Monthly Book Club + What Are You Reading? (Feb 2018)

[Deleted member 1067]

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Join the ResetEra Book Club on Goodreads.


Hey everyone, posting the new thread a little early as I'm going to be out of town a bit later this week and don't know if I'll have the time to post the new thread on the 1st.

This month's book club selections in the poll will be dedicated to Ursula K. Le Guin, who unfortunatly passed on the 22nd of January. This titan of fiction is going to be sorely missed, and I hope some of you who might be getting to experience her work for the first time will find something you like.

If you guys want to go ahead and recommend books for the next Book Club please go ahead and post! I am keeping a list to have a decent running set of books to go off of for the next months, so nothing is going to be missed and I'll try to get to everything eventually. Just make sure to @ me in the post that way I catch the book and add it to the list. I might catch it anyways, but no promises.


The book for the February Book Club is Meditations by Marcus Aurelius!

Few ancient works have been as influential as the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, philosopher and emperor of Rome (A.D. 161–180). A series of spiritual exercises filled with wisdom, practical guidance, and profound understanding of human behavior, it remains one of the greatest works of spiritual and ethical reflection ever written. Marcus's insights and advice—on everything from living in the world to coping with adversity and interacting with others—have made the Meditations required reading for statesmen and philosophers alike, while generations of ordinary readers have responded to the straightforward intimacy of his style. For anyone who struggles to reconcile the demands of leadership with a concern for personal integrity and spiritual well-being, the Meditations remains as relevant now as it was two thousand years ago.

March Book Club - Poll Options

Ursula K. Le Guin's groundbreaking work of science fiction—winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards.

A lone human ambassador is sent to Winter, an alien world without sexual prejudice, where the inhabitants can change their gender whenever they choose. His goal is to facilitate Winter's inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization. But to do so he must bridge the gulf between his own views and those of the strange, intriguing culture he encounters...

Embracing the aspects of psychology, society, and human emotion on an alien world, The Left Hand of Darkness stands as a landmark achievement in the annals of intellectual science

Winner of the Nebula Award, the Hugo Award, the Locus Award, and one of the most acclaimed writers in science fiction, Ursula Le Guin's classic novel The Lathe of Heaven imagines a world in which one man's dreams can change all of our realities.

In a world beset by climate instability and overpopulation, George Orr discovers that his dreams have the power to alter reality. Upon waking, the world he knew has become a strange, barely recognizable place, where only George has the clear memory of how it was before. He seeks counseling from Dr. William Haber, a psychiatrist who immediately understands how powerful a weapon George wields. Soon, George is a pawn in Haber's dangerous game, where the fate of humanity grows more imperiled with every waking hour.

As relevant to our current world as it was when it won the Locus Award, Ursula Le Guin's novel is a true classic, at once eerie and prescient, wildly entertaining and ferociously intelligent.

Originally published in 1968, Ursula K. Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea marks the first of the six now beloved Earthsea titles. Ged was the greatest sorcerer in Earthsea, but in his youth he was the reckless Sparrowhawk. In his hunger for power and knowledge, he tampered with long-held secrets and loosed a terrible shadow upon the world. This is the tumultuous tale of his testing, how he mastered the mighty words of power, tamed an ancient dragon, and crossed death's threshold to restore the balance.

Centuries ago, the moon Anarres was settled by utopian anarchists who left the Earthlike planet Urras in search of a better world, a new beginning. Now a brilliant physicist, Shevek, determines to reunite the two civilizations that have been separated by hatred since long before he was born.

The Dispossessed is a penetrating examination of society and humanity -- and one man's brave undertaking to question the unquestionable and ignite the fires of change.


Beta Reading for WritingEra

Hey guys writing era has a beta reading discord for aspiring writers in the era community, and some of them wanted to share some stories to see if you guys might give them a read and provide your thoughts on them.

