4/25/16 review of Wind/Pinball: Two Novels, by Haruki Murakami

Here is the link to my Twitter thread review of Wind/Pinball: Two Novels, by Haruki Murakami.

Wind/Pinball includes the novels Hear the Wind Sing and Pinball, 1973. My thread gives some background on and a summary of the novels. It discusses the form and style of the novels. It discusses the use of allegory in the works. And it discusses some of my favorite characters and scenes.

Here is the link to the Penguin Random House page for Wind/Pinball.

I bought this book at the Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver, Colorado.

3/31/16 review of An Artist of the Floating World, by Kazuo Ishiguro

Here is the link to my Twitter thread review of An Artist of the Floating World, by Kazuo Ishiguro.

The thread gives a summary of the story. It discusses the form of the novel. It discusses the sense of suspense and being in the moment in the novel. It discusses some themes and ambiguities of the novel. And it discusses this specific version -- the Penguin Drop Caps version.

Here is the link to the Penguin Drop Caps page for the novel.

I bought this book at the Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver, Colorado.

9/8/14 review of Roller Derby and Haruki Murakami

(Image: WFTDA)

Here is my Twitter thread review of a trip I took to Sacramento in September of 2014. While in Sac, I watched the Division 1 playoffs for the Women's Flat Track Derby Association and read the Haruki Murakami novel Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage.

I posted my header separate from the rest of the thread, for some reason.

The WFTDA is the circuit for the flat-track roller derby teams all around the world. The winners of the Division 1 playoffs go to the annual world championships. The 2014 playoffs was a weekend-long event, and I pretty much watched the whole thing.

The thread discusses some of my favorite teams and players, including Denver Roller Derby, who were at that time known as the Denver Roller Dolls.

I also briefly mention a quick excursion I took to the Lake Tahoe Keys, as well as time I spent at Temple Coffee and Insight Coffee.

My review of Murakami's novel discusses my sense of kinship with the novel's main character, as well as some kind of simplistic comparisons to other literature.

Here is the link to the WFTDA's website.

Here is the link to the Penguin Random House edition of Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage.

I bought Murakami's novel at the Tattered Cover Book Store in Colorado.

7/29/14 review of the book Botchan, by Natsume Souseki

Here is the link to my Twitter thread review of the book Botchan, written by Natsume Souseki and translated by J. Cohn.

Natsume Souseki is one of my favorite Japanese novelists, and Botchan is one of his most lighthearted stories. My thread discusses the plot of the book, as well as some of the mood shifts in the book. I compare the book to some other works I'd recently read. I also, for some reason, got off on a tangent regarding the film Blackboard Jungle.

Here is the link to the Penguin Classics edition of Botchan, which is the edition I read.

I bought this book at Park Road Books, a lovely little bookstore in Charlotte, North Carolina.

12/27/14 review of the novel Sanshirou, by Natsume Souseki

Here is the link to my Twitter thread review of Natsume Souseki's novel Sanshirou.

In this Twitter thread I say how Sanshirou is my favorite of the Souseki books I've read. I discuss the characters of Sanshirou and Bocchan. I discuss the philosophy and the Joycean feel of the book. And I discuss a possible influence in this novel on Kenzaburo Oe.

The edition of Sanshirou I read was from Penguin Random House. You can find it here.

I bought the book Sanshirou from Kinokuniya in Little Tokyo in Los Angeles. Here is their website.