Books I Read for January in Japan + Recommendations!

Posted On January 30, 2022

Hi Readers! I participated in January in Japan this month & read 3 books translated from Japanese! I had only read Haruki Murakami’s books earlier. But, this month I saw people reading so many Japanese authors across genres. Till last year, Japanese only meant Murakami & magical realism to me. But, now I have a long list of books to read. But, I will get to those after I tell you about the books I did read!

~~THE TRAVELLING CAT CHRONICLES by HIRO ARIKAWA~~

When I started reading The Travelling Cat Chronicles, I was immediately immersed into it. The book starts with a stray cat narrating the story of how he was adopted by a kind man. I thought, that’s cute! A light warm-hearted story. But then, it jumps to 5 years later when that kind man Satoru is looking for someone else to adopt the same cat (now named Nana) because of some unmentioned reasons. It doesn’t take long to realise that he wants to give away Nana because Satoru is dying. So much for a light warm-hearted story! But, even with this slightly sad doom always looming on the threshold of the story, I really liked reading this book.

All the cherished stories of friendship, love, belonging are pure in entirety. All the memorable trips with Satoru & Nana in the silver van feel like you are with them sitting in the back seat feeling all that those two are feeling. I truly enjoyed the beauty of countryside with its horses & sea of grass & unexpected sight of double rainbows. I was lost in their world & they made me feel welcome to experience all those things, but also all the emotions beyond those things too. I loved being on this bitter-sweet journey of stimulating yet funny conversations, frightening yet hopeful destinations, new yet familiar friendships & a riveting thought-provoking presence, all in 238 pages! I have rated The Travelling Cat Chronicles at 4/5 stars!

Check out the full review here!

~~1Q84 by HARUKI MURAKAMI~~

I thought it would take me at least a month to finish this book, but it only took me 14 days. But, now that I look back at it, I honestly have no clue how this story was written across 1318-pages! This is one of the reasons why I haven’t reviewed it yet. 1Q84 is the parallel world to 1984 where Aomame finds herself. The chapters are divided between Aomame & Tengo, our main characters. They both are involved in dangerous things. Tengo is ghost-writing a book called Air Chrysalis & soon the world of 1Q84 itself becomes the fictional world of Air Chrysalis. There are 2 moons in the sky. There are Little People in this world. There are many other weird things in addition to this, as is expected in any Murakami novel. I liked the eccentricity of this world, though dangerous, it was captivating. For the most part of it, I was engaged with the story & had a good reading experience. I may or may not write the full review, but this does sum it up. I have rated 1Q84 at 3.5/5 stars!

~~CONVENIENCE STORE WOMAN by SAYAKA MURATA~~

I finished this book today so it is still very fresh in my mind. Keiko Furukura is our convenience store woman who is neuro divergent. While there are many things that the author wanted to convey, two of them were visible throughout. In the first half of the book, we see the routine life of Keiko which is basically where the author wanted to establish the life of neuro divergent people. In the second half, we see how a single woman is perceived by the society even after we have come forward after all those years from the Stone Age. I really enjoyed reading this book. It has touched upon a lot of tangents and I loved reading about all of those. I will write a review on this book soon! I rated Convenience Store Woman at 4/5 stars!

~~BOOK RECOMMENDATION FOR JAPANESE LITERATURE~~

As I mentioned earlier, I was acquainted with MANY Japanese books this month. I couldn’t read more than 3 books, but I definitely plan on reading these during the rest of the year. I have mentioned some books as per authors, some as per genre & so on. Hope you find the next book to read from this list.

~~Haruki Murakami~~

Kafka on the Shore

1Q84

Norwegian Wood

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Sputnik Sweetheart

~~Kazuo Ishiguro~~

Never Let Me Go

Klara and the Sun

The Remains of the Day

The Buried Giant

An Artist of the Floating World

~~Sayaka Murata~~

Convenience Store Woman – Contemporary Fiction

Earthlings – Horror

A Clean Marriage – Short Stories

~~Yoko Ogawa~~

The Memory Police – Science Fiction

The Housekeeper and the Professor – Fiction

Revenge – Horror Short Stories

~~Hiromi Kawakami~~

Strange Weather in Tokyo – Fiction

The Nakano Thrift Shop – Fiction

People from My Neighbourhood – Short Stories

~~Books about Cats~~

The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa

If Cats Disappeared from the World by Genki Kawamura

My Cat Yugoslovia by Pajtim Statovci

The Cat Who Saved Books by Sōsuke Natsukawa

I am a Cat by Soseki Natsume

The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide

The Cat And The City by Nick Bradley

~~Mystery & Crime Genre~~

The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo

The Inugami Clan by Seishi Yokomizo

The Lady Killer by Masako Togawa

The Master Key by Masako Togawa

The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji

Murder in the Crooked House by Soji Shimada

The Tokyo Zodiac Murders by Soji Shimada

The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino

Out by Natsuo Kirino

~~Some More~~

Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami

The Phone Box at the Edge of the World by Laura Imai Messina

The Woman in the Purple Skirt by Natsuko Imamura

Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto

A Personal Matter by Kenzaburō Ōe

In the Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami

Confessions by Kanae Minato

I hope your TBR is enriched with some of these amazing books! I am always here to give book recommendations, so if you are looking for anything in particular, reach out to me!

Until next time,