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Kafka - Shinsekai Yori/From the New World is split into six sections, titled: 若葉の季節, 夏闇, 深秋, 冬の遠雷, 劫火, and 闇に燃えし篝火は. I've just come to the end of part one, "Season of Young Leaves" and I thought I'd share my thoughts. "What would happen if humans developed telekinetic powers?" Everything seems happy-go-lucky on the surface, but children are disappearing, and no one seems to take notice. These ideas taken by themselves may be a bit hackneyed, but I was most drawn in by the book's presentation. From the New World is presented to us as a memoir, a cautionary tale from the 'new world' to an even newer world and an investigation of a past now lost — all at the same time. While there are a couple of anachronisms, and I have to wonder how the narrator was able to remember some (info dump) things she shouldn't have been able to understand at the time in full, the writing itself hews fairly close to this pretext. I have been vague so f...

Daniel - MORI Hiroshi is connected to a lot of firsts for me, so I wanted to touch on those a little bit (and how I originally got into his books) before putting down some thoughts on '風は青海を渡るのか' and its series, which may make this post a bit long (sorry).

Jenn - To say the market is saturated in 異世界 narratives is an understatement. There are so many of them in Japan that Kodansha had to ban them from their yearly novel contest in 2017 . But I still love them all the same! When I saw this in the book shop I just really, really wanted to read it. Weirdly enough I love farming narratives. Stories like のうりん and 銀の匙 are great at scratching this itch I sometimes get for farming stories. It might be because I grew up in the rolling countryside of the UK. Or because I went to work on farms in Japan for a few months the first time I ever went to Japan. So there's a lot of nostalgia factor for me. Or just because I'm really weird. Either way, I was really excited to read this book! But then I started reading it and it's... not what I excepted. I'm about 1/3 into the book and the main character is SUCH a Gary-stu. The prologue has the protagonist, a man in his 40s who just died of a crippling illne...

Daniel - Again I thought I'd try something different and this book caught my eye while I was book shopping over the Winter break. Written by the same author as the 'Ikebukuro West Gate Park' series, this one is about four women living together in a share-house, and follows their attempts at finding love in the heart of Tokyo. I've got maybe a third left to plough through, but I've been really enjoying it so far. Although some aspects have of course been exaggerated for entertainment value, it provides an interesting look into the messy and often shallow world of group and speed dating with some comical episodes and cutting witty quips from our protagonist. The protagonist's constant clashes with the ideologies and expectations of the men surrounding her and her friends throughout the story generate a lot of food for thought on a number of social issues currently plaguing Japan. Being a very grounded slice of life novel, the language doesn't throw ...

What do you plan/want to read the coming month? Kafka  幼女戦記 (3) 新世界より (上) 銀河鉄道の夜 (Re-Read) Jennifer  異世界のんびり農家 Back Stage! (2) Daniel  コンカツ？ 風は青海を渡るのか？：The Wind Across Qinghai Lake? 勝手にふるえてろ