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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
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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
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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
Many, many years ago, I read and reviewed I Am a Cat, the wonderful comic novel (or series of sketches) by the undisputed master of modern Japanese literature, Natsume Sōseki, even if my post appears to have actually been written by a dog… That version, translated by Aiko Ito and Graeme Wilson, was the only […]| Tony's Reading List
I was recently sent a copy of an interesting-sounding book, Miranda Darling’s Fireweather (just out here in Australia from Scribe Publications), but while flicking through, I realised that it was a sequel of sorts to an earlier novel, one I hadn’t read. Fortunately, Scribe were kind enough to also send a copy of that one […]| Tony's Reading List
In my previous post, I focused on Genji’s move from Suma down the coast to Akashi, and on his relationship with a beautiful woman living there, but there’s a lot more to ‘Akashi’ than that. Today we’re examining a couple of different sides to the chapter, with a look at Japanese mythology and a quick […]| Tony's Reading List
It’s been five weeks since we last caught up with Genji, shivering by the beach as a storm raged, but on returning to Suma after finishing Women in Translation Month, we find our poor hero still there, enduring a night seemingly without end. Worse is shortly to come for the Shining One and his retainers, […]| Tony's Reading List
Of the many books I’ve read from small Canadian imprint QC Fiction, a press that focuses on translations of books from Quebec, one of the most engaging was Jean-Christophe Réhel’s Tatouine (translated by Katherine Hastings and Peter McCambridge), the story of a man living with cystic fibrosis and a Star Wars obsession. I was very happy, then, to […]| Tony's Reading List
As always round these parts, August was devoted to Women in Translation Month, and even if I didn’t quite manage to get to as many books as I would have liked, there was still a fair selectio…| 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
After a couple of very big chapters, in which we had a spot of spirit possession and a little politics for good measure, it’s almost a relief to find that today’s section of The Tale of…| Tony's Reading List
I’m always happy to get books I wasn’t expecting in my letter box, especially when they’re by writers whose work I’ve enjoyed before, and that was the case with my latest ar…| Tony's Reading List
Posts about Columbia University Press written by Tony| Tony's Reading List
Over the years, I’ve enjoyed many books from Columbia University Press, and the majority of these have come from their excellent Weatherhead Books on Asia series. This range includes a varie…| 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
Around six years ago, I was fortunate enough to be sent a copy of Tsering Döndrup’s The Handsome Monk and Other Stories (translated by Christopher Peacock and Lauran Hartley), a collection of…| 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