Kyoto - Alex Kerr Kathy Arlyn Sokol - Penguin Books

August

Citizens of Tokyo - Oriza Hirata - edited by M. Cody Poulton - Seagull Books

September

Newcomer - Keigo Higashino trans. Alexander O. Smith - Minotaur Books
The Samurai - Shusaku Endo trans. Van C. Gessel - W.W Norton & Co
Killing Commendatore - Haruki Murakami. trans. Philip Gabriel/Ted Goossen - Harvill Secker/Knopf
If Cats Disappeared From the World - Genki Kawamura trans. Eric Selland - Picador

October

The Little House - Kyoko Nakajima - trans. Ginny Tapley Takemori - Darf Publishers
On Haiku - Hiroaki Sato - New Directions Publishing

November

Farewell, My Orange - Iwaki Kei - trans. Meredith McKinney - Europa Editions
Toddler Hunting and Other Stories - Taeko Kono trans. Lucy North - reissue - ndp

books for the reading diary - 2017

Apologies for the lack of posts lately, travels and life off line have prevented me from reaching my blog, I have kept an eye on some new titles however and have updated the list of books for the reading diary for 2016, and as we head into the closing months of the year it's difficult not to notice a number of titles now appearing to be scheduled for publication for next year, so in anticipation I thought I'd start compiling a tentative list of titles of interest, early days though, dates no doubt subject to change, but obviously would be great to see all of these make it to publication.


January

The Book of the Dead - Orikuchi Shinobu - trans. Jeffrey Angles MUP 
Spring Garden - Tomoka Shibasaki - trans. Polly Barton - Pushkin Press
Record of a Night Too Brief - Hiromi Kawakami - trans. Lucy North - Pushkin Press

February

Spiral Staircase: Collected Poems - Hirato Renkichi - trans. Sho Sugita - Ugly Duckling Presse
The Maids - Junichiro Tanizaki - trans. Michael P. Cronin NDP
Devils in Daylight - Junichiro Tanizaki - trans. J. Keith Vincent NDP
The Name of the Game is a Kidnapping - Keigo Higashino trans Jan Mitsuko Cash - Vertical Inc
The Transparent Labyrinth - Keiichiro Hirano - trans. Kerim Yasar - Strangers Press
Time Differences - Yoko Tawada - trans. Jeffrey Angles - Strangers Press
Spring Sleepers - Kyoko Yoshida - Strangers Press
The Girl Who Is Getting Married - Aoko Matsuda - trans. Angus Turvill - Strangers Press
Mariko/Mariquita - Natsuki Ikezawa - trans. Alfred Birnbaum - Strangers Press
At the Edge of the Wood - Masatsugu Ono - trans. Juliet Winters Carpenter - Strangers Press
Friendship For Grown-Ups - Nao-Cola Yamazaki - trans. Polly Barton - Strangers Press
Mikumari - Misumi Kubo - trans. Polly Barton - Strangers Press

March

Slow Boat - Hideo Furukawa - Pushkin Press
Orbital Cloud - Taiyo Fujii - Haikasoru

April

The Boy in the Earth - Fuminori Nakamura - trans. Allison Markin Powell - Soho Crime
Penance - Kanae Minato - Mulholland Books

May

Men Without Women: Stories - Haruki Murakami - trans. Philip Gabriel and Ted Goossen - Knopf
Inheritance from Mother - Minae Mizumura trans. Juliet Winters Carpenter  - Other Press

June

Ms Ice Sandwich - Mieko Kawakami - Pushkin Press
Me - Tomoyuki Hoshino - trans. Charles de Wolf, with afterword - Oe Kenzaburo Akashic Books
In the Woods of Memory - Shun Medoruma - trans. Takuma Sminkey - Stone Bridge Press
Beasts Head for Home: A Novel - Abe Kobo - trans. Richard Calichman - Weatherhead Books
The Great Passage - Shion Miura - trans. Juliet Winters Carpenter - Amazon Crossing