Rivenblade - "[A] comedic fantasy about an elf who falls down a well and bargains his rescue with a mythical creature that isn't as majestic as advertised." Link for the story:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JGJpV2FGxc7qHhOv8UrLfRHlvWrhXaNLY6vPZhsIpLo/edit?usp=sharing




If you can, please give these guys a quick read on their stories. Any help to fellow Era members is a help to everyone, and you might be surprised and find a story you like!


Previous Book Club Threads:

• Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
  
• Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky (Dec 2017)
  
• We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy by Ta-Nehisi Coates (Nov 2018)
• Blindness by Jose Saramago (Feb 2014)
• The Quiet American by Graham Greene (Jan 2014)
• If on a winter's night a traveler by Italo Calvino (Sept 2013)
• Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (July 2013)
• Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (Feb-Mar 2013)
• The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (September 2012)
• Catch-22, by Joseph Heller (January 2012)
• The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (December 2011)
• Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West, by Cormac McCarthy (Oct 2011)
• The Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov (Sep 2011)
• The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas (Aug 2011)
• Master and Commander, by Patrick O'Brian (July 2011)
• The Happiness Project, by Gretchen Rubin (June 2011)
• A Visit from the Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan (May 2011)
• The Afghan Campaign, by Steven Pressfield (Apr 2011)
• Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert A. Heinlein (Mar 2011)
• Flashman, by George MacDonald Fraser (Feb 2011)

-----

Support ERA authors:

• aidan (Hugo Award winner): http://aidanmoher.com/blog/ / Tide of Shadows and Other Stories
• AngmarsKing701: Ahvarra: The Heart of the World ; Knight Descendent: Knight's Journal 1; Author Page of Brian Lang
• cosmicblizzard: Freeze Kill
• Xagareth - Lamplight
  
• Elfforkusu: Wrath of Flight
• Fidelis Hodie: Derek Agons Slays a Dragon
• H.Protagonist: Dead Endings
• Hop: The Latte Segment
• Plasticine Live Undead
• UCBooties Trumpocalypse
• whatevermort: The Explorer; No Harm Can Come to a Good Man; Long Dark Dusk by James Smythe
• HK Lune - New Tales From Old Yarn: Fairy Tales and Myths, Rewritten and Re-imagined by Writers

Explore

• Reddit's Favorite Books Published in 2016
• Goodreads 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime
• The 40 Best Sci-Fi Books According to Reddit

 

[ContentWarning]

The one I've been waiting years for....

 

[Atraveller]

Centuries ago, the moon Anarres was settled by utopian anarchists who left the Earthlike planet Urras in search of a better world, a new beginning. Now a brilliant physicist, Shevek, determines to reunite the two civilizations that have been separated by hatred since long before he was born.

The Dispossessed is a penetrating examination of society and humanity -- and one man's brave undertaking to question the unquestionable and ignite the fires of change.

Click to shrink...

Reading this right now. Le Guin is so good.

 

[TheBeardedOne]

Still reading:

...but I'm taking a bit of a break from the last one and have been focused more on Strange Weather than anything else. I just finished my second of the four stories (about the cloud), and am now reading the one about the shooting.

 

[Deleted member 8861]

I'm reading a very short Turkish novel (novella, really) by Reşat Nuri Güntekin called Pity (originally "Acımak"). It's about a teacher, Zehra, who is merciless against any flaw her students may have. Her father dies, whom she's very distant from, and leaves her his journal. Upon reading it, Zehra realizes how his fsther could barely save Zehra from her abusive mother and grandmother in their toxic marriage, and comes to learn the feeling of pity.

I don't know if there's a translation.

 

[Xagarath]

I'm having a short break from classic literature and going for this for some lighter reading:

 

[gosublime]

Finished Spies the other day.

Was actually pleasantly surprised by it, but I can see why my wife dislikes teaching it - the book is based a lot on the nostalgia that people feel for their childhood and the mistakes they have made in those years. Teaching that to a group of Y11 males is a difficult task as they aren't really old enough to get the concept of nostalgia and with modern tech, the whole way the main character has lived has probably disappeared from young people's lives. Still, it was a good book and the twist at the end - although a bit odd - is actually revealed to be quite well worked throughout the book. On to the Metal Gear Solid book and Meditations next!

