Some books I have enjoyed in recent times:
The Wind Up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Murakami
Atmospheric, weird, Japanese novel. Some startling imagery and Lynch-esque surreal story lines. Some of the novel focuses on the Japanese WWII history and at times I found the horrific war events hard to read. However I soldiered on (pun intended) and found the characters' stories enthralling. It's a long read but worth it in the end, it will have you thinking about the characters and the events long after you have read the last page. Just one more criticism, too many sandwich descriptions! More tofu please.
Journey to the West - Cheng'En Wu
Monkey. Pigsy. Sandy. Tripitaka. All the gang are here! After seeing the Japanese TV show 'Monkey Magic' as a child I was fascinated to read the original text (well, a translated and heavily abbreviated version). A truly wonderful and inspiring read. Which reminds me I saw that someone has kindly uploaded the animated film Uproar in Heaven to youtube. Check it out here, beautiful animation:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXUsvPvLUKw
Buddha - Osamu Tezuka
The life of Buddha (the 5th century BC Indian prince Siddhartha Gautama) told in 8 volumes of Manga. Drawn beautifully by the 'don dada' of Manga himself Tezuka. Addictive reading, it seems a challenge at first but speeds by. Jokes a plenty too. Thanks to Navindh for lending me the books.
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