A bit of J-Lit rereading today, in the form of Natsume Sōseki's 'Spring Miscellany and London Essays' (translated by Sammy I. Tsunematsu), a collection of short stories and essays, many related to the great man's extended stay in London :) tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2022/06/27/s...

Always fun to try lesser-known works by famous writers, and today sees me taking a look at Yasunari Kawabata's 'The Scarlet Gang of Asakusa' (translated by Alisa Freedman), a fun stroll around the bright lights of 1930s Tokyo :) tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2026/04/13/t...

Another enjoyable evening spent perusing Korean Literature Now, with lots to enjoy in the latest edition - essays, interviews and stories, and all available online, too :) klwave.or.kr/klw/magazine...

A new addition to my Han Kang collection is 'Light and Thread' (translated by Maya West, e. yaewon & Paige Aniyah Morris), bringing together a variety of texts, including Han's Nobel Prize Essay :)

Something a little different on the blog today - Clemente A. Lisi's 'The World Cup' (courtesy of Bloomsbury Australia), all about the beautiful game's big event :) tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2026/04/09/t...

You might want to google - The Scofield Kobo Abe. (also @causticcovercritic.bsky.social and @m-lemoine-drake.bsky.social might too.)

More J-Lit today, with a reread of Hiromi Kawakami's 'Record of a Night Too Brief' (translated by Lucy North, published by Pushkin Press), a collection of three longish stories/novellas - see my 2017 review: tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2017/02/23/r...

After last week's positive review of Kōbō Abe's 'The Traitor' (translated by Mark Gibeau), it's no surprise that when I popped into Paperback Bookshop today, this is what I left with - 'The Ruined Map' (translated by E. Dale Saunders) a book several commentors recommended :)

My latest review looks at Elisa Shua Dusapin's 'The Old Fire' (translated by Aneesa Abbas Higgins, courtesy of Scribe Publications), a slow-burning story of a woman returning to her childhood home - to empty it... tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2026/04/06/t...

My latest review looks at Kōbō Abe's 'The Traitor' (translated by Marc Gibeau, courtesy of Columbia University Press), a fascinating historical novel in which the nature of loyalty is examined against the backdrop of war: tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2026/04/02/t...

My monthly wrap-up post for March, with links to all my posts :) tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2026/04/01/m...

'Sisters in Yellow' (translated by Laurel Taylor and Hitomi Yoshio) joins my Mieko Kawakami collection, so if you want to know more about the new kid on the Kawakami block... tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2026/03/31/s...

Out today (in Australia!), Mieko Kawakami's 'Sisters in Yellow' (translated by Laurel Taylor & Hitomi Yoshio, review copy courtesy of Picador Australia) - see what I made of it in my review :) tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2026/03/31/s...

It's Royall Tyler's translation today, as we look at Chapter 24 of 'The Tale of Genji', 'Kochō’ (‘Butterflies’). Sounds nice, no? Well, it is, to start with - find out why it gets rather darker by reading my recap... tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2026/03/27/t...

My latest arrival is this intriguing book, Yun Ko-eun's 'Art on Fire' (translated by Lizzie Buehler, review copy courteys of Scribe Publications), in which a Korean artist in California battles inspiration and wildfires!

My latest review looks at Nelio Biedermann's 'Lázár' (translated by Jamie Bulloch, courtesy of MacLehose Press), a family saga set against the backdrop of early-twentieth-century Hungary :) tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2026/03/23/l...

My latest review sees me exploring Bora Chung's ' The Midnight Timetable' (translated by Anton Hur, courtesy of Scribe Publications), seen here joining the rest of the gang ;) tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2026/03/19/t...

Another recent arrival I need to make time for, this time from Columbia University Press - Kōbō Abe's historical novel 'The Traitor' (translated by Marc Gibeau), which - in Tanizaki-like style - has a mysterious manuscript playing a key role. Anyone out there looking forward to this one?

Another step closer to completing the Dalkey Archive Press/ LTI Korea Library of Korean Literature - here's my review of Kim Junghyuk's collection 'The Library of Musical Instruments' (translated by Kim So-young): tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2026/03/16/t...

I took a sunny Sunday afternoon drive to the uni library to drop off some books - and to choose some more, of course! Which of these appeal?

Two recent arrivals (both translations from the French) from Scribe Publications: Emma Tholozan's 'Self-Worth' (tr. Emma Ramadan) and Elisa Shua Dusapin's 'The Old Fire' (tr. Aneesa Abbas Higgins) - now to find spots in my schedule for them ;)

It's New Year's at the Rokujō Estate, and Genji's a very busy boy, what with all the visits he needs to pay (mainly to his many women...). Drop in for a while with my take on 'Hatsune', Chapter 23 of 'The Tale of Genji' :) tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2026/03/12/t...

My latest review is of Giada Scodellaro's 'Ruins, Child', the latest winner of 'The Novel Prize' :) tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2026/03/09/r...

A book of lectures about a book about a film about a book - or something like that... Peter Stamm's 'Eine Fantasie der Zeit' ('A Fantasy of Time'): tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2026/03/05/e...

My latest review looks at Hanna Johansson's 'Body Double' (translated by Kira Josefsson, courtesy of Scribe Publications), a Swedish thriller where all is definitely not as it seems... tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2026/03/03/b...

