Ivan Morris – Tony's Reading List
Posts about Ivan Morris written by Tony| Tony's Reading List
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The previous chapter of The Tale of Genji that I looked at, ‘Aoi’, was so action-packed that I had to continue my take into a second post, but the excitement certainly didn’t stop…| Tony's Reading List
After an amorous side-quest last time around, one that didn’t go quite to plan, this chapter of The Tale of Genji gets us back on the main track of the story, with more about life at court an…| Tony's Reading List
In the previous chapter of The Tale of Genji, we saw our ‘hero’ hard at work with a spot of light infidelity, gaslighting, grooming and kidnapping, all while recovering from illness. H…| Tony's Reading List
Over the past few years, I’ve steadily been building up my collection of works on Murasaki Shikibu’s The Tale of Genji, and many of these have helped me deepen my knowledge of the Tale …| Tony's Reading List
It was during Women in Translation Month three years ago that my obsession with The Tale of Genji gathered speed, with a project to compare the various translations of the novel into English along …| Tony's Reading List
After a few hard shifts at the factory, I’m moving on today to something slightly different, a book that combines fiction and real life. Last year, as some of you may recall, I worked my way…| Tony's Reading List
One of the most fascinating times in Japanese history was the Heian period (794-1185), and we’re fortunate to have a number of translations into English, of both fiction and non-fiction works…| Tony's Reading List
Given that there was already an early partial translation of Murasaki Shikibu’s The Tale of Genji in English, as well as a virtually complete version, you might wonder what the point would be…| Tony's Reading List
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6 posts published by Tony during October 2025| Tony's Reading List
While Europa Editions’ main focus is on, well, European fiction, the past few years have seen them publish literature from further afield, and one of their new favourite countries appears to be Japan. I’ve covered books by Kei Iwaki, Atsuhiro Yoshida and Maki Kashimada, and today’s choice adds to that list, with a new book […]| Tony's Reading List
While I tend to move in rather familiar reading circles, it’s nice to try something a little different once in a while, and that was certainly the case with my latest read, one sent my way by the people at New Vessel Press. It’s a short work that moves at its own pace, taking us […]| Tony's Reading List
After a chapter focusing on Genji’s return to the Capital, court politics and reencounters with some of the Tale’s major characters, it’s time today for a change of pace, and the opportunity to catch up with one of the story’s lesser lights. You see, with our boy having shared the love far and wide, it’s […]| Tony's Reading List
After I recently got around to one book I’d been looking forward to trying for a good while, today sees me finding time for another that’s been waiting patiently in the background. On one of my outings to the city a while back, I stopped (as you do) by the excellent Paperback Bookshop in the […]| Tony's Reading List
While I didn’t entirely forget about women in translation in September, my focus did broaden somewhat last month after August’s glut of reviews. Along with the usual Japanese choices (including a return to my Genji project), I spent time in Quebec, Taiwan and Romania, not to mention a couple of quick trips up the coast […]| Tony's Reading List
November isn’t far away, and you all know what that means – German Literature Month is just around the corner! For the 15th (!) time, we’ll be reading German, Austrian, or Swiss books, …| Tony's Reading List
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While Japanese literature (as you may have gathered…) is one of my specialist areas, I can’t say I’ve focused much on a particular aspect of Japanese society and history, namely s…| Tony's Reading List
9 posts published by Tony during September 2025| Tony's Reading List
A few weeks back, I covered Australian writer Miranda Darling’s Thunderhead, a Mrs-Dalloway-inspired novel recounting a day in the life of a woman trapped in an abusive marriage, and as promised at the time, I’m back today for a look at Darling’s latest release. We catch up with the ever-fascinating Winona a few years on, […]| Tony's Reading List
After the Shining One’s triumphant return to the City in ‘Akashi’, today’s leg of our chapter-by-chapter journey through The Tale of Genji marks somewhat of a new beginning. The focus shifts slightly from a well-to-do young man doing what well-to-do young men do (and mostly getting away with it), to a more political tale, with […]| Tony's Reading List
With all the books I have on my shelves, and the need to write reviews a couple of times a week, it can be difficult to fit in longer books at times, and there’s one particular hefty novel that’s been waiting patiently for months now for me to find some time to devote to it. […]| Tony's Reading List
While my focus on Taiwanese literature has never quite reached the heights of my obsession with Japanese and Korean books, I’m always keen to take a look at new works in English, so when Columbia University Press sent me a copy of today’s choice, I was more than happy to give it a go. This […]| Tony's Reading List
My last look at a book from small publisher Honford Star, specialists in fiction from East Asia, saw us spending time in the samurai era, but while we’re staying in Japan for today’s po…| Tony's Reading List
Posts about The Tale of Genji written by Tony| Tony's Reading List
After a recent whimsical decision to reread Murasaki Shikibu’s eleventh-century novel The Tale of Genji, I got seriously side-tracked, eventually ending up working on a lengthy project. You …| Tony's Reading List
Posts about Scribe Publications written by Tony| Tony's Reading List
After my first choice for Women in Translation Month featured a Korean collection of stories, it will come as no surprise that my focus now shifts across the sea to Japan. I expect around half of …| Tony's Reading List
Back in 2014, Meytal Radzinski started an event that hit a chord with many readers and reviewers, namely Women in Translation Month, and more than a decade on, it’s still one of the highlight…| Tony's Reading List
