Wellington Reads discussion

We're three months into the year -- anyone read any books they want to recommend so far? :-)

I've recently read 'Death Sentences' by Chiaki Kawamata. I loved it so much that I've ordered it in to the library. It's currently on the shelf at Central with a shiny Librarian's choice sticker on it.
Kawamata is a big name in the Japanese sci-fi community and this book won the grand prize for sci-fi in 1984.
It was translated into English in 2012 by a group from the University of Minnesota. This in itself is interesting as 'Death Sentences' plays with the sci-fi and detective fiction genres, which are typically placed on the edges of the literary sphere.
The academics from Minnesota have written an introduction in the book, which places it historically during the rise of capitalist Japan in the 1980's and amongst the avant-garde French community during and after WW2. An epigraph at the end looks at the exhilarating writing style.
The book focuses on a deadly poem which was created by a mysterious surrealist artist just after World War Two. Kawamata takes history into his own hands and attributes the death of many famous surrealists to the poem. However, it becomes hidden in Andre Breton's trunk for decades.
Until...
It surfaces in hyper-capitalist Japan in the 1980's as part of a department store's exhibition. The hunt for the deadly poem, spanning across two time-periods, and three continents, is so much fun.
Kawamata has written this book in a rapid-pace style that drives the reader on relentlessly. As the epigraph says, the reader is thrown into a vortex. Kawamata draws upon the Japanese 'Light Novel' detective tradition to achieve a gripping read that one can get through in an afternoon. I do warn you that if read in one go, you will be slightly dizzy for the remainder of the day.
The rip roaring pace takes the reader spinning into a climactic end, that leaves you literally on another planet.
So, if you love surrealism, scenes of night-time Japan, and get a kick of an author who has mastered a handful of genres, read this!

Jumping straight into the heavy subject matter end, I found Bosnia's Million Bones: Solving the World's Greatest Forensic Puzzle on the new books shelf recently. It appeals to me with my genetics degree, but it could be tough book to get through.

Goodness Chloe how brave !! Do let us know how you get on. I am in lighter territory. How often does it happen that you get a reserve book - one you have really been looking forward to - and something else leaps to your attention and you compulsively read that instead. I was really absorbed by "The forever girl' by Alexander McCall Smith, but that was knocked sideways by " Love Nina" by Nina Stibbe - the diary of a nanny in the literary London of the eighties. Back with the McCall Smith now - which is a very pleasant book and very interesting in its evocation of expatriate life in the Cayman Islands.

Andrew wrote: "I've recently read 'Death Sentences' by Chiaki Kawamata. I loved it so much that I've ordered it in to the library. It's currently on the shelf at Central with a shiny Librarian's choice sticker on..."

Hi Andrew. Sounds interesting - I'll add it to my list :) I stopped reading half way through your post though 'cos I don't like to know too much!
I've finally got around to reading Girl with the Dragon Tattoo which I'm enjoying. (Esp. as I had my expectations lowered by my friend who listened to the audio book and said it was terrible).
Next up I'm going for more Donna Tartt. I finished The Goldfinch recently and loved it so i'm going to hunt out her older books.

I recently got The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid out from the library...Bill Bryson has had me laughing out loud several times (and at one point even crying with laughter) and i'm only about a third of the way in. It's about growing up in 1950's U.S.A. I'd definitely recommend.

I'm also in to the second half of The Luminaries. I love her style of writing. Beautiful.

Erica wrote: "I recently got The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid out from the library...Bill Bryson has had me laughing out loud several times (and at one point even crying with lau..."

Yay! Yes, I second the 'crying with laughter' review for Bill Bryson books :-)