Wood, Seascraper (2025)

Benjamin Wood.
Seascraper.
London: Viking (Penguin Random House UK), 2025.
New York: Scribner (Simon & Schuster), 2025.

Book Information : Publisher UK; Publisher USA; Google Books; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com, UK ed; Amazon.com, USA ed.

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Author Information :

• Benjamin Wood, benjaminwood.info, author's website.
• Seascraper at benjaminwood.info.
• "Seascraper" song by Thomas Flett at benjaminwood.info.
• Benjamin Wood (b. 1981), Wikipedia.
• Seascraper (2025), Wikipedia.
• 2025 Booker Prize, Wikipedia.
  (Seascraper was Nominated (long list) for the 2025 Booker Prize.)
• Walter Scott Prize.
  (Seascraper was Nominated for the 2026 Walter Scott Prize.)
• Benjamin Wood, GoodReads.com.

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Wikipedia Articles :

• British literature: 21st-century literature.

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Weir, Project Hail Mary (2021)

Andy Weir.
Project Hail Mary.
New York: Ballantine Books (Penguin Random House), 2021.

Book Information : Publisher; Google Books; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.

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Author Information : Andy Weir

• Andy Weir (b. 1972), Wikipedia.
• Andy Weir, Penguin Random House.
• Andy Weir, andyweirauthor.com (author's website).
• Andy Weir, @andyweirauthor, X / Twitter.

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Moore, The God of the Woods (2024)

Liz Moore.
The God of the Woods.
New York: Riverhead Books (Penguin Random House), 2024.

Book Information : Publisher; Google Books; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.

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Author Information : Liz Moore

• Liz Moore (b. 1983), Wikipedia.
• Liz Moore, Professor and Director of the MFA Program in Creative Writing, Department of English, College of Liberal Arts, Temple University, Philadelphia.

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Johnson, Train Dreams (2002; 2011)

Denis Johnson.
Train Dreams.
New York: Picador (Farrar, Straus and Giroux / Macmillan Publishers), 2011, 2012.
Originally published in The Paris Review, Summer 2002.

Book Information : Publisher; Google Books; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.

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Author Information and Wikipedia Articles :

• Denis Johnson, Macmillan Publishers.
• Denis Johnson (1949 – 2017), Wikipedia.
• Train Dreams (2002; 2011), Wikipedia.
• American literature: Contemporary fiction, Wikipedia.

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Smith, White Teeth (2000; 2025)

Zadie Smith.
White Teeth.
New York: Vintage International (Penguin Random House), 2025.
Originally published: London: Hamish Hamilton, 2000.

Book Information : Publisher; Google Books; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com; Amazon.co.uk; Amazon.com.

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Author Information :

• Zadie Smith (b. 1975), Wikipedia.
• Zadie Smith, Penguin Random House.
• Zadie Smith, GoodReads.com.
• Zadie Smith, The New York Review of Books.

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Wikipedia Articles :

• White Teeth (2000).
• British literature: 21st-century literature.

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Penelope, The Monsters We Defy (2022)

Leslye Penelope.
The Monsters We Defy.
New York: Redhook (Hachette Book Group), 2022.

Book Information : Publisher; Google Books; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.

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Author Information :

• L. Penelope, author website.
• L. Penelope, My Imaginary Friends podcast.
  Also available at YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts.
• Leslye Penelope, YouTube channel.
  Has more than just her My Imaginary Friends podcast.
• Leslye Penelope, Instagram.
• L. Penelope, GoodReads.
• leslyepenelope, X / Twitter.