My monthly wrap-up post for February: tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2026/03/01/f...

Part Two of my look at Chapter 22 of 'The Tale of Genji', 'Tamakazura', sees what becomes of our new heroine now she's back in the Capital, as well as exploring a theory about the possible origins of the chapter, and of the whole Tamakazura sequence... tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2026/02/27/t...

My latest review looks at Shūsaku Endō's 'The Final Martyrs' (translated by Van C. Gessel), a collection of stories with themes both personal and historical (my thirteenth Endō review!): tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2026/02/23/t...

Not content to just live blog my umpteenth reread of 'The Tale of Genji', I'm slowly (very slowly...) taking a second look at 'À la recherche du temps perdu', with this one arriving a few days back, allowing me to spend this afternoon at the dinner table with M. du Norpois ;)

Fair play - that's quite a burn ;)

I'm up to Chapter 22, 'Tamakazura', on my chapter-by-chapter stroll through 'The Tale of Genji, with today's passage taking us far away from the big city to meet a woman we've met before (albeit long, long ago...): tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2026/02/19/t...

Today's review looks at Helle Helle's 'They' (translated by Martin Aitken, courtesy of Giramondo Publishing), the first in a trilogy of books about a young Danish woman and her ailing mother: tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2026/02/16/t...

My latest review, for Reading Independent Publishers Month (#ReadIndies), looks at Alta Ifland's 'Voix de Glace / Voice of Ice' (courtesy of Punctum Books), a bilingual work of prose-poems that may or not tell us all about the writer :) tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2026/02/12/v...

Reflecting on past travel in the time of COVID - Karine Rosso's 'Between the Island and the Turtle' (translated by Anita Anand), the most recent addition to the QC Fiction catalogue :) tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2026/02/09/b...

I'm up to Chapter 21, 'Otome', on my Genji travels, in which we find out that the kids really are alright ;) tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2026/02/06/t...

Off to Chile today with Simón López Trujillo’s 'Pedro the Vast' (translated by Robin Myers, review copy courtesy of Scribe Publications), a novel of community, trees and... mushrooms? tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2026/02/03/p...

My January wrap-up post has all the links and info from #JanuaryInJapan - click on the link for more info :) tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2026/02/01/j...

My latest #JanuaryInJapan reread is of Kuniko Mukōda’s 'The Woman Next Door' (translated by A. Reid Monroe-Sheridan: Kurodahan Press), an engaging set of five stories featuring ordinary people in slightly depressing lives... tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2021/06/07/t...

My final post for #JanuaryInJapan looks at Thomas Gaubatz's 'The Textual Townsman' (courtesy of Columbia University Press), a book that takes us back to the Tokugawa period and examines it through the eyes of two writers: tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2026/01/29/t...

Another book about 'The Tale of Genji'?! My latest #JanuaryInjapan review looks at Richard Bowring's 'Landmarks of World Literature: Murasaki Shikibu – The Tale of Genji' :) tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2026/01/26/l...

We're back with Genji for my latest #JanuaryInJapan post, and in Chapter 20, 'Asagao', he's once again making eyes at a woman who's trying to say no - while poor Murasaki's heart breaks back at home... tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2026/01/23/t...

My latest #JanuaryInJapan review takes us far into the future with Hiromi Kawakami's 'Under the Eye of the Big Bird' (translated by Asa Yoneda, published by Granta Books), a novel telling us all about the human race, and how it ends... tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2026/01/21/u...

Another #JanuaryInJapan reread (see the comments for a link to my 2010 review) is of Yukio Mishima's sublime 'The Temple of the Golden Pavilion' (translated by Ivan Morris).

Calling Haruki Murakami fans! My recent #JanuaryInJapan reread was carried out to enable a post comparing the book and film versions of 'after the quake' (translated by Jay Rubin: directed by Tsuyoshi Inoue).

My most recent #JanuaryInJapan reread was of Shion Miura's 'The Great Passage' (translated by Juliet Carpenter), which - as is hopefully obvious from the photo - has to do with creating a dictionary.

If you were missing some sword-fighting for #JanuaryInJapan, today's post has got you covered as we head back to the 14th/17th century with 'Chūshingura' (translated by Donald Keene), the story of revenge being best serve cold and violently ;) tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2026/01/14/c...

Check out RJL'sreading project for #JanuaryinJapan 2026. 31 days of free-to-read short stories or excerpts from novels, encompassing a short history of modern Japanese fiction. I'll post a new short story every day, and you're welcome to read along!

Yo! I'll be in Paris tomorrow launching Ghost Mountain in French translation by Charles Roux. The launch is in L'Ecume des Pages at 7pm. I'll be interviewed by the wonderful Tim MacGabhann. www.parislibrairies.fr/agenda-18792...

It's Osamu Dazai time today for #JanuaryInJapan, with a slightly more feminine side than usual - take a look at my review of 'No One Knows' (translated by Ralph McCarthy, published by New Directions), a collection of fourteen stories told by women :) tonysreadinglist.wordpress.com/2026/01/12/n...

Reading from the library and indulging a few temptations from a flash book sale. 4 borrowed, 4 bought and a dozen donated, the dangers and delights of book sales. #library #books 💙📚 clairemcalpine.com/2026/01/11/a...