After a short delay caused by some time-travelling farmyard animals (don’t ask…), it’s time to get this year’s Women in Translation Month proceedings underway here at the si…| Tony's Reading List
After our previous Women in Translation Month trip saw us paying an extended visit to 1920s Belgium, today we’re moving to a different country, but staying in that era. It’s another of…| Tony's Reading List
After reviewing just over half of the International Booker Prize longlist, it’s time for a little palate-cleansing interlude, so this week will see me taking a break from that project and loo…| Tony's Reading List
After starting this year’s Women in Translation Month travels with stops in South Korea and Japan, today sees me heading off to Europe, and hurtling more than a century into the past. WeR…| Tony's Reading List
While I quite enjoy nipping into local charity shops and picking up any bargains I spot, I’m rather less adept at making the time to actually read them, meaning my TBR pile continues to grow.…| Tony's Reading List
Posts about Genji: Chapter by Chapter written by Tony| Tony's Reading List
Often, when reflecting on a book you’ve just finished, you ask yourself (quietly; otherwise people start looking at you funnily and debating whether or not to call the police) whether it was any go…| Tony's Reading List
In my last post, looking at some of the events in the ‘Sakaki’ chapter of The Tale of Genji, I focused heavily on our hero’s love life, or rather, on certain romantic setbacks. H…| Tony's Reading List
While yesterday’s first step along the road of The Tale of Genji translations looked at a partial version, today’s post focuses on a far more complete text, albeit one that doesn’…| Tony's Reading List
Posts about Murasaki Shikibu written by Tony| Tony's Reading List
What with review copies and my ongoing chapter-by-chapter project on The Tale of Genji, it can occasionally be tricky to find time for other books on my shelf, but over the past couple of weeks, I …| Tony's Reading List
Thanks to review copies, the odd friendly gift and a lot of purchases, my private library of translations of and secondary literature on The Tale of Genji has reached sizeable proportions. However…| Tony's Reading List
July is drawing to a close, which (inevitably) means that another Spanish-Language Literature Month is almost at an end. Before we wrap up all things Hispanic here at the blog, though, we have one…| Tony's Reading List
As you may have noticed, I’ve read a lot of tricky books in my time (many this year alone), so why is today’s book, a 150-page first novel, one of the most difficult I’ve ever rea…| Tony's Reading List
I’ve enjoyed several books by Argentinian-Spanish writer Andrés Neuman in the past, even going to the extent of purchasing several of his works in Spanish (some of which, such as How to Trave…| Tony's Reading List
In 2021, during August’s Women in Translation Month, I decided to embark on a project centred upon Murasaki Shikibu’s classic Japanese novel The Tale of Genji. I had read the book befo…| Tony's Reading List
It’s no secret that I have more than a passing interest in Murasaki Shikibu’s The Tale of Genji, but over the past month or so that interest has grown to obsession proportions. The acq…| Tony's Reading List
Well, the last six days have seen me casting a critical eye over various English-language translations of Murasaki Shikibu’s classic novel The Tale of Genji, and I’ve had a lot of fun c…| Tony's Reading List
It wouldn’t be #JanuaryInJapan without some Genji-related reading, and I’d actually had my choice ready for a number of months now. However, the best-laid plans etc etc, and a recent p…| Tony's Reading List
As is the case for many readers, my choice of books can be made by simple random connections, and after enjoying Tram 83 recently, I remembered that there was another African book on the shelves, o…| Tony's Reading List
While it was quite nice to spend a while relaxing in Rome, duty calls, and our next International Booker Prize longlist stop involves slightly more stressful times. We’re heading back to rev…| Tony's Reading List
After all that hard toil in the Brazilian fields, it’s time for a change of pace on our International Booker Prize longlist travels, so let’s head off to Italy for a slightly more relax…| Tony's Reading List
Time for yet another intercontinental flight on our International Booker Prize longlist journey as we continue to rack up the air miles. This time we’re swapping rural Poland for a plantatio…| Tony's Reading List
From cultural musings in the Spanish capital (via Peru), we now head to the Polish countryside, where we’ll be spending a while on the latest leg of our International Booker Prize longlist jo…| Tony's Reading List
Leaving our bereft twin behind in Amsterdam, with only her partner (and a ton of sweaters) for company, we now turn our attention to Peru, and Spain, on the next leg of our International Booker Pri…| Tony's Reading List
After a shaggy-dog story down in South America, we’re off to Europe for the next leg of our International Booker Prize journey, where we’ll be getting involved in a family drama. Relat…| Tony's Reading List
Well, it’s taken a while, but I’m finally ready to embark on reviewing the rest of the International Booker Prize longlist. This will probably be a slow process, given the logistics of…| Tony's Reading List
You may have noticed that I’ve spent the last few weeks with at least half an eye elsewhere, and with very good reason, of course. However, the waiting is finally over, and the judges have l…| Tony's Reading List
As mentioned in my post introducing the Shadow Panel for this year’s International Booker Prize, we don’t have much longer to wait to find out what’s in contention, with the longl…| Tony's Reading List
Well, it’s almost that time of year again, when the good old Booker people (or their five representatives, anyway) put their heads together and come up with a longlist for that highlight of t…| Tony's Reading List
With the announcement of this year’s International Booker Prize longlist just around the corner, my mind is turning towards books that might make the cut, and today’s choice is one I th…| Tony's Reading List
One of many books I’ve enjoyed over the years courtesy of Charco Press (purveyors of the finest literature from South and Central America) was Selva Almada’s taut short novel The Wind t…| Tony's Reading List
