This year, I read so much fantastic fiction. Having taken a break from writing classes with reading lists, I have instead been following the big prize nominated books… as well as picking up books that capture my curiosity. The year is not over yet, but as of today my
Ooh yay I love lists! Thanks for this! I started reading Genji with you but fell behind when the content started to bother me (it never bothered me as a kid, very strange). I would love to try it again, or even another classic. I (possibly foolishly) bought myself a literary Chinese online course during Black Friday 🤦🏻♀️, did I think I was going to actually read the classics in Chinese? I’m in need of a reality check! I will try to catch up with you on Genji...are you watching the NHK drama?
Happy new year, Maya! Which online Chinese course did you sign up for? We are so much alike I cannot tell you how many times I have wanted to do that but I have physically stopped myself and restrain myself because I definitely want to finish these two manuscripts have been working on for so long but I can imagine myself doing the exact same thing and that’s my first choice would be classics in Chinese. Which course? And good for you! I’m not watching the NHK drama is it good? I’m going to get back to the Genji but I kind of wish I had done Makioka sisters instead.
my mom just informed me that the NHK drama starts on 1/7 so I'll give it a shot, although I suspect it won't be creepy enough to suit me haha. But I'll take historical costumes in any form so I'll be watching! NHK has the budget for it! I paid a shocking amount of money to Outlier Linguistics for a 6-course classical Chinese pack, but I got it for 40% off during Black Friday. It was still a fortune, OMG. I feel in my gut that it's something I need to do? I tried to do classical Japanese last year and it was such a bear, I was so discouraged. If you do Makioka Sisters I'll definitely do that, but if you go back to Genji so will I!
I’m going to look up the course. I’m really trying to complete some writing and I’m trying not to get distracted but signing up for some thing like that is exactly what I would love to do. I’m going to be getting back to Genji in February! By the way do you watch NHK on your computer? I don’t watch any Japanese TV at all anymore except things that are on Netflix but I would love to watch Genji by any chance do you have a link or any suggestions or do you just have it on your TV?
I haven't even cracked open the courses, I'm scared and feeling slightly ridiculous! send me an email, I'll give you the subscription info for both mine and my mother's Japanese TV options! do you have my email? is it okay to post it here? (I have no idea who can see what on substack). you can prob email me through Japlish?
Happy new year! I really appreciate you sharing this post about read along‘s. I had started one in 2023 on the Genji and I’m only in the early chapters on the autumn excursion chapter but it didn’t seem like anyone else was reading but I tried to make my posts more general about Japan. I’m gonna keep going with it in 2024 I’ve also been doing Moby Dick but I’ve been doing it on my own because it’s not really related to Japan or the Substack. Wishing you all the best in 2024!
Deborah Harkness. A Discovery of Witches. Second read! The question that led to this book: If there really are witches and vampires, what do they do for a living?
Hisashi Kashiwai: The Restaurant of Lost Recipes. A Detective book about food rather than dead bodies. It made me interested in how Japanese approach cooking.
Scott Westerfield. Pretties. A friend told me I had to read this back when he was a teen.
Matt Haig. The Midnight Library. What if you could try on other lives till you found the one you really wanted?
That’s such a great list. Matt Hage is coming out with a new book in 2024 and I can’t wait to read it! And that book on food is on my list of books that I want to read did you like it? I thought it looked really great. I’ve never heard of the writer before.
Hisashi Kashiwai‘s book? Yes, it was really neat. It’s also about people, but it definitely made me hungry while reading. And it opened new doors to me towards cooking.
The authors last name is so unusual I don’t think I’ve ever heard that last name or the author before they definitely wanted to read the book! I think so I mentioned it in a Japanese literature group on Facebook 😛
I love to see a list of fiction reads! I think people read too much nonfiction these days. Especially fun to see because I have read none of these books. 🙌🏽
It's been a great year of fiction for me as well. I made a list earlier this year: https://sneakyart.substack.com/p/s105. Maybe the most magical/beautiful thing I have read this year is The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie.
