Book after Book

Welcome to the blog tour for Four Seasons in Japan by Nick Bradley! More about the book… Flo is sick of Tokyo. She is stuck in a rut, her translation work has dried up, and she's in a relationship that's run its course. That's until she stumbles upon a mysterious book left by a drunken passenger on the Tokyo Subway. From the very first page, Flo is transformed and immediately feels compelled to translate this forgotten novel, a decision which sets her on a path that will change her life... It is a story about Ayako, a fierce and strict old woman who runs a coffee shop in the small town of Onomichi, where she has just taken guardianship of her grandson, Kyo. Haunted by long-buried family tragedy, both have suffered extreme loss and feel unable to open up to each other. As Flo follows the characters across a year in rural Japan, through the ups and downs of the pair's burgeoning relationship, she quickly realises that she needs to venture outside the pages of the book ...

Welcome to the blog tour for Point Zero  by Seichõ Matsumoto, translated from the Japanese by Louise Heal Kawai! More about the book… Tokyo, 1958. Teiko marries Kenichi Uhara, ten years her senior, an advertising man recommended by a go-between. After a four-day honeymoon, Kenichi vanishes. Teiko travels to the coastal and snow-bound city of Kanazawa, where Kenichi was last seen, to investigate his disappearance. When Kenichi’s brother comes to help her, he is murdered, poisoned in his hotel room. Soon, Teiko discovers that her husband’s disappearance is tied up with the so-called “pan-pan girls”, women who worked as prostitutes catering to American GIs after the war. Now, ten years later, as the country is recovering, there are those who are willing to take extreme measures to hide that past. More about the author… Seicho Matsumoto (1909-1982) was Japan's most successful mystery writer. His first detective novel,  Points and Lines , sold over a million copies in Jap...

Welcome to the blog tour for Mongrel by Hanako Footman! More about the book… Mei loses her Japanese mother at age six. Growing up in suburban Surrey, she yearns to fit in, suppressing not only her heritage but her growing desire for her best friend Fran. Yuki leaves the Japanese countryside to pursue her dream of becoming a concert violinist in London. Far from home and in an unfamiliar city, she finds herself caught up in the charms of her older teacher. Haruka attempts to navigate Tokyo's nightlife and all of its many vices, working as a hostess in the city's sex district. She grieves a mother who hid so many secrets from her, until finally one of those secrets comes to light... Shifting between three intertwining narratives,  Mongrel  reveals a tangled web of desire, isolation, belonging and ultimately, hope. More about the author… Hanako Footman is a British-Japanese actor and author living in London. Mongrel  is her debut novel. My impressions… My, oh my, what a...

Welcome to the blog tour for Fish Swimming in Dappled Sunlight by Riku Onda! More about the book… Set in Tokyo over the course of one night, Aki and Hiro have decided to be together one last time in their shared flat before parting. Their relationship has broken down after a mountain trek during which their guide died inexplicably. Now each believes the other to be a murderer and is determined to extract a confession before the night is over. Who is the murderer and what really happened on the mountain? In the battle of wills between them, the chain of events leading up to this night are gradually revealed in a gripping psychological thriller that keeps the reader in suspense to the very end. More about the author… Riku Onda, born in 1964, has been writing fiction since 1991 and has published prolifically since. She has won the Yoshikawa Eiji Prize for New Writers, the Japan Booksellers' Award, the Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize and the Naoki Prize. Her work has been adapted for film and ...

Welcome to the blog tour for A Single Rose , written by Muriel Barbery and translated from the French by Alison Anderson. More about the book… Forty-year old botanist Rose arrives in Japan, bitter and unsure what to expect. Haru, the Japanese father she never knew, has died and she has been summoned to Kyoto to hear the reading of his will. In the days before her father ’s last wishes are revealed, his former assistant Paul takes Rose on a tour of the city, following an itinerary set by Haru before his death. An awkward guest in her father ’s house, Rose is initially angry and resentful at the intrusion of the past. But as she visits the beautiful temples and gardens, and experiences the local cuisine with Paul, Rose gradually finds much to love about Kyoto. Through her discovery of the city, she learns about her father and his legacy, and herself, finding gifts greater than she had ever imagined. More about the author… Muriel Barbery is a former lecturer in philosophy and the author o...

By Laura Imai Messina Translated from the Italian by Lucy Rand Published by Manilla Press Synopsis: When Yui loses her mother and daughter in the tsunami, she wonders how she will ever carry on. Yet, in the face of this unthinkable loss, life must somehow continue. Then one day she hears about a man who has an old disused telephone box in his garden. There, those who have lost loved ones find the strength to speak to them and begin to come to terms with their grief. As news of the phone box spreads, people travel to it from miles around. Soon Yui makes her own pilgrimage to the phone box, too. But once there she cannot bring herself to speak into the receiver. Then she finds Takeshi, a bereaved husband whose own daughter has stopped talking in the wake of their loss. How did this book end up in my hands? I read this novel twice. Once in Italian (original title:  Quel che affidiamo al vento ) and once in its English translation. The English version of the book was provided to me by...

By Riku Onda Translated from the Japanese by Alison Watts Synopsis: On a stormy summer day in the 1970s the Aosawas, owners of a prominent local hospital, host a large birthday party in their villa on the Sea of Japan. The occasion turns into tragedy when 17 people die from cyanide in their drinks. The only surviving links to what might have happened are a cryptic verse that could be the killer's, and the physician’s bewitching blind daughter, Hisako, the only family member spared death. The youth who emerges as the prime suspect commits suicide that October, effectively sealing his guilt while consigning his motives to mystery. Inspector Teru is convinced that Hisako had a role in the crime, as are many in the town, including the author of a bestselling book about the murders written a decade after the incident. The truth is revealed through a skilful juggling of testimony by different voices: family members, witnesses and neighbours, police investigators and of course the m...

Having previously loved reading TheLife-Changing Magic of Tidying , I just had to pick up the follow-up to the book:  Spark Joy: An Illustrated Guide to the Japanese Art of Tidying by Marie Kondo , translated by Cathy Hirano. There is so much that sparked joy for me in this book: the adorable illustrations, the thorough index, the useful tips, the references to Japanese culture and the pervasive sense of respect for the things that serve us purpose, or that don’t. With bookshelves still laden with tomes, even after my attempt at letting go of some, my attention was drawn once again to the topic of books: When you’ve finished tidying your books, step back and take a good look at your bookshelves. What kinds of words leap out at you from the titles on their spines? […]  The energy of book titles and the words inside them are very powerful. In Japan, we say that ‘words make our reality’. The words we see and with which we come into contact tend to bring about even...

Please join me in congratulating Erin Niimi Longhurst , a Japanese/British food, art and travel blogger, on her first book, Japonisme , published today by Harper Collins . The elegance of the simple illustration and the texture of the hardback cover speak of the attention to detail and the traditional values that inspired the creation of this beautiful lifestyle guide. I haven't spent a lot of time with this book yet but I already feel that it will be a great companion in the months to come - as I intend to savour it in small morsels.

Tectonic Model (Flow) - Takahiro Iwasaki's installation in the Japan Pavilion at the Venice Art Biennale 2017