New year, new eyes: This has become an annual theme for my first book of the year, and it has usually involved non-fiction that prod me to look at history, music, literature, life, or the world with a set of new eyes.
This year, I was not able to plan my first book. My younger brother was home for the holidays and reading was not part of the itinerary. We spent most of our time adventuring in the kitchen and binge watching shows that I would normally forgo for reading if left to my own devices.
And it was on a brief solitude after lunchtime when I realized that it was already 2024 and I was without a reading plan.
Then these two books that haven’t yet made their way into my shelf caught my eye, presents from a dear friend who recently traveled to Japan. They came with a note that said, “Our hotel in Kyoto had a bookstore right across it…”
I flipped through There Was a Knock by Shinichi Hoshi because the author is not as widely known here in the Philippines as Natsume Sōseki. The next thing I knew, I was at the last page wanting more!
The few times I felt this entertained by a writer’s cleverness it was with the likes of Queaneau’s Exercises in Style and Calvino’s If on a winter’s night a traveler! But rather than being variations on a theme, each of Hoshi’s fifteen stories are unpredictable and different, and they only have one thing in common — the first line: There was a knock. Needless to say it’s a literary gem!
Botchan by Natsume Sōseki, on the other hand, took me more than halfway to warm up to the main character whom I found rather judgmental and cynical. It was Sōseki’s humorous and engaging writing that kept me going, but only to make me understand in the end that this is ultimately a book about human nature.
At first glance, I wouldn’t have considered any of these two as candidates for my annual first book of the year theme, but here we are and I do not regret it!
Perhaps that’s what having new eyes is all about, too!
Happy New Year and Happy New Eyes, dear fellow readers!
The Book-Butterfly 
This post has me realising that I have not read a Japanese author before! I always see the Japanese “it” authors of the day at my local bookshop, but I’m just never drawn to them and I don’t know why. Maybe I should open my eyes more and try something different this year.
Having said that though, I am loving Aslan’s Unravelling the Silk Road. I think as a creature of habit I’ll stick with my silk road kind of books 😂😂😂
Happy new book year Mira! Here’s to many more great reads ahead!
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I get you! I cannot even say I had a Japanese phase the way I can say I had a Russian, a French, a German, a Latin American, or an Iranian phase. One of my all time favorite novels is “Never Let Me Go” by Kazuo Ishiguro, but he was born and raised in the UK and his works do not exactly fall into the Japanese Lit category.
The contemporary Japanese novels tend to be too quirky and bizarre for my taste. One time I was so into the narrative and the writing when out of the blue aliens appeared. 😂 These two are Japanese classics though, and maybe that’s why I like them because they didn’t leave me scratching my head in confusion. Hahahahaha
I am also typing this with a novel from Afghanistan right beside me for my next read. So, I guess all roads still read to the Silk Road for us. 😂 There’s no place like our literary “home”. Hahaha So glad you’re enjoying Aslan! It’s currently in my cart now, ready for the next check out!
Happy new book year as well, Anna! Cheers to more great reads and travels! ❤
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I share your sentiments totally – I think my lack of Japanese literature is because they are a bit quirky or oddball. I’ve read the blurbs on some of the novels I’ve picked up at the bookshop and they just sound outright crazy! Lol. Nothing beats the Silk Road hey! 😂
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Amen! 😂
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