Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto

I have seen so many review of this book, many said it was good and few said it wasn’t that good.  I am curious with this book since a couple of years ago but something always distracted me and ended up picking other book from the shelf. Last week, I was in the mood for light reading…

Moribito – The Guardian of The Darkness

This book is the second book of Moribito series, unfortunately it is also the last in the series which has been translated into both English and Indonesian. I wish I can read all the books but my Japanese skill is still far from being able to read a full grown-up novel (I can only read…

Battle Royale – A Book I Will Read Again and Again

The first time I read this book was in 2009, which is about 2 years ago…and now I have just finished reading it for the second time. Quite fast to be reread, don’t you think? The truth is I have missed this book since last year. I wanted to read it again since last year…

The Sea and Poison – My First Readalong

The Sea and Poison (海と毒薬 – Umi to Dokuyaku) is a novel treating an actual incident so horrific that it seared itself indelibly into Endo’s conscience – the slow and methodical wartime vivisection, with absolutely no anesthesia or other amelioration, of an American captive by a team of Japanese doctors. This powerful novel describes the…

Shame In The Blood

To me, it all came down to blood. My suspicion was that the very blood that linked us all could itself be tainted. And the most frightening thing was the inevitable reality that the tainted blood of my siblings also ran through my veins. I would have to live my whole life fighting the deadly…

Norwegian Wood

Before I picked up this book, I have read so many good reviews on Norwegian Wood. I wanted to read it since few years back but somehow my hand always drawn by Murakami’s other books. I finally set my mind to read it after the movie was released. Unfortunately, after reading the book, I don’t…

The Paper Door and Other Stories

I finished Paper Doll and Other Stories by Naoya Shiga about 4 days ago, I usually wrote my review straight away while I still remember all the details although I often keep it for awhile before publishing it…but this book left me wondering for several days, I really didn’t know what  to say. It’s good…

Wrapping up R.I.P. Challenge V

October 31st is the perfect date to wrap this great challenge up…apart from the fact that the challenge is over at this date. This is my third wrap-up post, which means that I have completed 3 challenges \(^_^)/ R.I.P. Challenge stands for R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril Challenge. Carl  of Stainless Steel Droppings challenged us to read…

The Tokyo Zodiac Murder

The Tokyo Zodiac Murder is written by Soji Shimada, its original title is Senseijutsu Satsujinjiken.. The Tokyo Zodiac Murders tells the story of 2 detectives Kiyoshi Mitarai and Kazumi Ishioka. Ishioka is the one who tells the story. This book reminds me of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, it can be said as The Japanese…

Shadow Family

After being captivated by Crossfire, I always want to read something else by Miyuki Miyabe. I really like the way she tells her story. Shadow Family takes place 4 years after the incident in Crossfire. We once again meet Chikako Ishizu, a police officer who is now already being demotion because of her case in…

The 210th Day

The 210th Day ( 二百十日 ) is my second Natsume Souseki’s novella. I was planning to read this book for my Japanese Literature Challenge 3, but somehow it always got push by other books. In the end, I read this for my Japanese Literature Challenge 4 (my second book for the challenge) The book is…

The Square Persimmon

Takashi Atoda is a genius!! That explain how I feel about his short stories collection called the Square Persimmon and Other Stories. When I borrowed the book, it was simply because of the word Persimmon, I need it for my What’s In The name Challenge for either plant or food. I am so glad I…