Reading more work translated from other languages into English is a goal of mine every year. I never seem to read as many as I hope to but I'm determined to keep making an effort. Since I only speak and read one language, reading translations is the best way to access an entire other world… Continue reading Best Translated Work: The 2021 Karissa Reads Books Literary Awards
Tag: Shusaku Endo
Book Review: The Samurai by Shusaku Endo
The Samurai - Shusaku Endo (New Directions, 2018) (translated from the Japanese by Van C. Gessel) Like Endo's other famous book, Silence, this is a slow moving and contemplative book, dealing with Christianity in 17th century Japan. Which isn't to say it's a boring book or one without much happening; it's simply a deeply thoughtful… Continue reading Book Review: The Samurai by Shusaku Endo
What I Read – June 2021
Read: This Place: 150 Years Retold (Highwater Press, 2019) Sufferance - Thomas King (Harper Collins Publishers, 2021) A Children's Bible - Lydia Millet (W.W. Norton, 2020) A Book of Luminous Things: An International Anthology of Poetry edited by Czeslaw Milosz (A Harvest Book, 1996) Hao: Stories - Ye Chun (Catapult, 2021) The Samurai - Shusaku… Continue reading What I Read – June 2021
What I Read – May 2021
Read: We Want What We Want - Alix Ohlin (House of Anansi Press, 2021) The Orange Tree - Carlos Fuentes (translated by Alfred Mac Adam) (Harper Perennial, 1994) Forgiveness - Mark Sakamoto (Harper Collins, 2014) The Past is Red - Catherynne M. Valente (Tordotcom, 2021) Villette - Charlotte Bronte (Vintage Random House) Did Not Finish:… Continue reading What I Read – May 2021
Book Recommendations for the Sometimes Reader
Today is Peter's birthday! He recently found himself without a book to read and so asked me to make five suggestions for him. His criteria was simply that they be books we already own. In honour of Peter's birthday, and because it's something different, I thought I'd share the list (plus the longlist because I'm… Continue reading Book Recommendations for the Sometimes Reader
Book Review: Silence by Shusaku Endo
In the realm of Christian literature, Japan does not loom large. Yet for years, I've seen Silence listed amongst the classics. Having finally read it, I find myself both wishing I'd read it years ago and glad that I read it now, in my thirties, with a few years of experience behind me. The novel… Continue reading Book Review: Silence by Shusaku Endo
What I Read – May 2017
Silence - Shusaku Endo (Picador Classic, 2015) translated from the Japanese by William Johnston But Christ did not die for the good and beautiful. It is easy enough to die for the good and beautiful; the hard thing is to die for the miserable and corrupt - this is the realization that came home to… Continue reading What I Read – May 2017
What I Read – April 2017
The Unwomanly Face of War - Svetlana Alexievich (Random House, 2017) (translated from the Russian by Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky Do Not Say We Have Nothing - Madeleine Thien (Knopf Canada, 2016) The Hate U Give - Angie Thomas (Balzer + Bray, 2017) A Manual for Cleaning Women - Lucia Berlin (Farrar, Strauss and… Continue reading What I Read – April 2017
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