Welcome to Litsy!

#WondrousWednesday

1. I was thinking it would be something from C18th and I‘d have to research publication dates, but then I remembered The Tale of Genji from C11th
2. The number of books in a series isn‘t a consideration for me
3. The one I‘m most sad about is Reginald Hill‘s Dalziel and Pascoe series because I think he had a lot more to say about the state of the world.

Thanks for the tag @Andrew65

The moment I heard about a book that is over a thousand years old written by a woman I was in. There are several translations of this out there. So far I've heard many people like this one. I kinda want to also get the most recent one (done in 2015) because it has footnotes that provides context. Unsure when I'll get to read this but I'm excited to have it.

#two4tuesday @TheSpineView

Thanks for tagging me @TheNeverendingTBR & @julesG

1) I haven't read nearly as many classics as I think I have!

2) Lots and lots. The most popular classics that I'm yet to read are:

- The Great Gatsby
- Frankenstein
- Of mice & men
- Animal Farm

I also want to explore Woolf, Updike, Marquez, Achebe, Baldwin, Morrison & Rushdie. Also finally want to get round to The Tale of Genji.

I'm listening to an abridged version of this #classicLiterature. I don't know why I ever read classics, though... I always hate them! In one of the first chapters, a collection of noblemen bragged about ignoring women. One man talked about a woman he played hard to get with so hard that she died of a broken heart, and then told a story about a woman who didn't care about his aloof attitude and that made him dislile her. #JapaneseLiterature

It's been another great year. I will be busy all day compiling reading stats, like the book nerd I am. Average length of book: 242 pages. Average rating: 4.2 stars. #starslut

I feel bad to have missed the first two days of #adventrecommends but I love the idea @emilyrose_x so I'm jumping in! I'm focusing on books I read in 2019 & highlighting the ones that were special.

This was a monster buddy read with @Lindy & friends & it was a totally bewildering, frustrating, complex, & beautiful experience from start to finish! I read the Dennis Washburn translation. I felt like I was living another life while reading this 💫

Japanese imperial enthronement ceremony live right now. October 22, 2019

That's a pretty cool find! I wonder if they'll add this new found chapter to new editions

Especially those of you who joined @Lindy in the buddy read earlier this year, look at this!

”Now, a fifth chapter has been discovered. Depicting Genji‘s relationship with a woman that would eventually become his wife, the fifth chapter was found among the heirlooms of the home of Motofuyu Okochi, a descendant of a formal feudal lord.”

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/10/09/national/history/missing-part-tale-...

Hi love, look what i found. 😍 Just so thoughtful of you to get me The Little Prince bookmark, i adore it. Also, The Tale of Genji is something I wish to tackle soon, so that bookmark will be put to good use. Thank you, thank you! 💚

@ju.ca.no

#QuotsySept19 Day 6: #Cricket

How beautiful is this?
Miss K and I went to see the final part of Bristol Museum and Art Gallery's Japanese print exhibition: nature and seasons. I thought of the Littens even here as there were some prints by Utagawa Hiroshige from a series called "Famous Places in Edo and Murasaki's Genji". This is "Autumn Moon at Ishiyama Temple" where Murasaki is said to have begun "The Tale of Genji" on the night of the full moon of the 8th month of AD 1004.

It's been about 6 months since I slogged through a long book, and I wouldn't mind settling in with one for the rest of the summer...do any of these seem like particularly good choices?

1) Underworld by Don DeLillo
2) War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
3) 2666 by Roberto Bolano
4) Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
5) Jerusalem by Alan Moore
6) The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu

Today I visited the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston and enjoyed seeing these screens depicting The Tale of Genji. The book was often a tough read, but it‘s also one of the most impactful that I‘ve read this year.

#Genji #LiteraryTourism

This is Lady Murasaki - who wrote the Tale of Prince Genji (a book that has been sitting on my shelves for many many years... I‘m sure that I‘ll read it one day^^). Today we visited Uji (Kyoto) - the place where the last few chapters of the book take place and where there is a Genji Museum (which we didn‘t see as we arrived past closing time)

#black #colormepretty @Sweetkokoro

Great idea @Cinfhen here's my #top6reads so far that's bound to change in a minute! 😆 Thanks to Litsy and lots of book chats and group reads I've read so many amazing books, to the point where I've had to leave ol Will Shakespeare out 😅

Thanks for the tag @Leftcoastzen @Ruthiella @readordierachel and I'd love to see yours if you want to share @merelybookish @Lindy @BiblioLitten @erzascarletbookgasm @Reggie @Graywacke

I think today‘s prompt is a pretty accurate description of this classic!

#biginjapan #wanderingjune

“To me, what is just as remarkable is Murasaki‘s ability to represent, from the inside, the way men think—in particular, the way men justify to themselves actions whose motives they know to be ignoble and self-serving. She takes a scalpel to the male ego, even as she creates one of the great male characters in world literature.” -Louis Menand #Genji
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-radiant-prince-comes-to-f...

