Tony's Reading List

A fair amount of the Asian literature in translation I’ve sampled in recent years has come courtesy of Columbia University Press, and today’s selection is yet another Asian book that particular publisher offered me a while back.

On several occasions in recent months, I’ve looked at the aesthetic side of Japanese literature during the interwar period, but as some of you may know, a very different style of writing also rose to prominence at this time.

Unfortunately, as overseas publishers become ever more reluctant to send books all the way to Australia, the ‘flow’ of review copies has dried up somewhat over the past couple of years, so when one does end up in my letter box, especially when it’s comple…

After the dramatic events of our recent visits to Heian-kyō, in which we found out Tamakazura’s fate and explored the fall-out on those around her and her new husband, today’s leg of our chapter-by-chapter cruise through The Tale of Genji is a rather more…

As someone who’s spent more than half of my life outside my native country, I’m always interested in the experiences of folk who go back to their roots, and that’s the case in today’s choice, a recent novel from New Zealand, sent my way by Scribe Publicat…

November isn’t far away, and you all know what that means – German Literature Month is just around the corner!

While I didn’t post too many reviews in September, it was a most enjoyable reading month, with several great new reads and a few cheeky rereads going on in the background, too.

After enjoying Dutch writer Anjet Daanje’s The Remembered Soldier (translated by David McKay) last year, a lengthy novel which made it into my top five books of 2025, I was eager to try more of her work, and fortunately Scribe Publications were on the cas…

I mentioned a while back how a reread of Anri Yasuda’s excellent Beauty Matters, a work on literature and aesthetics in early nineteenth-century Japan, inspired me to acquire a book from each of the four main authors mentioned therein, and I’ve already got

Around a month ago, during one of my occasional stays in the big, bad city, I took a trip to The Paperback Bookshop and ended up leaving with a couple of books, both by the late Spanish writer Javier Marías.

My last post on The Tale of Genji looked at the fate of poor Tamakazura, and how Higekuro’s bold/atrocious advances finally sealed her fate, but as I alluded to at the end of the post, there are far more people affected by the bearded one’s actions than j…

Back in April, I covered an interesting book of poetry, Other Shepherds, in which Nina Kossman translated, and replied to, some of the work of famous Russian poet Marina Tsvetaeva.

After a spell away from Rokujō for Women in Translation Month, we’re picking up our chapter-by-chapter journey through The Tale of Genji today with the last instalment of the Tamakazura sequence.

After my August series of Women in Translation Month posts, September sees me kicking off the month with a return to another of my literary projects, one in which I’m rapidly approaching the finishing line.

August saw me embarking on the traditional Women in Translation Month reading, and an enjoyable month it was, too.

Well, August is coming to an end, and Women in Translation Month is almost over, but before I bring the curtain down on another enjoyable month of #WIT reading and posting, there’s just time for one more review, and it’s a rather intriguing one.

Earlier this week, I looked at a review copy sent my way by Seven Stories Press, a novel in which an Argentinian man had a rather unusual experience in Berlin, and today’s Women in Translation Month choice is another little present from the same publisher.

While most of my Women in Translation Month picks this year have been books found on my shelves at home, this week will be a little different as I’m taking a look at a couple of review copies.

After enjoying a trip around Japan in the company of a thirteenth-century woman, today’s Women in Translation Month choice has us returning to the present day, for a slightly more sedate journey.

After visits to (West) Germany and Russia, it’s time for our Women in Translation Month travels to take us back to Japan, and today’s choice is a book that sees us heading a fair way back in time, too.

Whenever I start thinking about Women in Translation Month, I take myself off to the study and rummage through my shelves to see what’s lurking at the back, forgotten and waiting to be rediscovered (it can be rather eerie back there…).

After a week in Japan, with stories new and old, it’s time for a change of destination in our Women in Translation Month travels as we head off to Germany.