Welcome to Litsy!

Hi! It‘s been a while. I‘m enjoying some reading time starting Statues in a Garden for the Author Spotlight Series I host, then an audio copy of Mater 2-10 by Hwang Sok-Yang, translated by Sora Kim Russell & Youngjae Josephine Bae for book club. I‘m still feeling the glow of our 1st trip to Japan so I want to read Tokyo Express by Seichō Matsumoto, translated by Jesse Kirkwood. Then I am dipping in & out of an essay collection by Elisa Gabbert.

I enjoyed this chance find of a detective mystery involving government corruption, shady business dealings, cynical emotional manipulation and malignant jealousy. And who knew that train timetables could be so murderously interesting? (Ok, Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, etc, etc. ?)
I paired this with The Dave Brubeck Quartet's 1964 Jazz Impressions of Japan, as it has a track, "Toki's Theme", the book having a character of this name. ⬇️

The charity book table at our local supermarket has some of the most awful titles on it (Jeremy Clarkson! Boris Johnson!!), a sad indictment of the reading habits of my neighbours (though, who am I to judge 🧐), but I still cast an eye over it each time I pass, which has eventually paid off.

Awesome! 😍 Thank you very much Suba, for my #Jolabokaflodswap package. @batsy I love them all!
I‘m also pleased to know an independent bookstore is being supported. 😊 Merry Christmas! 🎄

Thank you @MaleficentBookDragon for organising. Happy Jolabokaflod!

Really enjoying this so far...

“He normally came here for coffee every couple of days, so it was only natural for her to say this after his almost week-long absence. Of course, she knew nothing of his trip to Kyushu.”

Happy national book lovers day!

#wondrouswednesday @Eggs

Oops. It happened again...

Cover envy...

Wait... I've found another! This one is a Japanese detective novel from the 1950s.

Also pictured - a stack of hotel / island books. Why? I am not sure. Just seemed loosely thematic as I was sorting my books ??

So many books to read, and yet instead of reading them, I'm "rearranging" them...

This is an old-fashioned crime novel. The two detectives are not so much worried about who did it as with how did he do it? The main problem are the time tables of the train. As a reader you follow their detective work in 1957 Japan and it all makes for an engaging read.

Pic: Nezu Shrine, Tokyo, Japan

Japanese lunch and a Japanese book in Japan. Nothing more to wish for 🥰

This year is the 30th anniversary of Seicho Matsumoto‘s death, so films and TV adaptations of his novels are all over cable in Japan. He revolutionized Japan‘s mystery genre with probing depictions of the dark side of social issues. This case seems to be a love suicide to be conveniently closed but a grizzled detective can‘t let it go. Deceptively simple but subtle style, and I could see this unfolding on screen.

A man and a woman is found dead in the beach. Cyanide. It‘s concluded to be a lover suicide. But one of the detectives on the case doesn‘t believe this. Why would the man have eaten alone, wouldn‘t a woman in love have accompanied him even if it‘s just for a tea? So the investigation begins.

1st book for #AwesomeAugust
#foodandlit #Japan
#1958 #192025

Written in 1957 - this is the ultimate summer read. Full of trains, train timetables, waiting rooms, roadside cafes and a super clever mystery. It‘s elegant, sparse and beautifully written.

Just settling in for the first chapter of Bookclub book. Hope it‘s good - this month was my pick! 🤞🏼

Did somebody say WATERSTONES HAUL?!?!?!?!

Now I'm back home I can showcase my new books that I mooched off my Mum ?

Vintage Japanese detective novel? Disquieting Japanese thriller? Postmodern quartet that I'm undoubtedly going to have "opinions" on whether good or bad? ? French novel that I couldn't leave behind with a cover like that?

Sign. Me. Up! ?

(Also Mum forgot her loyalty card so I swiped all the points too ??)

Such lovely simple adverts. Want.