“So he had the cat at last, and he got it to sleep with him at night. By day he caressed it and fussed over it. Soon it was no longer shy, and it curled up in his skirts or cuddled with him so nicely that he really did become very fond of it. He was lying against a pillar near the veranda, lost in thought, when it came to him going Meow! Meow! ever so sweetly.”

Image:"Asakusa Rice Fields and Festival of Torinomachi," Utagawa Hiroshige, 1857

Read this with a group of Litsy ladies—definitely made it much more fun! Interesting from a historical and cultural perspective, and well-written. The meandering structure is different from most of our modern works—it doesn‘t seem to have any type of goal in mind and even keeps going after the title character dies. Still, it is one of the first recorded books ever written, about a thousand years ago, so worth reading!

I knew that Ukifune was in that nunnery—I KNEW it!! This is like a modern day soap opera! If they can‘t show you a body, they‘re not dead! 😁

At the National Museum of Tokyo: A kimono with a design of books and Heian-era carriages. Shades of #Genji …

@Daisey @llwheeler @bianca @saresmoore @bookandcat @mhillis @SoniaC @batsy @KathyR @TheWordJar @Faibka @RachelO @CindyMyLifeIsLit

“This is the first major loan exhibition in North America to focus on the artistic tradition inspired by Japan's most celebrated work of literature.... Covering the period from the eleventh century to the present, the exhibition features more than 120 works, including paintings, calligraphy, silk robes, lacquer wedding set items, a palanquin for the shogun's bride..”
https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2019/tale-of-genji

I didn‘t read many books in February, but I completed a few that will absolutely stick with me. Towers Falling is a wonderful middle grade book about 9/11, its impact yet today, and friendship. Prairie Fires is a thorough biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder that I truly enjoyed. The Tale of Genji is not really a favorite, but it dominated my reading this month. The readalong was great, and I will not soon forget it.

#MonthlyStats #ReadingStats

This book is incredibly difficult to review, but overall I‘m glad I decided to read it. It was by turns beautiful, confusing, infuriating, meandering, frustrating, and challenging. I appreciated the amazing descriptions and how it compelled me to learn a bit more about the history and culture of the Heian period in Japan. I‘m grateful to have read it with a group of readers that made it a truly worthwhile experience.

#Genji #1001books

I don't remember seeing anyone else share this resource yet that includes some summary and character information along with a section of photos of places referenced in the story. I specifically looked at the photos of Uji and the river as I read #Genji52 this morning.

http://www.taleofgenji.org

#Genji

Okay, did anyone else have a problem with the older princess just abandoning her sister to a possible rapist? “She felt terrible for her sister, who was innocently sleeping away, and it broke her heart to imagine what would happen.” Are you kidding me?? As the older sister, shouldn‘t she take care of the younger? Wouldn‘t they both have been safer together? Surely Kaoru would have been hampered by the presence of the sister; ⬇️ #Genji #genji47

Time for another Sunday morning breakfast with a book. I have a feeling this is going to be another rather frustrating chapter. There‘s so much secrecy and sneaking around.

#Genji #Genji51 #ReadandEat

Already inspired by the ‘Let‘s play the piano‘ event, walking home in sunlit Norwich: then so happy talking of #Genji 😊

I mentioned earlier that reading this felt like I lived an extra life. It's an impossible book to review/rate; I experienced every single emotion reading this strange, wondrous, frustrating, infuriating, enchanting, beguiling tale. We are deeply immersed in Heian-era courtly values in this book, & the fascinating thing for me is seeing the author work out her own ambivalent & contradictory feelings about her society. A tale shrouded in beauty. ⬇️

Sleep was out of the question. Not only did the old mother herself snore in a manner that was positively terrifying, but the two equally decrepit old nuns who slept with her, as though determined not to be outdone, snorted and grunted in their sleep in a way so indescribably ferocious that Ukifune felt she was in a den of wild beasts who might at any moment leap up and devour her. #Genji53 #Genji

#Genji - We started the first chapter on Jan 1 & 54 days later, it‘s over. Unlike one of the central characters, “confounded by this inconclusive outcome,” I like the ending, which doesn‘t wrap anything up neatly. These literary persons are timeless & I won‘t forget them. When again will I encounter ravaged moss & an endless parade of wet sleeves? Thank you, group read buddies; knowing you are out there kept me on track. It‘s been a pleasure.

I don't plan to review it (because HOW?), but I finished THE TALE OF GENJI last night and I can't even tell you how glad I am to see it in my to-return pile. I FEEL SO FREEEEEEEEE!

