BOOKLIST

My 2010 book list update. EDIT: Updated July 28.

Finished:

Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami

East Asian Multilateralism - Francis Fukuyama and Kent E. Calder

Speed Tribes - Karl Greenfeld Taro

Discourses of the Vanishing - Marylin Ivy
Gold Rush - Yu Miri

Pacific Alliance - Kent E. Calder
Yakuza - David E. Kaplan and Alec Dubro
Sexual Violence and the Law in Japan - Catherine Burns
Hiroshima - John Hersey  

International Relations of Asia - Shambaugh & Yahuda eds.

In Progress:

Korea's Place in the Sun - Bruce Cumings

I am a Cat - Natsume Soseki

中国行きのスロウ・ボート　村上春樹　Slow Boat to China - Haruki Murakami (Short Story Collection)

Goal is to finish all of these before leaving for Japan!

Recent Goings On

I recently finished East Asian Multilateralism, comipled/edited by Kent Calder and Francis Fukuyama. In general, I liked the book - there was little that stuck out as unreasonable to me. Maybe I will try and pick an article or two to talk about here later in the week.

I have also been reading Gold Rush by 在日 author Yu Miri (柳 美里) which is not for the squeamish so far, but on the whole a fairly quick read. I'm still about a quarter of the way through.

Lastly, I started taking Advanced Japanese at Japan-America Society in the windy city. It is interesting being back in a classroom setting for Japanese since it has been about a year, but I got into the mix fairly quickly. The class is taught by an older Japanese woman who has that goofy おばちゃん appeal. All in all, I am satisfied so far.

Pre-Christmas Booking

I recently picked up Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami, it will be the fifth novel by Murakami that I have read. While I have this time off I consider it a good time to plow through a good stack of books. Moreover, it is Christmas time and I foresee a good five non-fiction books waiting under the tree for me, so I am going to finish this new one before Christmas. I also have Madame Bovary kicking around, but that is how it will remain - being punted occassionally. Now that I am no longer in D.C. I can't take 15-page chunks at a time out of it while on the train.

Murakami is always surprising, surprising because he can draw me in without realizing it. Even though I am used to the way he pulls me in with each book so far. I wonder how much it has to do with the translations that I read. I have the feeling the translations are pretty true-to-form. Murakami seems to exude the attitude found in the translated works, and that is sufficient in convincing me. I still have only read his short story "Tony Takitani" in Japanese, but I am still unable to pick up most written nuance in Japanese. Nonetheless, when I read a translation I pick up some set phrases and feel like I can translate them backwards in a sense.

I am exactly a third of the way through the book and I had to stop myself before a good 60 some page section was coming up. I will be saving it for tomorrow.