 

[Jonnykong]

I started reading Little Fires Everywhere last night. Seems enjoyable so far.

 

[MilkBeard]

Voted for A Wizard of Earthsea. I have both Lathe of Heaven and WoE, and will probably read the former this month, saving the latter for March, but I'd be down for reading any of the others on the list for March as well. Either way, it's a win-win for me whatever is chosen.

As for my current reading, I'm nearing the end of Pride and Prejudice. It's a pretty good book, although I'm not particularly fond of the writing style. I'd probably give it 3 stars when all is said and done. We'll see what the final 50 pages brings, though.

 

[Fuu]

It (Stephen King)
This book is so much fun, holy shit. I'm glad I finally started it. I'm halfway through and it reads impressively fast considering its length.

Ready Player One (Ernest Cline)
30% in and it's entertaining. Yeah, the prose is weak and I'm aware of some other issues, but it's a light read and it holds your attention. I legitimately love the educational uses of the OASIS and I hope we get close to that point with VR one day because it truly rocks.

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Becky Chambers)
I bought the Brazilian hardcover copy of this one and I started it yesterday because I wasn't allowed to use my Kindle at the place where I was doing visa procedures. Excellent intro, I'm already liking the characters and the way the setting is presented so organically. Heard a lot of good things about it and I'm looking forward to reading more.

 

[Maker]

Currently reading Idaho

 

[fakefaker]

I'm currently reading and at around page 90 in Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio by Pu Songling. The best stories so far were The Golden Goblet and Stealing a Peach while The Fornicating dog was just f'd up.

 

[Jules]

 

[Jules]

Still reading:

...but I'm taking a bit of a break from the last one and have been focused more on Strange Weather than anything else. I just finished my second of the four stories (about the cloud), and am now reading the one about the shooting.

Click to shrink...

She's good! This one is on my list also.

 

[Pau]

Read all the reading club options, but I will admit I'm not a fan of The Lathe of Heaven. Could not get into it at all. Would prefer to re-read The Dispossessed or The Left Hand of Darkness.

Looking at this month's book... I'm a bit biased against philosophy because it can be such a sexist field. But might as well give it a try.

I'll mention this here since I didn't get to in last month's thread. I finished reading Never Let Me Go and didn't really enjoy it. I think my issue was that none of the three main characters were likable and I didn't find their interactions interesting. I didn't mind the pace nor the focus on the characters in theory considering the subject matter, but ultimately didn't care for the execution.

Currently reading Iris Chang's The Chinese in America.

 

[Darryl M R]

Morgan Simon has spent the past 15 years building bridges between the worlds of finance and social justice. From working in close partnership with marginalized communities around the world to serving as managing director of the Candide Group, where she currently supports members of the Pritzker family on behalf of the Libra Foundation, Simon has been paying close attention to the values at work in the way money is invested.

Her experience, knowledge, and passion in guiding wealthy families, foundations, and financial institutions coalesce powerfully in her first book, Real Impact. She documents the learning process that led her to work in impact investing and social activism, and how it informed her nuanced understanding of the many unaddressed issues that limit systemic change.

(https://ssir.org/book_reviews/entry/keeping_it_real)

 

[UCBooties]

I'm still finishing up Fire & Fury which is taking me longer than this type of pop-political fluff should. Next up I'll be reading Iron & Blood by Gail Martin and then I'll finish up Brian Stavely's Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne.

 

[TheBeardedOne]

She's good! This one is on my list also.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, she is. I read Dark Places earlier this month and liked it quite a bit. Although the end was kind of disappointing.

 

[Deleted member 8861]

I've finished reading Acımak. ("To Pity")

I normally don't read Turkish literature (for many reasons, I have never felt very interested in my own culture), but this book waa a very touching short story.