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Wikipedia Articles :

• Aspects of The Monsters We Defy :
  • Fantasy.
  • Historical fantasy.
  • Supernatural fiction.
  • Paranormal fiction.
  • Hoodoo.
  • Audie Award for Fantasy: 2020s; The Monsters We Defy won this award for 2023.
• Historical People and Events mentioned in The Monsters We Defy :
  • Red Summer, 1919.
  • Washington race riot of 1919.
  • Charles W. Chesnutt (1858–1932), The Conjure Woman (1899).
  • W. E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963), The Souls of Black Folk (1903).
  • Carter G. Woodson (1875–1950), founder of The Journal of Negro History.
  • Jean Toomer (1894–1967), Cane (1923).
  • The New Negro (1925), edited by Alain Locke (1885–1954).
  • Langston Hughes (1901–1967).
  • John Whitelaw Lewis (1867–19##); Industrial Savings Bank founded 1913; Whitelaw Hotel built 1919.
• General Cultural History and Background :
  • African-American literature.
  • Black Renaissance in D.C., 1919 to late 1920s.
  • Harlem Renaissance, 1920s and 1930s.

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Bourdain, Kitchen Confidential (2000; 2007)

Anthony Bourdain.
Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, Updated Edition.
New York: Ecco (HarperCollins Publishers), 2007.
First published: New York: Bloomsbury USA, 2000.

Book Information : Publisher; Google Books; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.

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Wikipedia Articles :

• Anthony Bourdain (1956 – 2018).
• Kitchen Confidential (2000).

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Tokarczuk, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead (2009; 2020)

Olga Tokarczuk.
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead.
Translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones.
New York: Riverhead Books (Penguin Random House), 2019, 2020.
Originally published as: Prowadź swój pług przez kości umarłych, Krakow: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2009.
First English language edition: London: Fitzcarraldo Editions, 2018.

Book Information : Publisher; Google Books; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.

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Wikipedia Articles :

• Olga Tokarczuk (b. 1962).
• Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, 2009, English translation first published 2018.
• Antonia Lloyd-Jones (b. 1962), translator.
• International Booker Prize: 2019; Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead was on the Shortlist.
• 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature, awarded to Olga Tokarczuk.
• Polish literature.
• William Blake (1757–1827).
  • Proverbs of Hell.
  • Auguries of Innocence.
  • The Mental Traveller.

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Miscellaneous Book Reviews :

• Sarah Perry, "Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk – the entire cosmic catastrophe," The Guardian, 21 Sept 2018.
• Stephanie Sy-Quia, "Meat Is Murder: On Olga Tokarczuk's Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead," Los Angeles Review of Books, 15 November 2019.

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Other Articles by and about Olga Tokarczuk :

• Olga Tokarczuk, "[Musings] How Translators Are Saving the World," Korean Literature Now, 29 June 2019.
• Ruth Franklin, "Olga Tokarczuk’s Novels Against Nationalism," The New Yorker, 29 July 2019.
• Olga Tokarczuk, "The Tender Narrator," Nobel Prize lecture, 7 December 2019.
• Jennifer Croft, "Fulfilling the Mission: A Conversation with Olga Tokarczuk’s Translators," Los Angeles Review of Books, 7 December 2020.
• Marek Makowski, "Reading “The Books of Jacob” with — and Against — the Riverhead Reader’s Guide: A Reader’s Guide," Los Angeles Review of Books, 1 March 2022.

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McBride, The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store (2023)

James McBride.
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store.
New York: Riverhead Books (Penguin Random House), 2023.

Book Information : Publisher; Google Books; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.

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Wikipedia Articles :

• James McBride (b. 1957).
• James McBride, The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store (2023).
• James McBride, The Good Lord Bird (2013) won the National Book Award for Fiction.
• James McBride, The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother (1995).

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Tokarczuk, Flights (2007; 2019)

Olga Tokarczuk.
Flights.
Translated by Jennifer Croft.
New York: Riverhead Books (Penguin Random House), 2019.
Originally published as: Bieguni, Krakow: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2007.
First English language edition: London: Fitzcarraldo Editions, 2017.

Book Information : Publisher; Google Books; Wikipedia; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.

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Wikipedia Articles :

• Olga Tokarczuk (b. 1962).
• Flights, 2007, English translation first published 2017.
• From the Wikipedia article Flights : "The original Polish title [Bieguni] refers to runaways (runners, bieguni), a sect of Old Believers [Russian Orthodox Church], who believe that being in constant motion is a trick to avoid evil."
• Flights is described as a fragmentary novel; this article list several well known novels that are examples of that style.
  [Personally I think it's better described as a collection of short stories.]
• International Booker Prize: 2018 awarded to Flights.
• 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature awarded to Olga Tokarczuk.
• Jennifer Croft (b. 1981 or 1982), translator.

