Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks 2017: The Summary

         click on the image to go to the
         challenge on Read 52 Books in 52 Week

In the past twelve months I’ve participated once more in the Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks challenge that Robin of My Two Blessings hosts every year on an extra blog. This time I didn’t follow any specific plan choosing my reads except that some of the books had to be eligible for the rather too big number of other reading challenges for which I signed up (»»» see the January post listing all my 2017 Reading Challenges & Specials and linking to the respective lists). One of the challenges is a perpetual one that still continues, two started already in 2016 and therefore ended the last days of January and August respectively, and the remaining five finish today, on 31 December 2017, although I completed my reviews for most of them weeks ago and I already posted the summaries.

On Twelfth Night 2017 I started out on a long literary journey with the Angel of Oblivion by Maja Haderlap that ended in Boredom by Alberto Moravia just two days before New Year 2018. As a matter of fact, this year’s turned out to be an unusually “wet” and artistic tour of the world.

I travelled on The River with No Bridge by Sué Sumii, assisted A Meeting by the River by Christopher Isherwood, stayed at A Bend in the River by V. S. Naipaul, floated down The River Ki by Ariyoshi Sawako, and found the Woman on the Other Shore by Kakuta Mitsuyo. And as if this weren’t already enough water, there were also Água Viva by Clarice Lispector and Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel. I read several novels surrounding important places and buildings, most obviously Vienna by Eva Menasse, Berlin Alexanderplatz by Alfred Döblin, The Walnut Mansion by Miljenko Jergović, and We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson.

Along the way I met a couple of painters. There were famous ones among them: Gustav Klimt in The Painted Kiss by Elizabeth Hickey, the Old Masters by Thomas Bernhard, Artemisia by Anna Banti, Frieda Kahlo in A Love Letter from a Stray Moon by Jay Griffiths, Francisco de Goya in This is the Hour by Lion Feuchtwanger and Vincent Van Gogh in Lust for Life by Irving Stone. And some fictitious painters crossed my way. One did The Flanders Panel by Arturo Pérez-Reverte and An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro could have known The Dragon Painter by Mary McNeil Fenollosa. My final read of this year intimately acquainted me with a painter who suffered from terrible Boredom by Alberto Moravia.

Two high-ranking travel companions were The Green Pope by Miguel Ángel Asturias and The Pope's Daughter by Dario Fo. And then there is the feline narrator of I Am a Cat by Natsume Sōseki. The animals in the titles of The Pigeon by Patrick Süskind and The Giraffe's Neck by Judith Schalansky only serve as starting points for stories surrounding a bank security guard and a biology teacher respectively. The Roots of Heaven by Romain Gary, on the other hand, is one of the first novels dealing with environmental and wild life protection criticising large-scale elephant hunt in Africa.

Seven of my reads were from the pen of recipients of the Nobel Prize in Literature or actually only six because I reviewed An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro in July, i.e. three months before the author was announced the laureate of 2017. The other six were: The Green Pope by Miguel Ángel Asturias (1967), Billiards at Half Past Nine by Heinrich Böll (1972), Darkness Visible by William Golding (1983), The Trolley by Claude Simon (1985), The Pope's Daughter by Dario Fo (1997), and A Bend in the River by V. S. Naipaul (2001).

Mere coincidence has it that during the past 52 weeks I also reviewed seven epistolary novels here on Edith’s Miscellany, namely So Long a Letter by Mariama Bâ, Black Box by Amos Oz, Letters to Felician by Ingeborg Bachmann, A Meeting by the River by Christopher Isherwood, A Love Letter from a Stray Moon by Jay Griffiths, Kinshu. Autumn Brocade by Miyamoto Teru, and The Heart by Else Lasker-Schüler.

Only one book is eligible for my personal reading special about The Great War in Literature (»»» see The Great War post with the book list), namely To Arms! by Marcelle Tinayre.

And which were my favourite reads this year? Billiards at Half Past Nine by Heinrich Böll, The Roots of Heaven by Romain Gary, and A Bend in the River by V. S. Naipaul… in alphabetical order by the authors’ family names.