July

Soul Cage - Tetsuya Honda - trans. - Titan Books
Bulls Eye! - Yasutaka Tsutsui - trans. Andrew Driver - Kurodahan Press
In Praise of Shadows - Tanizaki Junichiro trans. Gregory Starr - Bento Books

August

Sea, Land, Shadow - Kazuko Shiraishi - trans. Yumiko Tsumura - New Directions
The Part of Me That Isn't Broken Inside - Kazufumi Shiraishi trans. Raj Mahtani - Dalkey Archive

September

A Small Charred Face - Kazuki Sakuraba - trans. Jocelyne Allen - Haikasoru
On Lost Sheep - Shiro Murano - trans. Goro Takano - Tin Fish Press

November

Newcomer - Keigo Higashino - trans. Alexander O'Smith  Minotaur Books
Sweet Bean Paste - Durian Sukegawa - trans. Alison Watts - One World Publications
The Travelling Cat Chronicles - Hiro Arikawa - trans. Philip Gabriel - Doubleday
Poet to Poet: Contemporary Women Poets From Japan - Recent Work Press

December

Sonic Peace - Kiriu Minashita - trans. Spencer Thurlow and Eric Hyett - Phoneme Media  

Speculative Japan 4 - Kurodahan Press


and some notable reissues this year -

The Master Key - Masako Togawa - Pushkin Press Vertigo
Shipwrecks - Akira Yoshimura new by intro David Mitchell - Canongate Canons
Confessions of a Mask - Yukio Mishima - Penguin Books
The Samurai - Shusaku Endo - Penguin Books
House of the Sleeping Beauties - Yasunari Kawabata - Vintage International
A Cat, A Man and Two Women - Junichiro Tanizaki - Daunt Books
Childhood Years - Junichiro Tanizaki - Michigan University Press

books for the reading diary - 2016

The start of a new year brings the beginning of a new list of books marked for the reading diary -


January

Tokyo Decadence - Ryu Murakami, trans. Ralph McCarthy  - Kurodahan
The Gun - Fuminori Nakamura, trans. Allison Markin Powell - Soho Press
A Girl on the Shore - Inio Asano - Vertical Inc

February

A Midsummer's Equation - Keigo Higashino,  Minotaur Books
A Poem for a Book - Yoko Tawada - The Chinese University Press
Poem in Blue - Noriko Mizuta - The Chinese University Press
Shield of Straw - Kazuhiro Kiuchi trans. Asumi Shibata - Vertical Inc - details here.
Red Red Rock and Other Stories - Seiichi Hayashi - Breakdown Press

March

Six Four - Hideo Yokoyama, trans. Jonathan Lloyd Davis  - Quercus
Legend of the Galactic Heroes vol 1 - Yoshiki Tanaka, trans. Daniel Huddleston - Haikasoru
Horses, Horses, in the End the Light Remains Pure - Hideo Furukawa, trans. Doug Slaymaker with Akiko Takenaka, Columbia University Press
Fukushima Devil Fish: Anti-Nuclear Manga - Katsumata Susumu - Breakdown Press

April

I Am a Hero - Kengo Hanazawa - Dark Horse

May

The Silent Dead - Tetsuya Honda - St.Martins Press info at J'Lit
Cop's Eyes - Gaku Yakumaru - Vertical Inc

June

A Quiet Place - Seicho Matsumoto, trans. Louise Heal Kawai - Bitter Lemon Press
Poems of Hiromi Ito, Toshiko Hirata and Takako Arai trans. Jeffrey Angles - Vagabond
Puppet Master vol 4 - Miyuki Miyabe trans. Ginny Tapley Takemori - Creek & River Co Ltd
Puppet Master vol 5 - Miyuki Miyabe trans. Ginny Tapley Takemori - Creek & River Co Ltd
Black Fairy Tale - Otsuichi trans. Nathan Collins - Shueisha English Edition

