Master of Ceremonies

The kids started nursery school a few weeks back, and so hopefully you’ll understand why things have been a little slow on the blogging front of late. You’d have thought that getting someone else to knacker them out look after them all day would have provided us with a bit more free time of an evening, but apparently not. Ah well, we always knew it was going to be an awkward period of adjustment, just not quite like this.

Autofiction

Hitomi Kanehara, 2006 [David James Karashima, 2007]

(April 2014)

Try as I might I cannot get it out of my head that Kanehara is, at least partially, the real-life inspiration for Fuka-Eri in 1Q84. And that, you’ll understand, creates all sorts of associations and images in my head, very few of which are anything other than uncomfortable.

Boxers and Saints

Gene Luen Yang, 2013

(March 2014)

This is phenomenal.

Use of Weapons

Iain M. Banks, 1990

(March 2014)

  

“What shall we put the cover?”

A Wizard of Earthsea

Ursula K. Le Guin, 1968

(March 2014)

  

Heh heh. 

Lyra’s Oxford / Once Upon a Time in the North

Philip Pullman, 2003/2008

(March 2014)

  

I read His Dark Materials about 13 years ago now, and I absolutely adored them, and I will never read them again.

Apparitions

Ghosts of Old Edo

Miyuki Miyabe, 2000 [Daniel Huddleston, 2013]

(March 2014)

  

I might maybe, tentatively, suggest the Haikasoru are raising their game, and not before time. Following The Melancholy of Mechagirl this is the second recent book of theirs where the writing is actually readable. I realise that ‘not actively awful’ is a pretty low bar, but previous efforts contained prose that, while well-intentioned, was clumsy and frequently bordered on the violent; prose that really wanted to help you carry your shopping but somehow tripped on its own shoelaces, broke all your eggs, then smashed you in the face with a half-brick.

Excuses Excuses

So I’ve been quite slack at responding to comments here of late. Apologies. I’ve been incredibly busy recently and this has come as a bit of a surprise. Normally this time of year is relatively relaxed, what with the end of term and all. This year though I’ve had a perfect storm of visiting relatives, academic deadlines, and increased training responsibilities that’s made it pretty difficult to carve out blogging time.

So this is a slightly regretful announcement that there’ll be reduced operations here for the next few weeks. I enjoy this too much to give it up, but it’s a means to an end and in the short term I need to prioritize those ends a bit more judiciously. I’ll probably slap up a couple of book posts, as I need to read to stay sane and reading and writing about it have become inextricably linked in the last couple of years, but there’s unlikely to be anything more substantive until mid-April(ish). I need to replenish and restock and there are only so many ways I can write (or desperately try to avoid writing) “Abe’s a loon,” before repetitious tedium really kicks in.

In the meantime though I’m trying to get my retaliation in first with the inevitable newbie questions about Japanese use in class. If this seems relevant to you and you fancy a trip over to my other joint to let me know when I’m going wrong, it’d be much appreciated –

The Objectification of English and L1 Use in the Japanese Classroom

Enjoy your spring break, those of you who get one.

Queen of Kings

Maria Dahvana Headley, 2011

(March 2014)

  

Big book. Short Chapters. Love, sex, and death in the underworld. What’s not to like?

  

Silent Movies

So here’s a thing I’d like to share with you: Lupita Nyong’o is fucking gorgeous, isn’t she?