And here’s the summary list of 52 Books – 52 Writers n alphabetical order by authors’ family names including dates of release and original titles if they aren’t English: 

1. Ilse Aichinger: The Greater Hope (1948; previously translated into English as Herod's Children), original German title: Die größere Hoffnung
2. Ariyoshi Sawako: The River Ki (1959), original Japanese title: 紀ノ川
3. Miguel Ángel Asturias: The Green Pope (1954), original Spanish title: El papa verde
4. Paul Auster: 4 3 2 1 (2017)
5. Mariama Bâ: So Long a Letter (1980), original French title: Une si longue lettre
6. Ingeborg Bachmann: Letters to Felician (1946/1991), original German title: Briefe an Felician
7. Bánffy Miklós: They Were Counted (1934), original Hungarian title: Megszámláltattál
8. Anna Banti: Artemisia (1947), original Italian title: Artemisia
9. Thomas Bernhard: Old Masters (1985), original German title: Alte Meister
10. Heinrich Böll: Billiards at Half Past Nine (1959), original German title: Billiard um halb zehn
11. Agatha Christie Mallowan: Star Over Bethlehem (1965)
12. Alfred Döblin: Berlin Alexanderplatz (1925), original German title: Berlin Alexanderplatz
13. Laura Esquivel: Like Water for Chocolate (1989), original Spanish title: Como agua para chocolate
14. Mary McNeil Fenollosa: The Dragon Painter (1906)
15. Lion Feuchtwanger: This is the Hour (1951), original German title: Goya oder Der arge Weg der Erkenntnis
16. Katie Flynn: No Silver Spoon (1999)
17. Dario Fo: The Pope's Daughter (2014), original Italian title: La figlia del papa 
18. Romain Gary: The Roots of Heaven (1956), original French title: Les racines du ciel
19. William Golding: Darkness Visible (1979)
20. Maxim Gorky: The Artamonov Business (1925), original Russian title: Дело Артамоновых
21. Jay Griffiths: A Love Letter from a Stray Moon (2011) 
22. Paula Grogger: The Door in the Grimming (1926), original German title: Das Grimmingtor
23. Sabine Gruber: Roman Elegy (2011), original German title Stillbach oder Die Sehnsucht
24. Maja Haderlap: Angel of Oblvion (2011), original German title: Engel des Vergessens
25. Elisabeth Hickey: The Painted Kiss (2005)
26. Christopher Isherwood: A Meeting by the River (1967) 
27. Kazuo Ishiguro: The Artist of the Floating World (1986) 
28. Shirley Jackson: We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962)
29. Miljenko Jergović: The Walnut Mansion (2003), original Croatian title: Dvori od oraha
30. Kakuta Mitsuyo: Woman on the Other Shore (2004), original Japanese title: 対岸の彼女
31. Else Lasker-Schüler: My Heart (1912), original German title: Mein Herz
32. Clarice Lispector: Água Viva (1973; also translated into English as The Stream of Life), original Brazilian Portuguese title: Água viva
33. Lu Xun: The Real Story of Ah-Q and Other Tales of China (1923-1935), original Chinese titles of the combined collections: 吶喊 (1923), 彷徨 (1925) and 故事新編 (1935)
34. Ana María Matute: Celebration in the Northwest (1952), original Spanish title: Fiesta al noroeste
35. Margaret Mazzantini: Twice Born (2008), original Italian title: Venuto al mondo
36. Eva Menasse: Vienna (2005), original German title: Vienna
37. Miyamoto Teru: Kinshu. Autumn Brocade (1982), original Japanese title: 錦繍
38. Alberto Moravia: Boredom (1960), original Italian title: La noia
39. V. S. Naipaul: A Bend in the River (1979)
40. Natsume Sōseki: I Am a Cat (1905), original Japanese title: 吾輩は猫である
41. Amos Oz: Black Box (1986), original Hebrew title: קופסה שחורה
42. Arturo Pérez-Reverte: The Flanders Panel (1990), original Spanish title: La tabla de Flandes
43. Julya Rabinowich: Splithead (2008), original German title: Spaltkopf
44. Judith Schalansky: The Giraffe's Neck (2011), original German title: Der Hals der Giraffe
45. Clemens J. Setz: Indigo (2012), original German title: Indigo
46. Claude Simon: The Trolley (2001), original French title: Le tramway
47. Irving Stone: Lust for Life (1934)
48. Patrick Süskind: The Pigeon (1987), original German title: Die Taube
49. Sumii Sué: The River with No Bridge (Volume I: 1961), original Japanese title: 橋のない川
50. Marcelle Tinayre: To Arms! (1915; also translated into English as Sacrifice), original French title: La Veillée des armes. Le départ; Août 1914 
51. Miguel Torga: Grape Harvest (1945), original Portuguese title: Vindima
52. Regina Ullmann: Country Road (1921), original German title: Die Landstraße

Women Challenge #5: The Summary

 click on the image to go to the
    challenge on peek-a-booK!

