Japanese Literature Challenge 8 is here!

JLC8 is in full swing and I am ready to partake in the festivities.  Finally!  I can't believe that I haven't posted sooner about this wonderful annual event - especially since it is one of my all-time favorite reading challenges!  How could it not be, when it is a reading challenge dedicated to Japanese literature?!  And you know I love me some Murakami, Ogawa, and Yoshimoto - big time!  So, of course I am excited to dive right in and start a new TBR pile of all of the books I want to read for this challenge (the new Murakami will most definitely be included).  I'm really hoping to find some new-to-me authors to read.  Luckily, Dolce Bellezza (creator of JLC) has decided to highlight a specific author for each month of the challenge - how perfect is that?  Plus, there will be giveaways and read-alongs throughout the rest of the year - JCL8 runs from June 2014 thru January 2015.  How fun is that!?!  I know I'm excited.  I've actually just finished reading The Lake by Banana Yoshimoto (talk about perfect timing!) and have started Murakami's book, Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman - so, I think I'm off to a pretty great start.  And now, I'm off to finish reading An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear - its the last book in the Maisie Dobbs series that I need to read.  Happy reading!

June: Kaikō Takeshi (a prominent post WWII writer who won the Akutagawa prize in 1957)

July: Ryunosuke Akutagawa (known as the father of the Japanese short story)

August: Keigo Higashino (known primarily for his mystery novels; Naoko was one of my favorite books last year)

September: Haruki Murakami (a contemporary Japanese writer whose books have been translated in 50 languages and sold in the millions)

October: Yukio Mishima ( a 20th century writer nominated three times for the Nobel prize)

November: Yasunari Kawabata (first Japanese author to win the Nobel prize "for his narrative mastery, which with great sensibility expresses the essence of the Japanese mind". Nobel prize 

December: Natsume Sōseki (a novelist of the Meiji period (September 1868 through July 1912) whose writing has had a profound impact on almost all Japanese writers)

January: Banana Yoshimoto (a writer who claims that her two themes are "the exhaustion of young Japanese in contemporary Japan" and "the way in which terrible experiences shape a person's life.")

- See more at: http://www.dolcebellezza.net/2014/05/japanese-literature-challenge-8.html#sthash.YICBiPVf.dpuf

June: Kaikō Takeshi (a prominent post WWII writer who won the Akutagawa prize in 1957)

July: Ryunosuke Akutagawa (known as the father of the Japanese short story)

August: Keigo Higashino (known primarily for his mystery novels; Naoko was one of my favorite books last year)

September: Haruki Murakami (a contemporary Japanese writer whose books have been translated in 50 languages and sold in the millions)

October: Yukio Mishima ( a 20th century writer nominated three times for the Nobel prize)

November: Yasunari Kawabata (first Japanese author to win the Nobel prize "for his narrative mastery, which with great sensibility expresses the essence of the Japanese mind". Nobel prize 

December: Natsume Sōseki (a novelist of the Meiji period (September 1868 through July 1912) whose writing has had a profound impact on almost all Japanese writers)

January: Banana Yoshimoto (a writer who claims that her two themes are "the exhaustion of young Japanese in contemporary Japan" and "the way in which terrible experiences shape a person's life.")

- See more at: http://www.dolcebellezza.net/2014/05/japanese-literature-challenge-8.html#sthash.YICBiPVf.dpuf

June: Kaikō Takeshi (a prominent post WWII writer who won the Akutagawa prize in 1957)

July: Ryunosuke Akutagawa (known as the father of the Japanese short story)

August: Keigo Higashino (known primarily for his mystery novels; Naoko was one of my favorite books last year)

September: Haruki Murakami (a contemporary Japanese writer whose books have been translated in 50 languages and sold in the millions)

October: Yukio Mishima ( a 20th century writer nominated three times for the Nobel prize)

November: Yasunari Kawabata (first Japanese author to win the Nobel prize "for his narrative mastery, which with great sensibility expresses the essence of the Japanese mind". Nobel prize 

December: Natsume Sōseki (a novelist of the Meiji period (September 1868 through July 1912) whose writing has had a profound impact on almost all Japanese writers)

January: Banana Yoshimoto (a writer who claims that her two themes are "the exhaustion of young Japanese in contemporary Japan" and "the way in which terrible experiences shape a person's life.")

- See more at: http://www.dolcebellezza.net/2014/05/japanese-literature-challenge-8.html#sthash.YICBiPVf.dpuf