I’ve got a bit of a thing for Japanese novels at the moment.
I fell upon Banana Yoshimoto’s ‘Lizard’, which was the first Yoshimoto for me and, rather unlike this critic who attacks it as vapid for its romanticism, I think it is a wonderful book that extends fascinatingly way out from its cultural context. It was intimate, transcending conventional Japanese formality and that was refreshing, even if deliberate. Yoshimoto’s tool worked and you felt like you were right there in the bedroom with her characters – a compliment to a compilation of short stories dedicated to the rich fabric of lovers in love. It’s for this reason, actually, that I liked it much better than Haruki Murakami’s ‘Norwegian Wood’. It was a bit too dry and boyish for me, but I’m a self-confessed womancentric kinda gal.
Breaking the cycle though, I’m just about to start ‘Tuesdays With Morrie’ by Mitch Albom after a friend shoved it under my nose.
Thanks for the good words on Signout. I am loving *your* stuff long time!
Judging from your blogroll, you’d love “I Blame the Patriarchy.” (blog.iblamethepatriarchy.com) Even when it’s wrong, it’s right.
Keep up the good work–
Signout
Thank God lovelies like you exist, I say, because I sure as hell couldn’t do your job. It’s not so much the gore that I’m sure you face daily, but the reminder that we are all just these fallible machines that age and decay and breakdown before ultimately, conking out altogether. I think most of us are able to get through the day, the week, the year by putting up a big mother of a barrier between us and the acknowledgement of our own mortality. Your job, I would imagine, would make the existence of a barrier like that extremely freaking difficult. So my hat goes off to you!