The Makioka Sisters

We meet next week at the Manga Museum, so won't actually discuss The Makioka Sisters for nearly five weeks from today. Though it is a light reading assignment, let's read book one (up to page 150 in the English translation) for January 14. This would give us an opportunity to have a discussion on the first book, plus to do plenty of non-book-club reading over the holidays. Happy holidays!

Manga Museum!

Clubbers,

Next week we meet at the Manga Museum at 4:30 in the cafe. It costs 600 yen for entry, and we'll peruse the manga before returning to the cafe for discussion.

Our next book is The Makioka Sisters by Junichiro Tanizaki. See Izu to acquire a book.

Jmz

treats

Thanks to Akiko for treating us on Dec 3. I will take care of Dec 10. Do we want to consider meeting somewhere out in the neighborhood?

Next Reading: Ooku: The Inner Chambers

We've selected Fumi Yoshinaga's Ooku: The Inner Chambers for our next reading. See Izumi about acquiring the text if you haven't already.

Update: The texts are expected on Saturday. Izumi will bring them to KIS for pickup on Monday. Contact her if this doesn't work for you. I'll write again about the reading expectation for Thursday.

Update: Just got the book today, thanks to Izu. I did a quick check and there's a break around page 118 or so--I was trying to read page numbers without looking at the drawings. So let's read to that break for this Thursday (Dec 3), then to the end of the book for next Thursday (Dec 10).

Next Reading: Manga

So, I've done a bit of research. The one glaring choice is sort of the origin of contemporary manga, Astro Boy by Osamu Tezuka. It looks an awful lot like a children's Saturday morning cartoon, but reviews suggest that it is for both adults and children. The recent movie version of the Astro Boy received modest reviews--but there is a movie.

Beyond that I've found seven manga award committees. Tough to know which are worth looking into, though two are named for Astro Boy's author, Tezuka. This year's grand prize winner of the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize is Fumi Yoshinaga's Ooku: The Inner Chambers, which has an interesting plot line about a male-decimating disease that transforms Japan into a matriarchal society. See here for more details.

Feel free to comment before tomorrow's meeting when we make the final decision.

Other suggestions are most certainly welcome.

James

Synopsizer

Hey Bookies,

We talked last time about having one person write a synopsis of our meetings. I was supposed to do something about that, so here I am doing something about that. How about we consider this a call for synopsizers--if you wish to be write synopses, comment below or bring it up at the meeting. If we get one or two people in charge, the rest could easily work around that.

See you Thursday.

James

I Am a Cat

Heyall,

Our new book is I Am a Cat. See Izu if you haven't picked it up yet. We've read the first two chapters for today (Thurs Nov 5) and will read the rest of the book in either one or two more weeks. We'll decide tonight, and I'll update.

Taking suggestions for new readings. My first: manga.

James

UPDATE:We're reading Part III for Nov 12, Part IV for Nov 19.

Meeting floor

Hello there!

Tomorrow (Oct.29) we will finish Kawabata, I left the last chapter to read tonight...

Shall we meet downstairs, so that "someone" doesn't have to go all the way up?

17:00 at pre-school.

See you tomorrow,

izu.

This thursday and next

Heyall,

This Thursday, October 22, is the Fire Fest in Kurama. So anyone interested in going is welcome to join Shauna and me. But that means no book club. We shall wrap up Kawabata next Thursday, October 29. Then we will read I Am a Cat. See Izumi about getting a copy of the book.

James

October 15 Meeting

Hey clubbers,

This Thursday is the fire festival in Kurama, and Shauna and I are going. We thought to make it an open invitation to all book clubbers so as to pretend we're not skipping the meeting. However, if two or more of you would prefer to meet, I'll just catch up with you next week.

Let me know if you're interested in going to the fire festival and I'll send details.

James

If It's Crazy, We're Not Doing It

There may be a typhoon on Thursday, Oct 8. The author of this message does not have a phone or reliable access to Internet--though sometimes this author picks up an Internet signal at home. If possible, this author will notify all of a cancellation due to rooflessness. If you receive no notice, use your best judgment.

First Lines

We had an excellent debate over first lines yesterday. What's certain is that this space is perfect for sharing your favorite first lines. Drop a comment, if you will.

The Old Capital Readings

Oct 1: First two chapters (to page 39 in English text)
Oct 8: Next two chapters, "The Kimono Town" and "Kitayama Cedars", pages 39-80)

Snack

Weekly snack contributors:

1. Izumi
2. James
3. Duncan
4. Carol
5. Akiko
6. Izu
7. Kate
8. James
9. Annette
10. Izu
11. Akiko
12. Carol

Sept 24 Reading

We'll do one last story from Ishiguro: the final story in the collection, "Cellists". Following "Cellists" we'll switch to Kawabata's The Old Capital, weekly reading lengths to be determined.

Update for Sept 17!

We will skip the third short story in Ishiguro and go straight to the fourth. Read for next week, "Nocturnes".

Suggested Readings

Comment here if you have a book, short story, collection of short stories, or other work of fiction--and we'll consider nonfiction here too--to recommend for the book club.

Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall by Kazuo Ishiguro

We'll read "Crooner" for the meeting on Sept 3, "Come Rain or Shine" for Sept 10, and "Malvern Hills" for Sept 17. We may continue with the last two stories in weeks following.

Come ill- or well-prepared, on a whim or with detailed questions.

First Meeting

The KIS Book Club begins this Thursday at 5pm in the KIS library. Snacks and drinks provided this week by Izumi. We're reading a single short story by Kazuo Ishiguro "Crooner" from the recently released collection Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall. See appropriate link for more information about the book, which may be available to borrow should you wish to keep from spending yen. Leave a comment if you'd like to participate in the book-borrow. We'll cover at least three short stories from Nocturnes, possibly all five.

Since we are just beginning, we will keep Thursdays at 5 as only a tentative time. Things may change, and if they do, I'll update the blog ASAP.

Email Service

If you would like to have new blog posts sent to your email address (similar to the way Facebook functions), leave a comment below with your preferred email address. The blog will accept no more than ten total email addresses, so there are eight slots left as of today.

Voting

Cast your votes for the following categories. Since we must get this thing off the ground, we'll call an end to the voting--unless otherwise amended--Monday, 24 August, at midnight. On Tuesday--and again, unless otherwise amended--we'll make the final decisions regarding the following matters:

1) Frequency (weekly, biweekly, monthly)
2) Density (50 pages per week, 100 pages per week, etc.)
3) Place (cafe, park, river, etc.)
4) Incentive (tea, coffee, sweets, etc.)

If you have other items for discussion, please comment.

Introduction

A book club, open to all who bear imagination or sword. As to the intensity of the thing, we must still decide. Weekly, biweekly, monthly? Please comment as to your preference. And how many pages per week? 50, 100, 200? Please comment as to your preference.

In general, we shall meet at intervals to be determined after having read a density to be determined with the open-mindedness of one who must fit a square peg into a round hole or be poisoned. We might talk about one thing or another, but certainly we will talk about something.

As for ritual, one of the pillars of organizations, we must choose a place and time and probably some sort of reward for having attended such as tea or beef steaks. These will also be items for voting.

Please cast your votes in the space provided under the title "Voting".

See you when the moon is just right for howling.