Scandal wrote:I hope Jack the Lad doesn't mind me starting this thread!
since it's you..
Banana Yoshimoto - Asleep
at the end of the year I guess this one will be in my top-5.
next week I'll be getting the Norweigan edition of 'Bly' by Lars Saabye Christiansen. can't wait. the prequel 'Beatles' is in my all-time top-10.
(basicly it's about four Norweigan guys born in 1951, growing up in Oslo etc.)
"You're all a bunch of m*therf****ers, you know that?”
~ Sigmund Freud on the Oedipus complex
When I was at Waterstone's, I used to run the fiction section and was always intrigued by her name, but never actually looked at the books in much detail. They never seemed to sell very well...
bookshopboy wrote:What are Banana Yoshimoto's books like?
When I was at Waterstone's, I used to run the fiction section and was always intrigued by her name, but never actually looked at the books in much detail. They never seemed to sell very well...
Heidi gave a pretty good description in last months thread
"What I like of her books is the very soft approach to everything, including taboo subject like death, suicide, sexual openness. I tend to think it's a typical japanese quality. Yoshimoto's never superficial but always so polite. "
"You're all a bunch of m*therf****ers, you know that?”
~ Sigmund Freud on the Oedipus complex
Avalon wrote:
I had to borrow Magnus Mills's "The scheme for full employment" again, cos it's such a witty book. I kinda took it so I could lend it out to my girlfriend, but 3 months ago I lent her another book about 80's music and she still didn't get any further than bands that start with F, I think...
You must admit that a book with alphabetical lists (of anything, even 80's bands) isn't exactly the type of thing you'd wanna read with one sit. Even if it's filled with priceless trivia such as Robert Smith wanting to release Let's Go to Bed under the pseudonym The Recur.
Whereas for "The scheme for full employment", I'm convinced that your grilfriend has finished it by now because it indeed is a funny book. In a weird way, it reminds me of a book I read by some Norwegian fellow - the book was called "Egalia's daughters" and it was about an imaginary society where the roles of women and men were twisted around. The story was way over the top and often embarrassing but it was the point that mattered. A lot like with The Scheme. Except that Mill's book is not rubbish, really:)
"At one time singers had to use musicians to accompany them. Since synthesizers came along, singers can now play with themselves"