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Miscellaneous Book Reviews :

• anonymous, "Flights," Kirkus Reviews, 14 May 2018.
• Kapka Kassabova, "Flights by Olga Tokarczuk review – the ways of wanderers," The Guardian, 3 June 2017.
• James Wood, "'Flights,' a Novel That Never Settles Down, The New Yorker, 24 September 2018.
• Adam Mars-Jones, "Constellationality," London Review of Books, 5 October 2017.
• Eileen Battersby, "Complex Harmonies: On Olga Tokarczuk’s Flights," Los Angeles Review of Books, 11 April 2018.
• Shazia Hafiz Ramji, "A Soaring Novel in 116 'Flights', Chicago Review of Books, 31 August 2018.
• Anna Badkhen, "The View from 35,000 Feet," New York Review of Books, 4 December 2018.

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Nathan, Japan Unbound (2004)

John Nathan.
Japan Unbound: A Volatile Nation's Quest for Pride and Purpose.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2004.

Book Information : Google Books; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.

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Author Information :

• John Nathan (b. 1940), Wikipedia.
• John Nathan, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies, University of California Santa Barbara.
• John Nathan, GoodReads.com.
• Nathan translated into English literary works by :
  • Natsume Sōseki (1867–1916)
  • Kōbō Abe (1924–1993)
  • Yukio Mishima (1925–1970)
  • Kenzaburō Ōe (1935–2023)
  • Notably, Nathan was personally acquainted with Abe, Mishima, and Ōe.
• John Nathan. Mishima: A Biography. Boston: Little, Brown, 1974; New York: Hachette Book Group, 2000.
  [Publisher; Google Books; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.]
• John Nathan. Sony: The Private Life. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1999; New York: Mariner Books / HarperCollins Publishers, 2001.
  [Publisher; Google Books; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.]
• John Nathan. Living Carelessly in Tokyo and Elsewhere: A Memoir. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2008.
  [Publisher; Google Books; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.]
• John Nathan. Sōseki: Modern Japan's Greatest Novelist. New York: Columbia University Press, 2018.
  [Publisher; Google Books; GoodReads.com; Amazon.com.]
• Full Moon Lunch, 1973, Produced and Directed by John Nathan, YouTube.

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Wikipedia Articles :

• Postwar Japan.
• 連合国軍占領期後の日本 [Japan after the Allied Occupation], Wikipedia Japan.
• History of Japan: Heisei period (1989–2019).
• Heisei era.
• 平成 [Heisei], Wikipedia Japan.
~~~~~~~~~~
• Economic history of Japan: Post-World War II.
• Japanese economic miracle, 1950s-1970s.
• Plaza Accord, 1985.
• Japanese asset price bubble, 1986-1991.
• バブル崩壊 [The bubble burst], (article on the "Lost Decades"), Wikipedia Japan.
• 就職氷河期 [Employment Ice Age], following the bubble collapse in 1991, Wikipedia Japan.
• Lost Decades, 1990s-2010s, an extended period of low economic growth (below 2% per year) after the much higher growth rates during the 1950s-1980s period.
• 1997 Asian financial crisis, directly involved Japan's East and SouthEast Asian trading partners, and thus indirectly affected Japan and caused a significant decline in Japan's GDP growth rate in 1997 and 1998.
• William Tsutsui, Japan's Economic Bubble and the Lost Decade, The University of Chicago, 24 June 2009, YouTube.
  (This 1.5 hour talk is a very good survey of Japan's macroeconomic problems.)
  Some other helpful videos:
  • How America Crushed Japan’s Economic Rise
  • The Economy of Japan: How a Superpower Fell from Grace in Four Decades
~~~~~~~~~~
• Japanese literature: Postwar literature (1945–onwards).
• 日本の近現代文学史 [History of modern Japanese literature], Wikipedia Japan.