What really betrays the tale as fiction is simply that it is more beautiful than life. The narration gives grace and harmony to things that might otherwise be too tedious or distressing to sustain the reader‘s interest. It is as though the author has painted an immensely long and accomplished picture scroll.

-Royall Tyler, in his introduction to #Genji

So I did it! I finished this beast of a book!!! I‘ve got to say it was definitely challenging at times but I‘m really glad I read it. There won‘t be a reread though 😂

My mind is quite confused. It all happened a long while ago. It will come back to me in time—like a dream. #Genji54 #Genji

(We can blame the first novel ever written for the “It was all a dream” trope. Image: season 9 of Dallas tv series.)

@Daisey @llwheeler @bianca @saresmoore @bookandcat @mhillis @SoniaC @batsy @KathyR @TheWordJar @Faibka @RachelO @CindyMyLifeIsLit @xicanti

It is finished. I‘m glad to be done, but I‘m not saying, “Good riddance!” because I think I truly gained something from reading this, though I can‘t put my finger on exactly what. This is an epically long tale with repetitive tropes and an onslaught of despicable characters. If I didn‘t hate them, I felt sorry for them. But there was also something intangible here that laid a foundation for storytelling to come and that‘s not to be dismissed.

Happy Friday! Here‘s my new bookish shirt that I wore to school today. Then tonight I came home and read some more of this massive book. I just finished #Genji49 with a glass of wine, and I‘m not appreciating Kaoru‘s character as much as a few chapters ago.

#Genji #FridayNightBookClub #TeachersofLitsy #bookishshirt

Those amazing sleeves worn by the Heian era aristocracy are not just for mopping up tears 😭 :
“He seems to have lost his soul among her sleeves” and “I thought I was the only one who cared about her lonely sleeves, but the poor fellow feels the same way.” #Genji

@Daisey @llwheeler @bianca @saresmoore @bookandcat @mhillis @SoniaC @batsy @KathyR @TheWordJar @Faibka @RachelO @CindyMyLifeIsLit @xicanti

Here we go again! Looks like I‘m only 40 days behind 😂
#genji13

We were gonna take a Friday night walk, but certain individuals refused to let me put their cold weather gear on. Now Duffy's on my lap, Casey's beside me, and I'm gonna see if I can finish #Genji53.

I like this chapter more than the last few. PLOT TWIST!

“But do not think that your spells could have ever sufficed to subdue me. It is at the bidding of Kwannon, who all the while has protected her, that I let go my hold.” #Genji53 #Genji #evilspirit

(Speaking of Kwannon, I plan to visit the Asakusa Temple of the Goddess of Mercy on March 18.)

@Daisey @llwheeler @bianca @saresmoore @bookandcat @mhillis @SoniaC @batsy @KathyR @TheWordJar @Faibka @RachelO @CindyMyLifeIsLit @xicanti

“People are always telling these stories about foxes changing themselves into human beings,” Sozu said, “but so far as I know no one has ever seen it happen.” #Genji53 #Genji

(Internet photo of Toyokawa Inari shrine)

@Daisey @llwheeler @bianca @saresmoore @bookandcat @mhillis @SoniaC @batsy @KathyR @TheWordJar @Faibka @RachelO @CindyMyLifeIsLit @xicanti

(Niou‘s wife): He is impossible. He has done each of the women here—every one who has at all caught his fancy. #Genji51

It piqued him that among his own sister‘s gentlewomen there should be any good-looking girl who had not allowed him to cultivate her acquaintance. #Genji52

#randyprinceNiou

@Daisey @llwheeler @bianca @saresmoore @bookandcat @mhillis @SoniaC @batsy @KathyR @TheWordJar @Faibka @RachelO @CindyMyLifeIsLit

If this terrible river had not been so close at hand, the idea of taking her own life would probably never have entered her head. Here she had hardly a step to go. A sudden desperate impulse & the thing was over. If she had been somewhere on the hills, for example, however desperate her state of mind had been, she would never have set out to trudge the countryside, vaguely hoping to find a river. #Genji52 #dontblametheriver

“there is no knowing now where this drifting boat is bound” #Genji51

(I fear this drifting boat‘s destination. I missed reading #Genji yesterday because I was away from home all day. I plan to catch up on chapter 52 later today. What a distressing love triangle!)

@Daisey @llwheeler @bianca @saresmoore @bookandcat @mhillis @SoniaC @batsy @KathyR @TheWordJar @Faibka @RachelO @CindyMyLifeIsLit

His Highness never forgot that all too approximate twilight encounter. She seems not to have been anyone of any great moment, he reflected, but in herself she was certainly *very* nice; and he chafed, ever the incorrigible gallant, at that frustration of his desire. #Genji51 -Tyler #translation
(“Incorrigible gallant” is one way of putting it. 😏 I‘m going to paste the corresponding text from Waley in the comments for comparison.)