Let Us Not Say, "Good-bye..."

let us say, "Until we meet again."

The Japanese literature challenge 2 has officially ended. However, please feel free to continue to write posts for any more Japanese literature you have read.

Feel free to peruse this blog for ideas to read further in this genre.

Feel free to join in the next time it comes around: July, 2009.

Prizes Announced!

"Knowledge without wisdom is a load of books on the back of an ass." (Japanese proverb)

"Life without endeavor is like entering a jewel-mine and coming out with empty hands." (Japanese proverb)

"An accomplishment sticks to a person," (Japanese proverb) and so without further ado:

Prize #1: Asleep by Banana Yoshimoto (donated by Terri B.) goes to Nymeth!

Prize #2: Coin Locker Babies goes to Chris at Stuff as Dreams Are Made On!

Prize #3: "The Wave" notebook, set of cards, and froggie origami goes to Iliana!

Prize #4: two CDs of Japanese music go to Tanabata!

Prize #5: All She Was Worth and Crossfire go to Dream Queen!


Prize #6: Hear The Wind Sing, and a matching button, go to The Holistic Knitter!

Prize #7: the Japanese cookbook, and a dish with a Japanese Maple leaf, go to Terri B!

Prize #8: The DHC catalogue, with accompanying samples and olive soap, go to Madeleine!

Prize #9: Tanabata's lovely Japanese calendar goes to Raidergirl 3!

and that leaves us with Carl V., Mee, and 3M who, as yet prize-less during the challenge, will be rewarded with a small token of my appreciation.

If all of you will email me your address at: bellezza.mjs@gmail.com, I will send your prizes off in the next week. Thank you, thank you for joining me in the Japanese Literature Challenge 2.

And, for the rest of you, mark your calendars for the JLC3 beginning this July!

Congrats!

Congratulations to all of you who completed the challenge this time around.

I, unfortunately, am not one of them. I just couldn't get on track for a couple of my challenges, which has led me to shy away from challenges this year. But, Bellezza, if and when you do JLC3, I'll give it another shot because I still have these wonderful books that I truly want to read!

Again, congratulations to you all!

cjh

Challenge Complete!

Bellezza was a wonderful host (thank you!) for this second Japanese literature challenge, and I enjoyed this one as much as I did the first challenge.

My favorites were The Housekeeper and the Professor and Fear and Trembling. Fear and Trembling was not technically Japanese, but it was set in Japan and had a lot to say about Japanese culture. I loved both of these books! I also read two mangas, a Japanese vampire book, and a book by a Nobel laureate. I'm very happy with the books I read, and I continue to be very much interested in both Japanese books and movies. Thanks, Bellezza, and I look forward to the next challenge as well!

Books I read:

1. X-Kai by Asami Tohjoh
2. Vampire Hunter D by Hideyuki Kikuchi
3. The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa
4. Thousand Cranes by Kawabata
5. X-Kai- Vol. 2 by Asami Tohjoh

Of interest:

• Fear and Trembling by Amelie Nothomb (originally in French but set in Japan)

Japanese movies I watched:

• After Life - A
• Last Life in the Universe - B+
• Fear and Trembling - A (in both French and Japanese)