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Comments :

Japan Unbound is a collection of essays on various public, social, and cultural issues prominent in Japan during the early 2000s; the manuscript was completed in 2003. It is based on interviews the author conducted from May 2001 through December 2002 (not to mention the author's experience with Japan beginning in the autumn of 1961).

At the conclusion of the book Nathan describes his experience of encountering Kenzaburō Ōe and Shintaro Ishihara separately within a couple hours on the same evening : "I felt that I had traveled between the poles of the ambivalence that continues to be a troubling condition of contemporary Japanese life" (page 253). This is the general theme of the book: various manifestations of a people in transition from the past to the future (like everybody else in every other society, but this seems heightened in Japan with its distinctive and ancient cultural traditions, its vigorous but then traumatic modernization, followed by its spectacular post-war economic recovery and prosperity). A little more vaguely, Nathan ponders the Japanese cultural identity (however that may be defined) and how that cultural identity informs and vitalizes the Japanese people as individuals and more broadly socially.

Contents of Japan Unbound: A Volatile Nation's Quest for Pride and Purpose :

1. "Monsters in the House: Japan's Bewildered Children"
   • A deliberate policy during the 1990s of reducing discipline in schools was followed by an explosion of disruptive behavior by students, especially at the lower secondary level. Various seemingly new forms of abnormal behavior in adolescents are also discussed.
   • Education in Japan.
   • Secondary education in Japan.
2. "The Family Crisis"
   • Japanese family.
   • Family policy in Japan.
   • Aging of Japan.
   • Demographics of Japan.
3. "The Culture of Arithmetic"
   • In the wake of low economic growth after the collapse of the 1980s bubble economy, large corporations struggle with maintaining profitability and their other social imperatives (the stability promoted by lifetime employment and the seniority system).
   • Carlos Ghosn (b. 1954).
   • Nissan: Alliance with Renault.
   • William Tsutsui, Japan's Economic Bubble and the Lost Decade, The University of Chicago, 24 June 2009, YouTube.
     (This 1.5 hour talk is a very good survey of Japan's macroeconomic problems.)
     Some other helpful videos:
     • How America Crushed Japan’s Economic Rise
     • The Economy of Japan: How a Superpower Fell from Grace in Four Decades
4. "The Entrepreneurs"
   • 板倉雄一郎, Yuichiro Itakura (b. 1963), wrote books about an entrepreneur's experience with bankruptcy.
   • Masayoshi Son (b. 1958), Softbank Group.
   • 南場智子, Tomoko Namba (b. 1962), founder of the Internet-related company DeNA, ディー・エヌ・エー [DeNA Co.,Ltd.].
   • Oki Matsumoto, 松本大 (実業家) (b. 1963), founder of the online securities brokerage company Monex.
5. "In Search of a Phantom"
   • Japanese nationalism.
   • Yoshinori Kobayashi (b. 1953).
   • 小林よしのり (1953–), Wikipedia Japan.
   • Yoshinori Kobayashi, Neo Gōmanism Manifesto Special – On War, 1995–2003.
   • Yoshinori Kobayashi, 新・ゴーマニズム宣言SPECIAL_戦争論 [New Gomanism Declaration SPECIAL War Theory], Wikipedia Japan.
6. "The New Nationalism II: Institutionalizing Trandition"
   • Japanese history textbook controversies.
   • 歴史教科書問題 [History textbook issue], Wikipedia Japan.
7. "Shintaro Ishihara: The Sun King"
   • Shintaro Ishihara (1932–2022); novelist; politician; Governor of Tokyo 1999-2012.
   • 石原慎太郎 (1932–2022), Wikipedia Japan.
   • Shintaro Ishihara, Season of the Sun, 1955, Akutagawa Prize 1956.
   • Shintaro Ishihara and Akio Morita, The Japan That Can Say No, 1989.
8. "Yasuo Tanaka: The Trickster"
   • Yasuo Tanaka (b. 1956); novelist; politician; Governor of Nagano Prefecture 2000-2006; member of the National Diet 2007-2012.
   • 田中康夫 (1956-), Wikipedia Japan.
   • Yasuo Tanaka, Nantonaku, Kurisutaru, 1981 [English translation published as Somehow, Crystal in 2019].
   • Yasuo Tanaka, Pero-Guri Diaries, 1993-.
   • Environmental issues in Japan.
   • Corruption in Japan.
   • Kisha club (記者クラブ, kisha kurabu, "reporters' club").
9. "Epilogue: Outgrowing Adolescence"
   • Japan emerging from its post-war domination by the United States.
   • Japan–United States relations: Post-World War II period.
   • Japan–United States relations: 21st century.