In 2017 I participated once more in the bilingual Women Challenge #5 that Valentina hosted again on peek-a-booK!. It was an easy task for me because like every year half of the books that I reviewed here on Edith’s Miscellany and on my BOOKLIKES blog Lagraziana’s Kalliopeion were written by women. And it goes without saying that some of the reads were an unexpected pleasure, others a bit of a deception. Nonetheless, I’m happy to say that all things considered my choices turned out to be rather good ones although this year there was no book that truly sent me into raptures.

Back to the Classics 2017: The Summary

click on the image to go to the   
challenge on Books and Chocolate   

Like every year half of the books that I read and reviewed here on Edith’s Miscellany were twentieth-century classics. With ten of these plus two older books that I reviewed on my Booklikes blog called Lagraziana’s Kalliopeion I participated in the Back to the Classics 2017 reading challenge that Karen K. hosted on Books and Chocolate. When I joined in January, I didn’t think that I would read something from all twelve categories because there were at least four of them that weren’t really my cup of tea, but eventually I made the full dozen.

Since literature published before 1900 seldom tempts me, few pre-1800 and 19th-century classics ever make it on my reading list. Still, I found two. Jens Peter Jacobsen’s 1876 historical novel Marie Grubbe about a wilful noblewoman in sixteenth-century Denmark was even more engaging than I had expected. And my imitation leather-bound German edition gave the read the right flair, too. Aphra Behn’s very short “novel” The Adventure of the Black Lady from around 1697, on the other hand, wasn’t quite what I had hoped for. Although it was interesting and I didn’t regret my choice, the book didn’t actually send me into raptures.

The romance and Gothic or horror classics were out of my usual line, too, and it cost me some thought as well as research to find suitable novels that I was likely to enjoy enough to finish them. I believe that I made a good choice in the end although I must admit that neither Mary McNeil Fenollosa’s The Dragon Painter nor Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle succeeded in turning me into a fan of the genres. Despite all, I’m glad that I read their books because if nothing else they entertained me a little and widened my literary horizon. Besides, they were sufficiently well-written to keep me reading.

If forced to name my favourite read for this challenge, I’d waver between The Roots of Heaven by Romain Gary and Billiards at Half Past Nine by Heinrich Böll, the first an award-winning African novel that was one of the first introducing environmental and wild life protection into literature and the latter a critical discussion of Nazi reign and World War II in a fictious family setting. Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed Anna Banti’s Artemisia, Ana María Matute’s Celebration in the Northwest and Natsume Sōseki’s I Am a Cat, too. As for They Were Counted by Count Bánffy Miklos and The Artamonov Business by Maxim Gorky, they are great novels set in the late nineteenth century through 1914 and 1917 respectively. Only Paula Grogger’s historical novel The Door in the Grimming evoking daily life in the Styrian mountains in the times of the Napoleonic Wars happened to be a bit of a disappointment.

And here comes the summary list of My Dozen of Classics including the categories for which I entered them, dates of release and original titles if they aren’t English:

1. 19th-century classic:
   Jens Peter Jacobsen: Marie Grubbe. A Lady of the Seventeenth Century (1876), original Danish title: Fru Marie Grubbe, Interieurer fra det syttende Aarhundrede
   »»» on Lagraziana’s Kalliopeion
2. 20th-century classic:
   Ana María Matute: Celebration in the Northwest (1952), original Spanish title: Fiesta al noroeste
3. Classic by a woman author:
   Paula Grogger: The Door in the Grimming (1926), original German title: Das Grimmingtor
4. Classic in translation:
   Bánffy Miklós: They Were Counted (1934), original Hungarian title: Megszámláltattál
5. Classic published before 1800:
   Aphra Behn: The Adventure of the Black Lady (1684) »»» on Lagraziana’s Kalliopeion
6. Romance classic:
   Mary McNeil Fenollosa: The Dragon Painter (1906)
7. Gothic or horror classic:
   Shirley Jackson: We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962)
8. Classic with a number in the title:
   Heinrich Böll: Billiards at Half Past Nine (1959), original German title: Billard um halb zehn
9. Classic about an animal or which includes the name of an animal in the title:
   Natsume Sōseki: I am a Cat (1905), original Japanese title: 吾輩は猫である
10. Classic set in a place you'd like to visit: Rome - Florence - Naples - London
    Anna Banti: Artemisia (1947), original Italian title: Artemisia
11. Award-winning classic: Prix Goncourt 1956
    Romain Gary: The Roots of Heaven (1956), original French title: Les racines du ciel 
12. Russian Classic:
    Maxim Gorky: The Artamonov Business (1925), original Russian title: Дело Артамоновых

