Six books a few times over

Time to break the rules as I haven’t done a book post for ages. I have been meaning to write this post since the end of June! So here’s my very belated tradition of looking back at my reading in the first 6 months of the year.

The first six reflect my ongoing love of Japanese literature:

All very different but very enjoyable.
The Lantern of Lost Memories was a gentle and enjoyable read and one that showed the power of photos. It had an uplifting feel similar to ‘Before the coffee gets cold’.
I picked up The Hunchback because a) it was translated by a translator I really enjoy (Polly Barton) and b) it was longlisted for the International Booker Prize. It was a short fascinating book, though not a very comfortable read.
I thoroughly enjoyed Goodnight Tokyo. I read this while I was in Sicily and in its first chapter a key element in the story is a nespola fruit – one I literally tasted for my first time ever the day before I opened the book. What a weird coincidence!
I really didn’t know what to expect of Strange Pictures – I thought its hype might be greater than its true quality. But my fear was invalid. It is a very clever and intriguing mix of Cluedo, Rubik’s cube, the Rorschach test, geometry and a crime book. The mixing and twisting may send you giddy.
The Kerouac is a bit of a cheat to fill this section with six books – American writer in Italian, but Kerouac wrote some wonderful haiku, albeit in a more modern style than the strict Japanese tradition. I had already read this book in French, because I couldn’t find it in English, and I chose to read bits of this Italian version on Kindle (with the help of its translator) while I was in Sicily.
And Bookshop Woman is Japanese and about books – what more do I need to say?

The next six are set in Sri Lanka and/or written by Sri Lankans:

I thoroughly enjoyed all of these.
Ondaatje gave me plenty of variety, with poetry in Cinnamon Peeler, autobiography in Running in the Family, and a mystery blended with the horrors of civil war in Anil’s Ghost.
Cinnamon Gardens was a more gentle and subtle tale set in 1920s Ceylon. I loved Selvadurai’s writing and now have his Funny Boy sitting on my bookshelves waiting for me.
The Seven Moons was both unsettling and intriguing. One of its reviewers likened it to Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita and I certainly see the similarities. A murder mystery set in the afterlife but it feels thoroughly real, with the weight I would expect of a Booker Prize winner.
Brotherless Night was probably my favourite – written with a very gentle pen drawing out the beauty of the country and its people despite the awful situation they are in. Heartbreaking but a wonderful read.

Also related to my travels in the first half of 2025:

I’ve ran out of sixes, but the remaining two from my January – June reading also relate to my travels.
The Story of a New Name is the second in Ferrante’s Neapolitan Quartet, and I read this prior to visiting Naples (I had already both read the first and watched it on TV). Excellent.
And it was a visit to Oxford that prompted the Bookbinder of Jericho. I had actually bought the book last year when I visited a friend in Oxford and I thought I had better read it before going back to visit him again. A lovely read about the Oxford University Press in Jericho (part of Oxford) after World War One – brimming with strong women hoping / fighting for women’s rights, the importance of books. Love, loss and hope summarise it well.

Plans for the rest of the year which may tell you a little about some of my plans for future travels:

And what am I reading right now? One fiction, one non-fiction:

A very long 6 word post this week – now over to all of you. Do come and join us in our Saturday six-word musings.

Many of us openly break the numeric rule (I certainly have this week) so the key rule is to have a title of six words – and then create around that the post that you desire! Perhaps in bunches of 6 words if you’re feeling inspired.

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