That is such an amazing list. The enchantress of Florence is one of my favorite books of all times. Midnights children is my favorite of his and I also love Shalimar the clown, set partly in Kashmir. I think Rushdie is my favorite living writer. I also love love love Ted Chiang. My husband is a professor of physics at Caltech. He works in astrophysics and every year I usually read at least one science book and I realize I didn’t do one this year. Kip Thorne who won the Nobel prize for gravity waves just came out with a beautiful art book he’s collaborating with a local artist, at least I think she’s local I actually don’t know anything about her, too represent his theories in these beautiful paintings so I did buy that because you really haven’t even opened it! The writer who wrote the last Queen is one of the biggest selling writers I think her agent is in California and I’ve always wanted to read one of her books.
Ohh I really want to see the book by Kip Thorne now! And I think Shalimar the Clown is going to be on next year's list. I cannot believe it took me so long to read Rushdie, but now I am an absolute fan. ❤️
He’s definitely my favorite writer and I’ve always thought he deserves a Nobel prize because he’s so original! Midnights children was probably my favorite although when I think about it enchantress was also one of my favorites and you know what I think you should read next? The moors last sigh!! I think there was a YouTube video about the book by Kip Thorne I’m gonna see if I can find it!
Ooh yay I love lists! Thanks for this! I started reading Genji with you but fell behind when the content started to bother me (it never bothered me as a kid, very strange). I would love to try it again, or even another classic. I (possibly foolishly) bought myself a literary Chinese online course during Black Friday 🤦🏻♀️, did I think I was going to actually read the classics in Chinese? I’m in need of a reality check! I will try to catch up with you on Genji...are you watching the NHK drama?
Happy new year, Maya! Which online Chinese course did you sign up for? We are so much alike I cannot tell you how many times I have wanted to do that but I have physically stopped myself and restrain myself because I definitely want to finish these two manuscripts have been working on for so long but I can imagine myself doing the exact same thing and that’s my first choice would be classics in Chinese. Which course? And good for you! I’m not watching the NHK drama is it good? I’m going to get back to the Genji but I kind of wish I had done Makioka sisters instead.
my mom just informed me that the NHK drama starts on 1/7 so I'll give it a shot, although I suspect it won't be creepy enough to suit me haha. But I'll take historical costumes in any form so I'll be watching! NHK has the budget for it! I paid a shocking amount of money to Outlier Linguistics for a 6-course classical Chinese pack, but I got it for 40% off during Black Friday. It was still a fortune, OMG. I feel in my gut that it's something I need to do? I tried to do classical Japanese last year and it was such a bear, I was so discouraged. If you do Makioka Sisters I'll definitely do that, but if you go back to Genji so will I!
I’m going to look up the course. I’m really trying to complete some writing and I’m trying not to get distracted but signing up for some thing like that is exactly what I would love to do. I’m going to be getting back to Genji in February! By the way do you watch NHK on your computer? I don’t watch any Japanese TV at all anymore except things that are on Netflix but I would love to watch Genji by any chance do you have a link or any suggestions or do you just have it on your TV?
I haven't even cracked open the courses, I'm scared and feeling slightly ridiculous! send me an email, I'll give you the subscription info for both mine and my mother's Japanese TV options! do you have my email? is it okay to post it here? (I have no idea who can see what on substack). you can prob email me through Japlish?
Good morning! I just tried to send you an email through Substack but I’m not sure it worked! The email started with the word Apollo XOXO
I cannot seem to figure out how to email from here... here is my email! leanneogasawara@icloud.com
Thank you!!! I bought the textbook for the classical Chinese course and am saving the link--it looks fantastic!!!
Thank you for listing all the books you loved in 2023. Added some of them to my to-read pile!
Happy new year!!!
Happy New Year to you too!