Zehra is a middle school teacher. She's extremely hardworking and devoted, but she's ruthless against weakness,especially in her students. She's grown hating her father, who was an alcoholic. She's summoned back to Istanbul with news that her father's on his deathbed and wishes to see her. She doesn't want to go, but eventually does. She's a day late, however; and when she arrives, her father has already passed away. Among his meager belongings, Zehra finds his father's journal and starts to read it on a whim.

It's a very touching novella. It sucks that there's no English translation...

Edit: Read the first chapter of The Count of Monte Cristo (the unabridged Robin Buss translation). I'm excited. Gonna have to read One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest this weekend for school (and Frankenstein ASAP also), and after Monte Cristo I'll be reading "Guns, Germs and Steel" - the first time I'll be learning history willingly.

 

[Auctopus]

Finished Hekla's Children - it was alright. I don't have a lot to say about it. The author makes a strange move of letting 3 characters tie up the final act of the book, 2 of which had barely been developed or described beyond their first name. The genre mix is cool though.

Now starting Between The World & Me - not sure what to expect.

 

[Forerunner]

I'm still reading The 48 Laws of Power (I'm on law 24, so halfway there). It's actually longer and more detailed than I thought it would be. It's pretty interesting how he breaks up the book.

He first tells you about the law. Then he'll give some examples of it throughout history. Lastly, he tells you how to use it and also if you can reverse it.

So it also has a lot of historical information in it, this makes it even more enjoyable for me (I love history).

 

[Spectromixer]

I started reading Meditations last week. I was having trouble with the free Kindle version because of the language so I switched to the Penguin eBook, and it is lot clearer and easier to understand.

Excited for Le Guinn month!

 

[AngmarsKing701]

Just finished Misfortune of Vision as part of a Goodreads co-author read/review. It was solid but had some issues I shared with the author. 3/5

Ploughed into Norse Mythology on my plane ride and got about 1/3 of the way through. Didn't realize what an easy read it is.

Also picking The Aesir Kids (final book in the co-author read/review group). Have to finish that by end of March so might polish off Norse Mythology first.

 

[gaiages]

I started Meditations, but the intro was really... I don't know, I had trouble reading it. I skipped the rest of the intro after reading about Aurelius' life (I don't care about your comparisons to The Imitation of Christ, author/translator, sorry), so I'll actually read the bulk soon.

I started reading Meditations last week. I was having trouble with the free Kindle version because of the language so I switched to the Penguin eBook, and it is lot clearer and easier to understand.

Excited for Le Guinn month!

Click to shrink...

That's good to know! I haven't read any of the actual Meditations part yet, but if I have more problems I'm glad to know there's another option.

 

[Ravensmash]

Struggling a bit with Before They Are Hanged.

Liked the first book but it took quite a while for me to get into due to the slow pace at the start. Had hoped for this to continue into the second now the exposition had been built but its quite a slow burner at the moment.

 

[deftones r cool]

Looking to express myself creatively again this year. I've got a lot on my mind which I feel needs to be released. I'm hoping this book will get me out of my rut from that perspective.

 

[G-Nitro]

So my final January physical book tally is below. The one digital book I finished was Casino Royale by Ian Fleming.

Below is my current TBR, but I've already finished Catacomb by Madeleine Roux and In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom by Yeonmi Park, so I'll be adding more. For digital, my TBR is Binti by Nnedi Okorafor and Carve The Mark by Veronica Roth.

 

[Deleted member 8861]

About 60% through One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. Pretty good.

In January, I finished Inferno, Purgatorio, The Unconsoled and a Turkish novella. Pretty decent run.

 

[Matsukaze]

Recently finished a reread of A Lesson Before Dying. Still holds up as one of the most powerful novels I have ever read. Jefferson's journal entries towards the end are overwhelming.

Now reading It Can't Happen Here. I started it ages ago but got sidetracked and put it down. It's frightening how prophetic Lewis was.

 

[Futureman]

I just started reading Infinite Jest. I'm somewhat of a slow reader so it's gonna take awhile to finish but I really like it so far. About 150 pages in.

