what are you reading wednesday?

[frenzy]

I think I'mma start doing the 'what're you reading wednesday'. afaik, zhelana started it, but another person picked it up. And I'd like to 1) keep better track of what im reading and 2) maybe retain it a little better lol. This doesn't take a ton of focus, unlike writing a weekly update. So, without further ado.

What have I finished Reading:

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami - I had read Kafka on the Shore by the same author and loved it and decided to give this a try. This book didn't have the same surreal elements though. It was sort of a coming of age book, but talks a lot about a friend's suicide affected the protagonist and a friend. it talks a lot about sexuality and stuff too. there's also a lot of awkward romance-notromance. Murakami doesn't write my favorite women, but I usually am forgiving of that, but this book was worse than Kafka. It was almost distracting. It was a good book, but not great.

What am I Reading:

Unwritten by Mike Carey - This is a graphic novel and I'm reading trades 2 through 11. I had read the first trade a year ago and wasn't really feeling it, but my husband enjoyed it and bought the whole series. It starts as basically a spoof of harry potter, only called Tommy Taylor, but it turns out the irl person Tommy is named after gains powers the more people believe in the myth. But there's a lot of convoluted rules and caveats. Its occasionally confusing, I'm assuming to keep me interested in reading, but idk, I'm just not feeling it. I'll finish it out, but I have better stuff on my to-read pile coming.

And thats it. I can only read 1 thing at a time.

Comments

[luzclarita]

Quick story. Many many moons ago, I dated a young Japanese man in his early 20s. His favorite two books in the whole world were Norwegian Wood and Catcher in the Rye. I'm not a huge Catcher in the Rye fan (although I do like Salinger's short stories). The reason he said he loved both books so much was that most books in Japan do not ever talk about rebelling or questioning reality or society in any way. These two books are totally unlike anything he had read before that, and they enabled him to be brave and to make his own decisions rather than to live for his parents. So for that reason alone, it has kind of a nostalgic place in my heart. We were terrible as lovers (in retrospect because I'm a lesbian), but I am still friends with that guy and like him a whole lot. I agree with you about the female characters, but compared to other Japanese literature I've read, they are unfortunately much more well-rounded and have greater depth.

[frenzy]

Yeah it seems the cultural impact is pretty great here. Also, Im judging it as someone in 2019 and not when it was written, which is the middle 80s iirc.

I don't regret reading it. And tbh almost every book I read writes women terribly.