What's In A Name 2017: The Summary

  click on the image to go to the
   challenge on The Worm Hole

In January I signed up for Charlie’s What’s In A Name 2017 reading challenge hosted on The Worm Hole. Given that I’m reviewing a book every Friday, it was rather easy to complete it although among the six categories there was at least one – an item/items of cutlery – that gave me a bit of a headache. Moreover, I couldn’t help entering three of the books in other reading challenges too, namely in Back to the Classics 2017 and the Epistolary Reading Challenge 2017.

I read and reviewed one book for every category of the challenge, but I made a list of twelve supplementing each of my actual reads with a suggestion for a book from the pen of a recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature who belongs to the opposite sex. I refrained from presenting any of the latter here on Edith’s Miscellany because I already featured a book written by all but one – William Faulkner – of these laureates for the perpetual Read the Nobels challenge.

Admittedly, I wasn’t overly impressed by Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle and Katie Flynn’s No Silver Spoon because both are quite out of my usual line for being a Gothic and a romance novel respectively. I’m no fan of either of these genres. In addition, I like it deeper, more contemplative or controversial. Even 4 3 2 1 by Paul Auster was a bit too mainstream to my taste although I found the basic idea of juxtaposing four alternative biographies of the same man to trace twentieth-century American history really compelling. In retrospect, I definitely preferred the remaining three books, namely the German classic Berlin Alexanderplatz by Alfred Döblin that I long wished to read, the epistolary novel Black Box by Israeli author Amos Oz and – my absolute favourite among the six – the classic Celebration in the Northwest by Ana María Matute from Catalonia.

And here’s my summary List of Twice Six Books including the categories for which I entered them, dates of release and original titles if they aren’t English:

• A number in numbers:
  Paul Auster: 4 3 2 1 (2017)
  
  + Nobel Prize in Literature 1938 – Pearl S. Buck: 14 Stories (1961) in the Pocket Books edition of 1963, but if you have a better suggestion...
• A building:
  Shirley Jackson: We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962)
  + Nobel Prize in Literature 1949 – William Faulkner: The Mansion (1959)
• A title which has an ‘X’ somewhere in it:
  Alfred Döblin: Berlin Alexanderplatz (1929), original German title: Berlin Alexanderplatz
  
  + Nobel Prize in Literature 1991 – Nadine Gordimer: Beethoven Was One-Sixteenth Black (2007)
• A compass direction:
  
  Ana María Matute: Celebration in the Northwest (1952), original Spanish title: Fiesta al noroeste
  + Nobel Prize in Literature 1962 – John Steinbeck: East of Eden (1952)
• An item/items of cutlery:
  Katie Flynn: No Silver Spoon (1999)
  
  + Nobel Prize in Literature 1932 – John Galsworthy: The Silver Spoon (1926), second book of A Modern Comedy, the sequel of The Forsyte Saga
• A title in which at least two words share the same first letter – alliteration!
  Amos Oz: Black Box (1986), original Hebrew title: קופסה שחורה
  + Nobel Prize in Literature 1993 – Toni Morrison: Song of Solomon (1977)

Epistolary Reading Challenge 2017: The Summary

     Click on the image to go to the
     challenge on Whatever I Think Of

In February I signed up for the Epistolary Reading Challenge 2017 that Jamie Ghione hosted on Whatever I Think Of because it was the month of letters. I made a Longlist of 100 Novels in Letters, but of course, I couldn’t read all of them, nor did I plan to. Nevertheless, in 2017 I read and reviewed here on Edith’s Miscellany and on my BOOKLIKES blog Lagraziana’s Kalliopeion more epistolary fiction than I used to before, namely altogether eight of the 100.

