Books I've read so far this year...

[nekosensei]

1. The human Christ: the search for the historical Jesus by Charlotte Allen.
2. Lisey's Story by Stephen King
3. Orientalism by Edward Said
4. I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb
5. The curious incident of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon
6. Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
7. Language death: The Life Cycle of a Scottish Gaelic Dialect by Nancy C. Dorian
8. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
9. The Inferno by Dante Alighieri. Tranlated by Robert Pinsky.
10. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
11. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
12. Fray by Joss Whedon
13. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
14. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
15. Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
16. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
17. The Bone People by Keri Hulme
18. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
19. The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
20. Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko
21. The Doll's House, Dream Country, and Season of Mists by Neil Gaiman
22. Dreams of My Father by Barack Obama
23. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
24. A Game of You and Fables & Reflections by Neil Gaiman
25. Brief Lives, Worlds' End, The Kindly Ones, and The Wake by Neil Gaiman
26. Into the Forest by Jean Hegland
27. Endless Nights by Neil Gaiman

28. The Tale of Genji by Lady Murasaki -- Now I don't feel so bad about listing graphic novels as books since it really does all balance out in the end. At over 1300 pages, this book makes an excellent doorstop.

The Tale of Genji was one of the first known novels (I believe it was from tenth century Japan), and what makes it even cooler was that it was written by a woman. The author was Lady Murasaki, and she was a lady in waiting to the Emperor's niece. What set her apart from many women of her time was that she knew Chinese characters. She also appeared to be knowledgeable of Chinese poetry as she quoted it a great deal in her writings. Most of the women in that time period only wrote in kana. The novel begins with the story of Genji, the son of an Emperor by one of his consorts and ends with stories revolving around his children and grandchildren. In a certain sense, this book reminded me of a soap opera in its descriptions of Genji's and later, his descendant's love affairs. Most likely, the story was written serially (like many soap operas) in order to entertain upper class women at Court.

I also have to add that, by reading this book, I learned quite a bit about Japanese history and culture. I got an inkling of what life must have been like for higher nobility and members of the Imperial family from a woman's point of view. She really did go into quite a bit of detail (and the translator did an excellent job of explaining the cultural context as well). For one, being a woman even of the upper class must have been difficult. If their parents died without finding them a husband, or if they weren't able to find themselves a husband in general, they often had few options available to them. They might have been able to renounce the world and become Buddhist nuns (which wasn't very desirable) or, if they were lucky, ladies in waiting in the service of another. At one point, one character mentioned that, when her parents died, there would be nothing for her to do but to drown herself in the sea. Another ended up living in her father's old house, which began to fall into disrepair. As conditions grew worse and worse, her servants abandoned her and she had less resources to draw upon. Both of these stories, however, had happy endings, and the women were well provided for in the end.

I also learned quite a bit more about Shinto and Buddhism in Heian Period Japan. For instance, one Shinto tradition was that the Emperor usually chose two young girls from his family: one played the part of the Vestal Virgin of Kamo and the other the Vestal Virgin of Ise. They remained in these locations until the Emperor resigned and had another family member take over. Then, they were called back to Court (and eventually married) while another family member took their place. Also, it was very clear that Buddhism was very much concerned with rituals surrounding sickness and death. On the other hand, I also got the sense that there must have been a sort of antagonism between Shinto and Buddhism at the time, which I didn't know was the case. For instance, women who had once been the Vestal Virgins of the Shinto shrines at Ise and Kamo were considered unclean in a sense. One woman remarked that being a Vestal Virgin prejudiced her chances in the afterlife and that she would have to atone for through Buddhist prayer.

Anyhow, I'm rambling. In short, I thought this was a fascinating book and it's amazing how much history and culture you can pick up by reading literature.

Comments

[lucy-burb.livejournal.com]

Very interesting! I love it when you post about books. I bought Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, but it sits on the shelf waiting for Christmas break.