 

[Deleted member 3815]

Currently reading this;

While I like the creepiness and how Lovecraft sets up the Gothic environment...the dude is unashamedly racist giving how he describe Black people as beast like and gave a character a cat that was called N-word man, which is based on Lovecraft real cat.

 

[SecondNature]

I just finished Harry Potter. Never read it as a kid. I absolutely am in love with the Hogwarts school and loved reading about all the classes and mysteries. Man, what a ride. I enjoyed it more than the overarching Voldy story, but enjoyed that too.

Such a genius kid's book IMO. Take a mundane thing like school, make it literally magical, throw in some fun characters and imagination, and create a 7 series book that ages with the readers. I'm so jealous that I can't write something that seems so obvious yet so wonderful. So many average kid's novels that are nowhere near as enjoyable as HP.

Im so sad its over and dont know what to read any more. I hope we see more novels in the Harry Potter universe, but I guess I need to move on and find something else. Strangely, I dont care to read something modern after reading something so imaginative. But anyways, I wish I read this as a kid.



Also, I read this in ebook format, but now I really want the physical collection to sit on a shelf. Do these books go on sale ever?

 

[fakefaker]

Wrapped up Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio by Pu Songling and I really loved this Chinese classic. It reminded me that there are so many good books out there that I haven't yet read or discovered.

Next up for me, I'll be starting The Gray House by Mariam Petrosyan.

 

[Turtleboats]

A life changing book that doesn't give you positive reinforcement, but rather how can we take the negatives in our life and apply them for something good. Also, not giving a fuck about mundane, petty, and useless things :)

 

[Deleted member 8861]

I just finished Harry Potter. Never read it as a kid. I absolutely am in love with the Hogwarts school and loved reading about all the classes and mysteries. Man, what a ride. I enjoyed it more than the overarching Voldy story, but enjoyed that too.

Such a genius kid's book IMO. Take a mundane thing like school, make it literally magical, throw in some fun characters and imagination, and create a 7 series book that ages with the readers. I'm so jealous that I can't write something that seems so obvious yet so wonderful. So many average kid's novels that are nowhere near as enjoyable as HP.

Im so sad its over and dont know what to read any more. I hope we see more novels in the Harry Potter universe, but I guess I need to move on and find something else. Strangely, I dont care to read something modern after reading something so imaginative. But anyways, I wish I read this as a kid.



Also, I read this in ebook format, but now I really want the physical collection to sit on a shelf. Do these books go on sale ever?

Click to shrink...

Read GONE by Michael Grant and the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan, they both write much more diverse casts and dare I say, I prefer their stories. Especially GONE is quite underrated. I'm quite soured on HP after hearing about Rowling's recent behavior regarding some characters and the new Fantastic Beasts movie.

 

[roboleon]

I'm bursting through Yuval Noah Harari's Sapiens and Homo Deus right now

Probably some of the most interesting pop-sci history books I've ever read, maybe the best ones since Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel

 

[Deleted member 8861]

I have finished reading One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. Weird book, I liked it, 6.5./10.

Now I'm moving on to The Count of Monte Cristo proper, though I'll have to read Frankenstein soon also. I'm not complaining :P

 

[Just Some Rando]

Starting The Scarlet Letter Monday, on my cold-reading stream.

I'm not sure which Ursula K. Le Guin book to go with, to read for myself. The only novels I've read are the Earthsea ones, long ago, and a lot of her short stories. The Lathe of Heaven sounds like a good pick for me, from the above list.

 

[Deleted member 8861]

I'm not sure which Ursula K. Le Guin book to go with, to read for myself. The only novels I've read are the Earthsea ones, long ago, and a lot of her short stories. The Lathe of Heaven sounds like a good pick for me, from the above list.

Click to shrink...

The Dispossessed is one of my favorite books. I couldn't get very much into The Lathe of Heaven, and if The Left Hand of Darkness is chosen I'll be reading it for the first time along with everybody else.

 

[weemadarthur]

Started on the Meditations, reading Wisehouse edition.

It struck me that grammar nazi-ing is really old. And that people didn't like being corrected then either.