RT, "What's missing?," 9 August 2004 : an interesting review of the book on Amazon.com.

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Natsukawa, The Cat Who Saved Books (2017; 2023)

Sosuke Natsukawa.
The Cat Who Saved Books.
Translated by Louise Heal Kawai.
London: Picador (Pan Macmillan), 2021.
New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2023.
(Originally published in Japan by Shogakukan, 2017.)

Book Information : Publisher; Google Books; Amazon.com; Goodreads.

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Author Information :

• 夏川草介 [Sosuke Natsukawa, a pen name / psuedonym] (b. 1978), Wikipedia Japan.
• Sosuke Natsukawa, The Cat Who Saved Books, 2017, English translation 2021; Wikipedia English.

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Translator Information :

• Louise Heal Kawai, @quietmoonwave17, Twitter / X.
• Louise Heal Kawai, Words Without Borders [has a translation by Louise Heal Kawai].
• Louise Heal Kawai, Granta [has a couple translations by Louise Heal Kawai].
• Some other books translated by Louise Heal Kawai :
  • Masateru Konishi, 小西マサテル (b. 1965), My Grandfather, the Master Detective [20##], English translation 2025.
  • Sosuke Natsukawa, 夏川草介 (b. 1978), The Cat Who Saved the Library [20##], English translation 2025.
  • Seicho Matsumoto (1909–1992), Point Zero [1959], English translation 2024.
  • Rio Shimamoto (b. 1983), First Love [2018], English translation 2024.
  • Hideo Yokoyama (b. 1957), The North Light [2019], English translation 2023.
  • Seishi Yokomizo (1902–1981), Death on Gokumon Island [1948], English translation 2022.
  • Seishi Yokomizo (1902–1981), The Honjin Murders [1946], English translation 2019.
  • Soji Shimada (b. 1948), Murder in the Crooked House [1982], English translation 2019.
  • Mieko Kawakami (b. 1976), Ms Ice Sandwich [2013], English translation 2018.
  • Hideo Yokoyama (b. 1957), Seventeen [2003], English translation 2018.
  • Ito Ogawa, 小川糸, (b. 1973), The Island of Expectation [Japanese title: つるかめ助産院, Tsurukame Midwifery Clinic, 2010], English translation 2017.
  • Seicho Matsumoto (1909–1992), A Quiet Place [1975], English translation 2016.
  • Taeko Tomioka, 富岡多恵子 (1935–2023), Building Waves [Japanese title: 波うつ土地, The Land of Waves or Wavy Land, 1983], English translation 2012.
  • Shoko Tendo, Yakuza Moon: Memoirs of a Gangster's Daughter [2004], English translation 2007.

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Wikipedia Articles :

• Young adult literature.
• 日本の近現代文学史 [History of modern Japanese literature].
• 大衆小説 [Popular novels].
• 中間小説 [Intermediate novel].
• ファンタジー [Fantasy].

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Comments :

The Cat Who Saved Books is not adult literature. The main characters are two high school students; the simple story uses fantasy adventures to make pious points about the value of books. A cat plays a secondary role as a messenger ... from the the spirit world? ... from the main character's recently deceased grandfather? The book is not about people's relationships with their cats as is the case with Hiraide's The Guest Cat or Inaba's Mornings With My Cat Mii. Given the age of the main characters, the use of fantasy elements (which seem intended for an Anime production), and the pious lessons imparted, I categorize this book as Young Adult literature that's safe (i.e., non-controversial) for the middle school or high school classroom (but which might cause an unfortunate degeneration of the curriculum since its use might displace an older more sophisticated classic work of greater literary merit).

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