July

The Kingdom - Fuminori Nakamura, trans. Kalau Almony - Soho Press
Legend of the Galactic Heroes vol 2 - Yoshiki Tanaka trans. Daniel Huddleston - Haikasoru
Mr Turtle - Yusaku Kitano trans. Tyran Grillo - Kurodahan Press


August

The Nakano Thrift Shop - Hiromi Kawakami trans. Allison Markin Powell - Portobello Books
Me Against the World - Kazufumi Shiraishi trans. Raj Mahtani - Dalkey Archive Press
Nocturne of Remembrance - Shichiri Nakayama Vertical Inc
Long Belts and Thin Men: The Postwar Stories of Kojima Nobuo trans. Lawrence Rogers Kurodahan

September

Alice, Iris, Red Horse: Selected Poems of Gozo Yoshimasu - edited by Forrest Gander ndp
The Tales of Ise trans. Peter MacMillan - Penguin Classics
The Gate of Sorrows - Miyuki Miyabe trans. Jim Hubbert - Haikasoru

October

The Graveyard Apartment - Mariko Koike - trans. Deborah Boliver Boehm - Thomas Dunne
Deep Red - Hisashi Nozawa trans. Asumi Shibata - Vertical Inc
Red Roofs and Other Stories - Tanizaki Junichiro trans. Chambers & McCarthy - U.M. Press

November

Are You An Echo? The Lost Poetry of Misuzu Kaneko - various trans. - Chin Music Press
Absolutely on Music - Haruki Murakami/Seiji Ozawa trans. Jay Rubin - Knopf/Random
White Elephant - Mako Idemitsu trans. Julie Winters Carpenter - Chin Music Press

December

Moshi Moshi - Banana Yoshimoto trans. Asa Yoneda - Counterpoint Press

books for the reading diary - 2015

A quick list of some books in the reading diary for 2015 -

January -
Wild Grass on the River Bank - Ito Hiromi translated by Jeffrey Angles - Action Books
Yellow Rose by Nobuko Yoshiya, translated by Sarah Frederick - Expanded Editions


February -
Cat Town: Selected Poems by Sakutarō Hagiwara, translated by Sato Hiroaki- NYRB/Poets
The Whale That Fell in Love with a Submarine by Nosaka Akiyuki - translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori, illustrated by Mika Provata-Carlone - Pushkin Children's Books
Trash Market by Tsuge Tadao Drawn and Quarterly
Ground Zero, Nagasaki: Stories by Seirai Yuichi, translated by Paul Warham - Columbia University Press
Dendera by Sato Yuya - translated by Nathan A. Collins and Edwin Hawkes - Haikasoru


March -
Seraphim: 266613336 Wings by Satoshi Kon and Ishii Mamoru - Dark Horse Comics

April -
I Want to Kick You in the Back - Wataya Risa, translated by Julianne Neville - One Peace Books
The Book of Tokyo: A City in Short Fiction - edited by Michael Emmerich - Comma Press
Miracles by Sono Ayako, translated by Kevin Doak, Merwin Asia Publishing
Nan-Core by Mahokaru Numata translated by Jonathan Lloyd-Davies, Vertical Inc
The Collected Poems of Chika Sagawa - translated by Sawako Nakayasu, Canarium Books

May -
Dream Fossil: The Complete Stories of Satoshi Kon by Satoshi Kon - Vertical Inc
Red Girls - The Legend of Akakuchibas by Sakuraba Kazuki translated by Jocelyne Allen - Haikasoru

July -
The Silver Spoon: Memoir of A Boyhood in Japan by Kansuke Naka, translated by Hiroaki Sato
The Secret of the Blue Glass by Inui Tomiko translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori - Pushkin Children's Books

August -
Ten Nights Dreaming by Natsume Soseki, translated by Matt Treyvaud - Dover Books
Goth by Otsuichi - Haikasoru
Wind/Pinball:Two Early Novels by Murakami Haruki, translated by Ted Goossen - Knopf and Harvill Secker
A Cat, A Man and Two Women by Tanizaki Junichiro - translated by Paul MacCarthy, New Directions
Silence - Endo Shusaku, introduction by Martin Scorsese - Picador Classics

