a post o' the day

[charmian]

Finished Gyakuten Kenji: Solid, but not world-altering (er, in the sense that it doesn't really develop the whole situation of the prev. appearing characters; more like it's a good detective novel, rather than the sort of novel where the point is to rearrange the characterization)

Finished also a Japanese novel that vaguely reminded me of Shunsaku Endo's stuff in that it's about the miserable lives of the common people in premeiji Japan (I can't tell whether it's Sengoku or Edo period, and that should tell you something), about a wretched village of fisherfolk who depend on luring ships to disaster for their very survival. The back cover describes it as "Gothic," yet it's nearly naturalism, but more lyrical than the image of what naturalism commonly is.

What to read next: Mishima's the Temple of Dawn (book 3 of the Sea of Fertility) or K.J. Parker's Devices and Desires? Or, another Graham Greene? (vote if you feel like it)

Comments

[myaru]

This is me being totally self-serving: Devices and Desires!

(It looked interesting. XD)

[charmian]

Heh, I think I'll read em both at once.

[morineko]

Which book was that, even if it is in Japanese?

I've already got the Parker (unread), so I vote for the Mishima. :)

[charmian]

The title is Shipwrecks, and right now I forget the name of the author (it's in translation).

Oh, have you read K.J. Parker before? What did you think?

[morineko]

I've read The Company and I liked it a lot; this is the book I was mentioning last year when I was complaining about people who insist on having completely sympathetic characters in their books.

[charmian]

Parker's books seem kind of hard to get (er, as in obtain). What I really wanted to read was the series about the guy who loses his memory, but thanks to the ultra generic titles, it's sort of hard to search for it.

I'm intrigued by some of the things that the author said in an interview about the fantasy genre.

[lennan]

I've never heard of Parker, so I've really no opinion on it. What sort of books does this author write?

But how have you been finding the Mishima Tetralogy? I read The Golden Pavilion and thought it was pretty weird although readable. I've heard that the Tetralogy is even weirder....