From Alexander the grammarian, to refrain from fault-finding, and not in a reproachful way to chide those who uttered any barbarous or solecistic or strange-sounding expression; but dexterously to introduce the very expression which ought to have been used, and in the way of answer or giving confirmation, or joining in an inquiry about the thing itself, not about the word, or by some other fit suggestion.

Click to shrink...

 

[Avis]

So I have 2 Audible credits, and have been debating what to use them on.

So far I'm pretty set on fire and fury being one. The other I was thinking either 12 rules for life or the subtle art of not giving a f*ck, but I could also go for a good mystery as well.

 

[Wibblewozzer]

So I have 2 Audible credits, and have been debating what to use them on.

So far I'm pretty set on fire and fury being one. The other I was thinking either 12 rules for life or the subtle art of not giving a f*ck, but I could also go for a good mystery as well.

Click to shrink...

I'm not super well read on mystery books but for something more modern I enjoyed The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino. It has a 4.1 at Goodreads.com, which I don't go to much so I'm not sure how that ultimately compares, but I'm assuming it's considered good by most.

If you haven't read older stuff then Agatha Christie has always been solid for me. I still like And Then There Were None the most of what I've read, albeit it's also one of the most well known so you may have read it already.

 

[gosublime]

Finished the Metal Gear Solid book by Third Editions. After being a little unimpressed by the first Dark Souls book, this one was much better. I think it helps that, although I love Metal Gear, I haven't watched hundreds of lore videos about the series and read all the guides, other books and ephemera around the series. This meant the book was a much better fit - although I know the broad brush strokes of the Metal Gear series and story line, having it all laid out in a fairly coherent and well worked fashion helped a lot. The section on themes and stories behind the games was also well done - I'm looking forward to next month's, which is on Bioshock. On to Meditations.

 

[Avis]

I'm not super well read on mystery books but for something more modern I enjoyed The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino. It has a 4.1 at Goodreads.com, which I don't go to much so I'm not sure how that ultimately compares, but I'm assuming it's considered good by most.

If you haven't read older stuff then Agatha Christie has always been solid for me. I still like And Then There Were None the most of what I've read, albeit it's also one of the most well known so you may have read it already.

Click to shrink...

Thanks, think I'll try and then there were none.

 

[Sean C.]

Some small portions of Kenzaburō Ōe's The Silent Cry, a novel that I did not particularly enjoy when I read it last year, referred to the experiences of Korean immigrants dwelling in Japan as a result of the decades of Japanese imperial rule of the Korean Peninsula from the late 19th century until the end of the Second World War. I came away thinking that I'd have been interested to read more on the topic, and, serendipitously, I soon afterward learned of the release of Min Jin Lee's Pachinko, a multigenerational epic about the Korean migrant underclass. Upon reading it, I thought it was an excellent piece of writing, skillfully covering most of the 20th century in a comparatively economical 500 pages. I found myself occasionally resorting to the internet to look up the meanings of particular Japanese terms, but otherwise it was not difficult to understand what was going on, despite Japanese culture/history not being an area I'm deeply familiar with.

Some aspects of the story are very culturally particular (as with, for instance, the title, which comes from a popular game in the country that became a common economic venture for Koreans looking to earn economic security when they were largely shut out of "respectable" occupations), but others are much more universally applicable. For instance, there's a comparatively brief relationship between Korean student Noa and an ethnic Japanese girl who initially appears liberal but turns out to the Japanese equivalent of a western white girl who fancies herself enlightened because she idealizes members of a minority group and dates them.

Given the timeframe of the novel (which technically begins in the Edwardian period, I believe, and then ends circa 1990), and the book's length, Lee employs a narrative style that frequently jumps forward a few years between chapters, with groupings of chapters around particularly significant periods for the main family. This poses a constant challenge for the author as far as keeping us apprised of and invested in key developments for her main characters, but she manages it quite ably, never losing sight of everyone. The narrative also manages to surprise in a number of respects, as there are occasionally characters that you figure will be around for the longer run but unexpectedly exit in a variety of ways. I left feeling both enlightened and entertained by the experience of reading this.