My favourite epistolary novel of the year is Vita Brevis. A Letter to Saint Augustine by Jostein Gaarder, closely followed by So Long a Letter by Mariama Bâ and Black Box by Amos Oz.

And here’s my summary List of Epistolary Reads 2017 in alphabetical order by authors’ family names including dates of release and original titles if they aren’t English:

• Mariama Bâ: So Long a Letter (1979), original French title: Une si longue lettre
• Ingeborg Bachmann: Letters to Felician (1946/1991), original German title: Briefe an Felician
• Jostein Gaarder: Vita Brevis. A Letter to Saint Augustine (1996), original Norwegian title: Vita brevis  »»» on Lagraziana's Kalliopeion
• Jay Griffiths: A Love Letter from a Stray Moon (2011)
• Christopher Isherwood: A Meeting by the River (1967)
• Else Lasker-Schüler: The Heart (1912), original German title: Mein Herz (1912)
• Miyamoto Teru: Kinshu. Autumn Brocade (1982), original Japanese title: 錦繍
• Amos Oz: Black Box (1986), original Hebrew title: קופסה שחורה

What's In A Name 2017: My List of Twice Six Books

click on the image to go to the
challenge on The Worm Hole

A List of Twice Six Books

- completed reviews -

+ suggested Nobel reads that didn’t fit into my 2017 planning

• A number in numbers:
  Paul Auster: 4 3 2 1 (2017)
  
  + Nobel Prize in Literature 1938 – Pearl S. Buck: 14 Stories (1961) in the Pocket Books edition of 1963, but if you have a better suggestion...
• A building:
  Shirley Jackson: We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962)
  + Nobel Prize in Literature 1949 – William Faulkner: The Mansion (1959)
• A title which has an ‘X’ somewhere in it:
  Alfred Döblin: Berlin Alexanderplatz (1929), original German title: Berlin Alexanderplatz
  
  + Nobel Prize in Literature 1991 – Nadine Gordimer: Beethoven Was One-Sixteenth Black (2007)
• A compass direction:
  
  Ana María Matute: Celebration in the Northwest (1952), original Spanish title: Fiesta al noroeste
  + Nobel Prize in Literature 1962 – John Steinbeck: East of Eden (1952)
• An item/items of cutlery:
  Katie Flynn: No Silver Spoon (1999)
  
  + Nobel Prize in Literature 1932 – John Galsworthy: The Silver Spoon (1926), second book of A Modern Comedy, the sequel of The Forsyte Saga
• A title in which at least two words share the same first letter – alliteration!
  Amos Oz: Black Box (1986), original Hebrew title: קופסה שחורה
  + Nobel Prize in Literature 1993 – Toni Morrison: Song of Solomon (1977)

100 Novels In Letters

Click on the image to go to the
challenge on Whatever I Think Of

My Long Longlist of Epistolary Fiction

As I found out a year ago, February is the Month of Letters and I gladly seize the opportunity to present four epistolary novels here on Edith’s Miscellany on the coming four Fridays plus another letter-based book on Lagraziana’s Kalliopeion. Of course, these five reviews won’t remain my only ones this year with a focus on this old literary genre because I signed up for Jamie Ghione’s Epistolary Reading Challenge 2017 on Whatever I Think Of (»»» see my common sign-up post for all this year's reading challenges) and I’m determined to treat myself to a few more fictional or fictionalised correspondences for it.

Being a great enthusiast of the old-fashioned (snail mail) letter, I confine myself to books written entirely or at least substantially in this form rather than modern emails, instant messages, memos, blogs, or diaries although it’s not always easy to draw a sharp line or even to find out before reading. Luckily, writers have been penning heaps of fictional letters to produce full-length novels since the late seventeenth century, many of them forgotten today or considered antiquated, and to my great joy they continue to do so adapting the genre to the realities of modern life.

There is an interesting and detailed list of contemporary epistolary novels on Wikipedia, but I preferred to make my own list largely based on my 29 Book Suggestions for the Month of Letters 2016. Admittedly, my selection of 100 is a bit arbitrary and includes several books about which I know nothing except that they are epistolary. Moreover, one fifth of the novels dates from before 1900 and isn’t eligible for review on Edith’s Miscellany according to my own rules. I include them nonetheless for the sake of “completeness” along with the novels in letters that I already wrote about in the past. My reviews for the Epistolary Reading Challenge 2017 will be from the remaining.

