Good book to read?

Smeggy · Yari Ashigaru Joined: Nov 08, 2002 Posts: 361 Location: Uk

Hey, I'm looking for some new reading material Smile

I'm usually into Tom Clancy's books which tend to paint a realistically possible story in the modern world - and are very believable in many ways. However this time I wanna try summin different:

Anyone know of any samurai era type books - like fictional stories based around real events and locations in japan (kinda like a hitokiri battousai / kenshin thing but more realistic in the techniques used etc)

I would be very grateful if anyone could point me in the right direction! Smile

(Bonus points if I can order it from Amazon.co.uk Very Happy

)
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Egeria · Posted: Fri May 21, 2004 4:04 pm Post subject:

I'm reading "Of Nightingales That Weep" by Katherine Paterson at the moment. It's about the daughter of a samurai and seems to point more towards a female audience in my opinion. It's pretty good so far.

There is this other one though, you might want to look at. James Clavell wrote a little collection of books known as "The Asian Saga." The one that I picked up is called "Shogun: A Novel of Japan." Haven't gotten a chance to read it so can't really tell you much though.......

Keitarou · Posted: Fri May 21, 2004 4:09 pm Post subject:

Memoirs of a Geisha is pretty good
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bakanekonei · Conscript Joined: Jan 30, 2004 Posts: 196 Location: USA

read anything by dean koontz. read anything by john grisham. read anything by dan brown....

Smeggy · Yari Ashigaru Joined: Nov 08, 2002 Posts: 361 Location: Uk

Well, after looking up both of those, i quickly decided that at 64 pages, memoirs of a geisha was way to short of a story to interest me for more than 30 mins or so.

On the other hand, Shogun: A Novel of Japan,has been getting rave reviews on amazon and i have ordered it and very much looking forward to reading it Smile

As a side thought, it seems kinda similar in substance to Giles Milton's "Samurai William" which is a historical account based on various diaries kept, about an Englishman who goes to Japan and becomes a high advisor to the Shogun within a relatively short time span - a book I would recommend to anyone who was interested in early Japan and it's views on foreigners and trading etc
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Fukui · Posted: Fri May 21, 2004 9:02 pm Post subject:

hey, i happen to be reading samurai william at the moment too, although i've been stuck at pg 30 something for a few months now as other books vie for my attention.

i recently came across "the yamato dynasty" by Sterling Seagrave (picked it up in the bargain section), and it has provided much insight into the dynastic happenings since the meji restoration. My finishing of this book has also stalled for quite a while now by other distractions.

My attention lately has been solely on Bernard Cornwell's books. His Sharpe series are rather enjoyable and follows a tried and true pattern of writing. You can argue that if u've read one book of the Sharpe series then u've read all, and that is probably true, but heck that hasnt stopped anyone from keeping on reading. The Sharpe Series deals with the character rising thru the ranks of the british army with the Napoleonic war as backdrop. The Hornblower or Jack Aubery on land if you will. Another series I've been finishing is his books on king Arthur; fast becoming my favorite english series.

Khalis · Posted: Sat May 22, 2004 12:25 am Post subject:

Just finished The Da Vinci Code By Dan Brown grate novel a must read. Very Happy

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jija · newbie! Joined: Aug 26, 2003 Posts: 12 Location: Canada

memoirs of the geisha-left tokyo the day i finished it to go to kyoto to see for myself what really happened...
the da vinci code-currently reading but awsome!
two must read books.

Yebyosh · Posted: Sat May 22, 2004 12:46 am Post subject:

I have not bought this book or read it yet (had a brief glance through) but this thick thick tome interested me.

It is Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa. The translation is by Charles S. Terry.
It is based on the life stories of the mystical swordsman Miyamoto Musashi (author of the Book of 5 Rings).

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/4770019572/qid=1085200652/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/103-5292786-5907057

The readers' reviews have been glowing but I need more opinions and time before I decide to set myself down on this tome.

Smeggy · Yari Ashigaru Joined: Nov 08, 2002 Posts: 361 Location: Uk

yeah i would agree - that is an expensive book....

but it looks good... maybe ill ask for it for my b'day Razz

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toot · Posted: Sat May 22, 2004 1:41 pm Post subject:

i have 2 i can talk about
'the unfettered mind' transl. by william scott wilson. its by a monk who was supposedly friends with musashi. it turned out to be a little more philosophical than i thought and not really 'light' reading. it is more of an instruction.
fiction wise, one series i really like was 'tales of the otori' by lian hearn. 1st book is 'across the nightingale floor'. 3 book series, last book out next month. (i can't wait! Smile

)its not based on real people or places, but it was definitely written in the spirit of the shogun era.
and its on amazon and cheap

Reeder5002 · Posted: Sat May 22, 2004 2:08 pm Post subject:

well i cant reccomend any great samuri reads but if you want some fantasy the dragonlance series is a great read

-try staying true to the origional authors and the true storyline

Yebyosh · Posted: Mon May 24, 2004 10:32 pm Post subject:

Well... I gave in and bought Musashi. I dare say its a decision I do not regret!

Wonderful reading.

Some short notes.

Eiji Yoshikawa is actually a famous Japanese novelist for the late 19th-mid 20th century (meaning he's dead). His 'Musashi' is one of the celebrated novels in Japanese literary circle.

Charles Terry has translated it for English readers. In his forenote, Terry has also cast harsh criticsim of James Clavell's 'Shogun' (personally I think it is well justified criticism). Note that Terry's translations are pretty good and smooth. However there are is one paragraph in Book One of the tome where the translation seems to be garbled junk. I understood it if I cast what he's trying to say in Asian context (i.e. language and meaning). However in English that paragraph comes off as very confused. However one paragraph out of thousands is miniscule and does not detract from the great work.

I have only read up to Book One at the moment (this tome consists of a few Books) but what I have read was entertaining. It can be read on a superficial level as normal action story. However read deeper, it discusses spirituality, personal development and order (social and political, theoretical & reality). You meet quite a few characters in the story and they are unique from each other that you distinctly remember them. The story has very good pacing as well.

chingu · Yari Ashigaru Joined: Jun 27, 2004 Posts: 349

If you're really into the action genre, then any one of Matt Reilly's books is good. He's currently got 5 published works, three of them being a part of a "series".

Temple
Contest - this one involves a lot of sci-fi, but it's still action-packed
Ice Station - book 1 of Scarecrow series
Area 7 - book 2 of Scarecrow series
Scarecrow - book 3 of Scarecrow series

Reilly's got an interesting style that makes you feel like you're watching a movie, but you'd better not be looking for a lot of character relationship. He's got way too much going on in his stories to be able to dedicate a whole lot of time on developing anything like that, but I'd recommend any one of his books to the action-loving soul.

Sorry, though, I've got nothing as far as samurai stories go.

shankz · Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2004 8:18 am Post subject:

this book called Flatland
it's a cute little story about 2d polygons
hehe
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