After the best part of a month spent reading Japanese literature, today I manage to pull myself away to try something a little different, and ‘different’ definitely fits the bill here.  My latest choice is a book that’s literally out of this world, taking us into outer space and into the midst of a war.  ..read more

After an extended stay in Japan, culminating in a rather steamy visit to Nagasaki, we’re moving on for the final leg of our Women in Translation Month journey, heading across the sea to South Korea.  After a month of travelling the world, we’re running low on clean clothes, so it’s time to hit the launderette ..read more

I’ve been lucky enough to receive several enjoyable books courtesy of Columbia University Press recently, but while today’s choice is another of those, this time around I’m not off to Japan.  Instead, we’ll be taking a look at a contemporary collection of short stories providing insights into Korean society, and even if most are realistic, there are some that delight in providing a rather distorted, fantastic picture of life in the big city… ***** I’m not quite sure what the story was with Yun Ko-eun’s Table for One (translated by Lizzie Buehler, review copy courtesy of the publisher), bu ..read more

Indie publishers Honford Star certainly haven’t been afraid to try something a little different with their list, and some of their recent Korean fiction, such as Bora Chung’s collections and Bae Myung-hoon’s speculative works, have taken readers on quite a ride.  In the same vein, the latest Honford Star offering continues to take risks, as we enjoy a bizarre day-trip to a place where things aren’t quite as they seem.  Oh, and after this one, I’m not sure you’ll ever look at jelly in quite the same way again… ***** Cho Yeeun’s The New Seoul Park Jelly Massacre (translated by Yewon Ju ..read more

If you’ve been paying attention to my little blog recently, you may have noticed a trend developing, namely one of switching between books longlisted for this year’s International Booker Prize and some that were eligible but didn’t make the cut.  In most cases, it’s the ones that missed out that have taken my fancy, and that’s certainly true of today’s choice, another excellent work that would certainly have been a better fit than a few other books I could mention (and have mentioned…).  Sadly, that’s not the case, but in an ideal world, this is one that might have been presented to ..read more

Books set in North Korea are always intriguing, especially to someone like me with an interest in Korean literature, so when I heard that a collection of stories from one of the country’s classic writers was coming out, I was keen to take a look.  Fortunately, the kind people over at Columbia University Press, as is frequently the case, were happy to send me a copy, and I’m very glad they did, too .  It’s an excellent set of stories, with some offering fascinating glimpses into the early days of the socialist state, and of the people who worked so hard to create it. ***** Ch’oe Myŏng ..read more

While it’s early days in this International Booker Prize season, I’ve already been rather busy on the blog.  After announcing this year’s Shadow Panel, and then subjecting you to my laughable ‘predictions’, I summarised the longlist announcement and then shared what we all had to say about it.  Which means it must be time to get to work on the longlisted books… …or it will be once I get my hands on them!  In the meantime, as is customary, I’ll be recapping my thoughts on the four longlisters I’ve already tried.  Here then, with links to my full reviews, are the first two, o ..read more

I’m always keen to try new Korean fiction, but it’s not often that it seeks me out.  Today’s choice, however, is a book I’d never heard of until I was asked to take a look – which is an option that won’t be open to many of you as it hasn’t actually been picked up by an Anglophone publisher yet.  This, of course, begs the question as to how I came to be asked to give my views on the book, and I promise I’ll get to that later, but let’s take this one step at a time and first introduce ourselves to the star of the show – a hard-working woman with a rather unique work-life balance proble ..read more

While Honford Star have spread their range a little over the past few years, Korean fiction is still at the heart of their work, and today sees me looking at another of their books from that country.  It’s an intriguing story with a secret at its heart involving drama, Karl Marx and several people hiding away from the unexpected consequences of literary discussions.  We’re heading off to Seoul again, then, via Jeju Island and Algiers, where the ghosts of the past still haunt the lives of many characters today… ***** Hwang Yeo Jung’s The Specters of Algeria (translated by Yewon Jung ..read more

I’m a big fan of Yū Miri’s work, and regular readers may recall how annoyed I was when Tokyo Ueno Station was scandalously overlooked for the International Booker Prize longlist several years back.  Having championed that book at every opportunity, I was keen to try the latest one in English, but I put it off for a while as it was a bit pricey, what with postage being exorbitant these days.  That’s when an online friend made an incredibly generous gesture, offering to send a copy my way, and I recently received it in the post – and what a book it is.  It’s an epic in every way ..read more