And here’s my chronological Longlist of 100 Novels in Letters
(to be completed with links to my reviews):

Back to the Classics 2017 – My List

click on the image to go to the
challenge on Books and Chocolate

 My Dozen of Classics

- completed reviews -

1. 19th-century classic:
   Jens Peter Jacobsen: Marie Grubbe. A Lady of the Seventeenth Century (1876), original Danish title: Fru Marie Grubbe, Interieurer fra det syttende Aarhundrede
   »»» on Lagraziana’s Kalliopeion
2. 20th-century classic:
   Ana María Matute: Celebration in the Northwest (1952), original Spanish title: Fiesta al noroeste
3. Classic by a woman author:
   Paula Grogger: The Door in the Grimming (1926), original German title: Das Grimmingtor
4. Classic in translation:
   Bánffy Miklós: They Were Counted (1934), original Hungarian title: Megszámláltattál
5. Classic published before 1800:
   Aphra Behn: The Adventure of the Black Lady (1684) »»» on Lagraziana’s Kalliopeion
6. Romance classic:
   Mary McNeil Fenollosa: The Dragon Painter (1906)
7. Gothic or horror classic:
   Shirley Jackson: We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962)
8. Classic with a number in the title:
   Heinrich Böll: Billiards at Half Past Nine (1959), original German title: Billard um halb zehn
9. Classic about an animal or which includes the name of an animal in the title:
   Natsume Sōseki: I am a Cat (1905), original Japanese title: 吾輩は猫である
10. Classic set in a place you'd like to visit: Rome - Florence - Naples - London
    Anna Banti: Artemisia (1947), original Italian title: Artemisia
11. Award-winning classic: Prix Goncourt 1956
    Romain Gary: The Roots of Heaven (1956), original French title: Les racines du ciel 
12. Russian Classic:
    Maxim Gorky: The Artamonov Business (1925), original Russian title: Дело Артамоновых

Japanese Literature Challenge X – The Summary

Click on the image to go to
Dolce Bellezza's challenge post
with a list of all entries

June 2016 - January 2017

All good things come in threes! And so I participated also in the Japanese Literature Challenge X (2016/17) hosted by Dolce Bellezza - for literary and translated fiction presenting literature from Japan here on Edith’s Miscellany. Now it’s the end of January and the challenge closes which means that it’s time to take stock.

My choice of books followed my self-imposed rule of alternating female and male writers as well as classic and contemporary works. In addition, I fitted them into the Double Alphabet of Writers that I was filling up (male) and down (female) in 2016 (»»» see my challenge summary for Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks). The latter wasn’t always easy and in fact accounts for an unusually light read – The Restaurant of Love Regained by Ogawa Ito – an three instead of two male classics in my list.

None of the books that I picked disappointed me and there was no need to exchange any of them for another that I liked better. Admittedly, The Face of Another by Abe Kōbō turned out to be a rather difficult and confusing read, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. If urged to name my favourite Japanese reads of the past eight months, I waver between Silence by Endō Shūsaku and Black Rain by Ibuse Masuji although the school novels of Sumii Sué and Tsuboi Sakae have been rather enticing too and also Yoshimoto Banana’s and Nakamura Fuminori’s modern novels gave me great pleasure. In a nutshell: I loved what I read for this challenge!

And here’s now my summary list of the eight books that I read with links to my reviews:

• Abe Kōbō: The Face of Another (1964), original title: 他人の顔
• Endō Shūsaku: Silence (1966), original title: 沈黙
• Ibuse Masuji: Black Rain (1966), original title: 黒い雨
• Nakamura Fuminori: The Thief (2009), original title: 掏摸
• Ogawa Ito: The Restaurant of Love Regained (2008), original title: 食堂かたつむり
• Sumii Sué: The River with No Bridge (Volume 1: 1961), original title: 橋のない川
• Tsuboi Sakae: Twenty-four Eyes (1952), original title: 二十四の瞳
• Yoshimoto Banana: The Lake (2005), original title: みずうみ

»»» please read also my post for the Japanese Literature Challenge 9 (2015/16).

»»» please read also my (brief) post for the Japanese Literature Challenge 8 (2014/15) for which I signed up shortly before it was over, so I could contribute no more than two books to it.