September -
The Tokyo Zodiac Murders - Shimada Soji - Pushkin Vertigo Series
The Miner by Natsume Soseki, translated by Jay Rubin, foreword by Murakami Haruki
Seibold's Daughter by Yoshimura Akira, translated by Richard Rubinger, Merwin Asia Publishing

October -
New Selected Poems by Tanikawa Shuntaro - Lintott Press
A Midsummer's Equation - Keigo Higashino - Minotaur Books
Death by Water by Oe Kenzaburo - Grove Atlantic
The Gun - Fuminori Nakamura, translated by Alison Markin Powell

As time goes on, no doubt hopefully more might be added.

books for the reading diary for 2014

As 2013 begins to fade into the rear view thought I'd take a moment to list some translations forthcoming for next year, some delayed and carried over from 2013. I've not managed to fathom too many new translations at the moment, which is slightly disheartening, but hopefully this list will be added upon as time goes on, another addition will be the translation of the latest offering from Murakami which I think is due in the first half of the year, any further suggestions are indeed welcome.

January -
Oh, Tama!, by Kanai Mieko, translated by Tomoko Aoyama and Paul McCarthy, Kurodahan Press   

February -
The Guest Cat, by Hiraide Takashi, translated by Eric Selland, New Directions

March -
Cage on the Sea - Kaoru Ohno - translated by Giles Murphy - Bento Books
Parade - by Yoshida Shuichi - Harvill Secker/Vintage
Kutze, Stepp'n on Wheat, by Shinji Ishii, translated by David Karashima, Thames River Press
Punk Samurai Slash Down, by Machida Kou, translated by Wayne P. Lammers - Thames River Press
Kingdom of the Wind, by Hiroyuki Itsuki, translated by Meredith McKinney - Thames River Press
The Book of Tokyo: A City in Short Fiction - Anthology edited by Jim Hinks, Comma Press

April -
Gan - by Mori Ogai, new translation by Glenn Anderson - One Peace Books
Granta 127: Japan, edited by Igarashi Yuka. published in conjunction with Tokyo International Literary Festival, 2014.
The Hunting Gun by Inoue Yasushi Inoue - a new translation by Michael Emmerich - Pushkin Press
Literature for Revolution: An Anthology of Japanese Proletarian Writings, edited by Norma Field and Heather Bowen-Struyk, UCP

May -
Triangle by Matsuura Hisaki, translated by David Karashima, Dalkey Archive Press
I Want to Kick You in the Back - Risa Wataya, translated by Julianne Neville, One Peace Books

June -
The Iceland - by Sakutarō Hagiwara, translated by Hiroaki Sato, New Directions
Silver Wings of the Campanula - Yuka Nakazoto, translated by Matt Treyvaud - Bento Books

July-
The Diner - Yumeaki Hirayama, Exhibit A Books

August
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Year of Pilgrimage - by Haruki Murakami, translated by Philip Gabriel, Secker Harvill
Curious Cadaver in the Dissectorium of Daniel Burton - Hiroko Minagawa, translated Alexander O. Smith - Bento Books
Confessions by Kanae Minato, translated by Stephen Snyder - Mullholland Books
Life of a Counterfeiter by Inoue Yasushi - Pushkin Press

October -
Last Winter We Parted - Fuminori Nakamura - Soho Press
Cogwheels and Other Stories - Akutagawa Ryunosuke, translated by Howard Norman, Mosaic Press
The Anniversary of the Salad - Machi Tawara, Pushkin Press
Malice - Keigo Higashino, translated by Alexander O. Smith, Little Brown

November
Selected Poems - Sakutaro Hagiwara, translated by Hiroaki Sato, NYRB/Poets

December -
Genocide of One - Kazuaki Takano, translated by Philip Gabriel, Mulholland Books