 

[fakefaker]

Some small portions of Kenzaburō Ōe's The Silent Cry, a novel that I did not particularly enjoy when I read it last year, referred to the experiences of Korean immigrants dwelling in Japan as a result of the decades of Japanese imperial rule of the Korean Peninsula from the late 19th century until the end of the Second World War. I came away thinking that I'd have been interested to read more on the topic, and, serendipitously, I soon afterward learned of the release of Min Jin Lee's Pachinko, a multigenerational epic about the Korean migrant underclass. Upon reading it, I thought it was an excellent piece of writing, skillfully covering most of the 20th century in a comparatively economical 500 pages. I found myself occasionally resorting to the internet to look up the meanings of particular Japanese terms, but otherwise it was not difficult to understand what was going on, despite Japanese culture/history not being an area I'm deeply familiar with.

Some aspects of the story are very culturally particular (as with, for instance, the title, which comes from a popular game in the country that became a common economic venture for Koreans looking to earn economic security when they were largely shut out of "respectable" occupations), but others are much more universally applicable. For instance, there's a comparatively brief relationship between Korean student Noa and an ethnic Japanese girl who initially appears liberal but turns out to the Japanese equivalent of a western white girl who fancies herself enlightened because she idealizes members of a minority group and dates them.

Given the timeframe of the novel (which technically begins in the Edwardian period, I believe, and then ends circa 1990), and the book's length, Lee employs a narrative style that frequently jumps forward a few years between chapters, with groupings of chapters around particularly significant periods for the main family. This poses a constant challenge for the author as far as keeping us apprised of and invested in key developments for her main characters, but she manages it quite ably, never losing sight of everyone. The narrative also manages to surprise in a number of respects, as there are occasionally characters that you figure will be around for the longer run but unexpectedly exit in a variety of ways. I left feeling both enlightened and entertained by the experience of reading this.

Click to shrink...

I have this on my wishlist so I appreciate the review. Sounds like a pretty amazing novel.

 

[Matsukaze]

I had my eye on Pachinko at the bookstore the other day. Might grab it next time I'm there.

 

[Deleted member 1067]

I have this on my wishlist so I appreciate the review. Sounds like a pretty amazing novel.

Click to shrink...

Same. Thanks for the review Sean C. !

 

[SocksForWok]

I've got book 2 of the Red Rising series to read.

 

[Miletius]

This semester I'm taking a Japanese Lit class on Murakami. We read one novel a week, so it's gonna be a busy couple of months. I feel like it kinda counts, since I'm taking the class for fun, don't need the units or class at all. It's just for me to get in touch with modern Japanese literature.

I started off reading these two novellas last week.

Yes, the current English edition of the book features the novellas in a weird back to back format. That being said, both of them were fairly engaging if somewhat different. Murakami has a distinct postmodernist style to him, at least in both of these novellas. That is to say, nothing really happens in both of these novels. There's a lot of meandering, some recollections from the past, and a few peppered elements that could be considered story drivers, but overall both of these books were about nothing. I really ended up enjoying them though, because they really challenged my notions of what a story ought to be and instead let the reader focus on the interpersonal drama in the novella(s).

Without spoiling it too much, I'll say this: it focuses on the lives of a couple of twenty somethings, who spend their time drinking, smoking, and just generally trying to get by in life. They don't have any particular goals or aspirations, nor do they have any aspirations.

This upcoming week I'm reading:

A Wild Sheep Chase is Murakami's first full length novel, and centers on the characters from the first two published novellas but in a more structured, detective-like story. Murakami seems to have left behind the purposelessness of both Hear the Wind Sing and Pinball, while still incorporating some of the nihilism of his earlier works. Coming right off of Pinball, A Wild Sheep Chase feels more grounded and a bit less interesting. There is still a bit of that listless wandering, but there is a plot that beats behind it that moves the novel forward. Some people probably prefer that -- I'm not sure that I'm one of them in this particular case.