Tag - the-year-in-books

 
 

THE YEAR IN BOOKS

Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / THE YEAR IN BOOKS
Dec 23, 2012
Seasonality, internal awareness
"Japan and the Culture of the Four Seasons: Nature, Literature and the Arts" (Columbia University Press) by Haruo Shirane. The whole seasonal consciousness of Japan, so meticulously considered and observed, is an intangible cultural tradition, though it has a certain physical embodiment in saijiki, the almanacs used by haiku poets, which explain all the subtleties of seasonal reference, with examples of their use in poems. Like Kubla Khan's palace, it is a miracle of rare device, a fabrication of sublime refinement whose origins and meaning professor Shirane admirably expounds in this illuminating scholarly account.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / THE YEAR IN BOOKS
Dec 23, 2012
Celebrating the female dragons
"All That I Am" (Harper) by Anna Funder blazes across pre-World War II Europe, illuminating the period when Hitler eliminated all national opposition in his prelude to the rest of the world.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / THE YEAR IN BOOKS
Dec 23, 2012
Alternative histories about JFK
The 50th anniversary of the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy next November is expected to see a flood of new works on that topic. Two alternative history novels have already appeared on this theme. In Stephen King's "11/22/63: A Novel" (Scribner), Maine high school teacher Jake Epping finds a portal by which he can travel back in time to 1958.
CULTURE / Books / THE YEAR IN BOOKS
Dec 23, 2012
U.S. essays, Japan's Christians
It may seem like cheating, but my first best book of 2012 is "The Best American Essays of 2012" (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), part of the Best American Series. I read it each year and am never disappointed. This year's selection was made by David Brooks, a moderately conservative author, columnist and PBS commentator. The 24 essays are wide-ranging in topic and tone, and every reader is bound to find a number that delight and instruct.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / THE YEAR IN BOOKS
Dec 23, 2012
Seeing the past, humanity afresh
"Atlas: The Archaeology of an Imaginary City" (Columbia University Press) by Dung Kai-cheung, translated by Anders Hansson and Bonnie S. McDougall. Lovers of maps, devotees of Borges and Calvino, those who understand that novels need not be first-this-happened-then-that-happened catalogs of events in the lives of characters to whom readers can relate, those who are happy to encounter novelists as adventurous as their counterparts in the other arts will relish this Dung Kai-cheung work. If that's you, then don't miss Dung's picture of pictures of an imaginary city.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / THE YEAR IN BOOKS
Dec 23, 2012
2012; The year in books
The Japan Times invited seven of its book reviewers to pick their favorite books published or made available in Japan in 2012, regardless of whether the book was reviewed in these pages.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / THE YEAR IN BOOKS
Dec 23, 2012
Four aspects of Japan's history
"Oh, what happy people they must have been!" Thus Yukie Chiri (1903-22), reflecting on the pristine past of her people, the Ainu of southwestern Hokkaido. "Ainu Spirits Singing" (University of Hawaii Press) by Sarah Strong is an elegy to a lost time and an almost lost culture, seen largely through Chiri's eyes. She died very young but lived long enough to transcribe 13 haunting Ainu oral tales known as yucar, presented here in Strong's translation.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books / THE YEAR IN BOOKS
Dec 23, 2012
Revisiting Asia's past, present
"From the Ruins of Empire: The Revolt Against the West and the Remaking of Asia" (Allen Lane) by Pankaj Mishra. This is the story of the Asian intellectual's response to Western imperialism. It is an intelligent and rewarding read that crisscrosses time and space, helping readers better understand the lingering resentments and contemporary developments. The sections on Japanese Pan-Asianism and diaspora ferment in Tokyo during the early 20th century are illuminating.

Longform

A statue of "Dragon Ball" character Goku stands outside the offices of Bandai Namco in Tokyo. The figure is now as recognizable as such characters as Mickey Mouse and Spider-Man.
Akira Toriyama's gift to the world