Have you seen this https://open.substack.com/pub/footnotesandtangents/p/how-to-make-the-most-of-your-read-along?r=1knlds&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post - maybe you could do something similar for The Tale of Genji?
Happy new year! I really appreciate you sharing this post about read along‘s. I had started one in 2023 on the Genji and I’m only in the early chapters on the autumn excursion chapter but it didn’t seem like anyone else was reading but I tried to make my posts more general about Japan. I’m gonna keep going with it in 2024 I’ve also been doing Moby Dick but I’ve been doing it on my own because it’s not really related to Japan or the Substack. Wishing you all the best in 2024!
Some of these just moved to my 2024 list. Onward!
My favorite books this year about life, the world and everything:
Lenore Newman. Lost Feast: Culinary Extinction and the Future of Food. Akin to a Michael Pollan book!
Angela Garbes. Like a Mother. A Feminist Journey through the Science and Culture of Pregnancy. Full of wow-I-did-not-know-this!!-stuff.
Stefano Mancuso. The Incredible Journey of Plants.
Winifred Bird. Eating Wild Japan.
I loved Birds’ book!!!! Newman’s book sounds really interesting I have not heard of it!
My favorte stories read this year:
Deborah Harkness. A Discovery of Witches. Second read! The question that led to this book: If there really are witches and vampires, what do they do for a living?
Hisashi Kashiwai: The Restaurant of Lost Recipes. A Detective book about food rather than dead bodies. It made me interested in how Japanese approach cooking.
Scott Westerfield. Pretties. A friend told me I had to read this back when he was a teen.
Matt Haig. The Midnight Library. What if you could try on other lives till you found the one you really wanted?
That’s such a great list. Matt Hage is coming out with a new book in 2024 and I can’t wait to read it! And that book on food is on my list of books that I want to read did you like it? I thought it looked really great. I’ve never heard of the writer before.
Hisashi Kashiwai‘s book? Yes, it was really neat. It’s also about people, but it definitely made me hungry while reading. And it opened new doors to me towards cooking.
The authors last name is so unusual I don’t think I’ve ever heard that last name or the author before they definitely wanted to read the book! I think so I mentioned it in a Japanese literature group on Facebook 😛
I love to see a list of fiction reads! I think people read too much nonfiction these days. Especially fun to see because I have read none of these books. 🙌🏽
It's been a great year of fiction for me as well. I made a list earlier this year: https://sneakyart.substack.com/p/s105. Maybe the most magical/beautiful thing I have read this year is The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie.
That is such an amazing list. The enchantress of Florence is one of my favorite books of all times. Midnights children is my favorite of his and I also love Shalimar the clown, set partly in Kashmir. I think Rushdie is my favorite living writer. I also love love love Ted Chiang. My husband is a professor of physics at Caltech. He works in astrophysics and every year I usually read at least one science book and I realize I didn’t do one this year. Kip Thorne who won the Nobel prize for gravity waves just came out with a beautiful art book he’s collaborating with a local artist, at least I think she’s local I actually don’t know anything about her, too represent his theories in these beautiful paintings so I did buy that because you really haven’t even opened it! The writer who wrote the last Queen is one of the biggest selling writers I think her agent is in California and I’ve always wanted to read one of her books.
Ohh I really want to see the book by Kip Thorne now! And I think Shalimar the Clown is going to be on next year's list. I cannot believe it took me so long to read Rushdie, but now I am an absolute fan. ❤️
He’s definitely my favorite writer and I’ve always thought he deserves a Nobel prize because he’s so original! Midnights children was probably my favorite although when I think about it enchantress was also one of my favorites and you know what I think you should read next? The moors last sigh!! I think there was a YouTube video about the book by Kip Thorne I’m gonna see if I can find it!
I hope you get the chance to read his latest, Victory City, which is an excellent retelling of the story of the Vijaynagara empire in South India.
It’s sitting right next to me on my nightstand! I’m looking forward to reading it. I love him!
🥰