Welcome to Litsy!

https://youtu.be/15K3_JF2_xk?si=jZ-KzHwwySNMmS9O

A Passion for Living in the Present: A Conversation with Yuko Tsushima and Annie Ernaux - translated and edited by Lisa Hofmann-Kuroda: https://lithub.com/a-passion-for-living-in-the-present-a-conversation-with-yuko-...

Japanese fiction can feel so lonely.

This basically is just the story of a young single mother, set in the first year after her baby is born. She struggles with combining motherhood and work, she has to redefine her position towards her parents and she meets a man. Nothing much happens but it is so Japanese. It feels like magic.

#NYRB #Roll100 #Booked2023 #SetInTheMountains #192025 #1980

Little slice-of-life about an unmarried woman raising a baby in Tokyo. Written in 1980. Quiet and atmospheric and surprisingly angsty at times. I really loved this. Sad that it‘s over.

If your wheelhouse is character-based fiction with prose that makes you stop and reread to savour its beauty—this is for you. A quiet story set in 1970s Tokyo, about a young unwed mother who goes against societal conventions and is determined to live life on her own terms. Translation by Geraldine Harcourt.

https://youtu.be/NUymztm25nM

#CaribAThon

Intro

Woman Running in the Mountains by Yūko Tsushima, Geraldine Harcourt (Translator)

Scatterlings by Rešoketšwe Manenzhe

How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House by Cherie Jones

Greta and Valdin by Rebecca K. Reilly

Filthy bookmarks

The vivid young ginkgo leaves enfolded her in their brightness. She half closed her eyes. She had the feeling that her whole body was taking on the transparent colour of their play of light.

This was somewhere between a so-so and pick for me. It's a well-written and well-executed novel, though I can't say it's something I'd ever reread. Takiko is a 20-year-old girl in Japan who gets pregnant and - against all advice - decides to keep the baby. The author nicely juxtaposes the stultifying, confined reality of Takiko's daily life against the vibrancy of her daydreams and observations of the natural world.

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

The pain was like a voice calling Takiko's name in her sleep.

This is a fierce piece of psychological feminine literature, a portrait of womanhood and motherhood in 1970's Japan. One of my favorite subjects to read about is motherhood and Tsushima's storytelling captured me at once! This was originally written in a serialized form, capturing the first year of single motherhood in a time when there wasn't many single Japanese mothers. Her writing transcends and was so ahead of it's time! #bookreview

#bookmail NYRB‘s February selection. Sounds really good!