March 16, 2008

On books and such


Reading this review, on the recently discovered blog Neojaponisme, about the new winner of this year's Akutagawa prize in Japan made me realize that I still have a shelf of Japanese books to read.

The book reviewed, Chichi to ran ( Breasts and Eggs), sounds very interesting. It reminds me a little of a previous Akutagawa-winner, the book Snakes and Earrings by Hitomi Kanehara. The way the new winner appears to be written, and the topic it is on, seems to be pretty refreshing - which Kanehara did a few years ago, but completely differently.

I haven't read any of these books in the picture for over two years. I should really start getting back into it, if I want to be able to maintain my Japanese (reading) skills. The last two years have just been too hectic to be able to focus on books like this. Today felt different. I've been cleaning out my house, getting rid of a lot of things, and it feels as if the restlessness is well and truly gone. Who knows, I might be able to sit down for one of the books from that shelf again. Or maybe really start thinking about a project? Plenty of ideas... which is very good.

No comments: