月: 2026年1月

『陰陽師生成り姫』夢枕獏, 2003年レビュー | 源博雅が主役の長編

陰陽師生成り姫
夢枕獏, 2003
389 ページ
2026.01 読了
アマゾンであらすじと詳細を見る

🔽 本の紹介と一言レビュー 🔽

✔ 陰陽師シリーズ第5弾
✔ シリーズ初の長編はバディ役の源博雅が主人公に
✔ 彼の12年前の恋の行方

★★★★★ 今回は初の長編。そこに、もう短編で一度語られた話を掘り下げるという粋な試み。さらに主人公をバディ役の源博雅に。シリーズに人間味があるのは間違いなく彼のお蔭。

🔽🔽 読書記録 🔽🔽

「平安時代は、雅な闇の時代であった。
鬼も、人も、もののけも、同じ闇の中で呼吸している」

今回は初の長編。
そこに、もう短編で一度語られた話「鉄輪」を掘り下げるという粋な試み。
それでもって主人公をシリーズではバディ役の源博雅にするというファンには嬉しい試み。

源博雅は安倍晴明に何度も何度も「お前はいい漢だ」といわせるほどいいやつで、この陰陽師シリーズに人間味があるのは間違いなくこの男のお蔭で、好きにならずにはいられないキャラ。
今回も凄く良いのです。

源博雅の12年前の恋、鬼になる女、全てを受け止める安倍晴明と源博雅の二人。
じっくりと長編として描かれるので最後の感動もしっかりと高まる。

🔽 関連ページ 🔽
シリーズ第一弾　『陰陽師』 夢枕獏, 1988 感想 | なに本当に面白い

🔽 買えるところ / あらすじ、詳細 🔽

●●● アマゾン ●●●

陰陽師 生成り姫 (文春文庫 ゆ 2-9)

●●● 楽天 ●●●
陰陽師 生成り姫 （文春文庫） [ 夢枕 獏 ]
価格：770円（税込、送料無料) (2026/1/31時点)

2026-01-31

“The Spirit of Japan” Rabindranath Tagore (1916) Review | Short but meaningful


The Spirit of Japan
Rabindranath Tagore, 1916
22 pages
Read in 2023.11
check price on amazon.com

✔ Indian poet and his friendship with Japan
✔ His speech at a university in Japan 
✔ Critique of the modernisation of Japan


🔽 Review summary 🔽

★★★★★ A speech he gave at Keio University in Tokyo in 1916. Full of warnings for Japan that he had loved, at the time Japan was militarising too rapidly. However he still believed in the power of Eastern philosophy.


🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

A speech he gave as he was departing Japan at Keio University in Tokyo in 1916.
It is critical and full of warnings for Japan that he had loved, at the time Japan was militarising too rapidly. He strongly believed in the power of the East, that the power of Eastern philosophy 

It's well known that he though he was fond of Japan and its culture and arts, he was very concerned about the rapid Westernisation of the country, thus going towards the path of colonisers.
Looking at how his own country was getting consumed by the West and how Japan was losing its honourable self, he was unable to contain himself and gave this powerful speech.

However, his warnings are timeless and universal; this "modernisation" is a path to self destruction and the hatred and harm you force upon the others will always come back to yourself.
He strongly believed in the power of the East, that the power of Eastern philosophy would overcome the material power of the West, just like the sun that is always there even if the cloud might cover the sun temporarily.

Short but meaningful book.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

The Spirit of Japan (Mint Editions (Voices From API))

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
The Spirit of Japan 

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
The Spirit of Japan (Mint Editions)

2026-01-31

“The Girl I Left Behind” Shusaku Endo (1972) Review | The love she believes in


The Girl I Left Behind
Shusaku Endo, 1972
私が・棄てた・女
遠藤周作
Japan
Read in 2020.04
check price on amazon.com

✔ Fiction from one of Japan's best authors
✔ A life of a naïve girl's
✔ Cruel love story


🔽 Review summary 🔽

★★★★☆ A naïve country girl who's not pretty and not smart, a girl the protagonist took advantage and left behind, thrown away like a rubbish. I knew it'd be painful to read, her pure selfless love.


🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

The author of "Silence", I knew it'd be hard to read - and it was.
"Silence" was full on religious, the author's eternal struggle, this one in a way also was.

It's about a naïve country girl who's not pretty and not smart, a girl the protagonist took advantage and left behind, thrown away like a rubbish.
She is aware that she was hurt, yet she tries to free him from his guilt; her pure selfless love, maybe that's a religion.
Her religion is to live only for others.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

The Girl I Left Behind

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
The Girl I Left Behind

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
-

2026-01-31

『陰陽師鳳凰ノ巻』夢枕獏, 2002年レビュー | シリーズ第四弾

陰陽師鳳凰ノ巻
夢枕獏, 2002
272 ページ
2026.01 読了
アマゾンであらすじと詳細を見る

🔽 本の紹介と一言レビュー 🔽

✔ 陰陽師シリーズ第4弾
✔ 同じメインの登場人物なのに飽きない
✔ 短編集の最後の一つはいつもと違う流れ

★★★★☆ 短編で4冊目なのにリズムもキープ。ダイアの原石である二人組を産み出したからノリに乗った状態が続くからだろう。でもなんと4冊目の最後の短編でスタイルを変えてくる変化球。

🔽🔽 読書記録 🔽🔽

シリーズ第4弾。
短編で4冊目なのに、ダラダラとならずリズムもキープする。
それはもうダイアモンドの原石である二人組を産み出したからノリに乗った状態が続くからだろう。
もちろんスタイルを変えずに話を変えるという型で4冊目に来たわけだけど、なんと最後の短編でスタイルを変えてくる。
今までは誰かに頼まれて、博雅と飲んでいた酒の杯を置き、ゆこう、と妖しい存在に向かっていっていたのが、今回はライバルと腕比べとは。

やっぱり読み続けるしかないね。

🔽 関連ページ 🔽
シリーズ　『陰陽師』 夢枕獏, 1988 感想 | なに本当に面白い

🔽 買えるところ / あらすじ、詳細 🔽

●●● アマゾン ●●●

陰陽師 鳳凰ノ巻 (文春文庫 ゆ 2-7) 

●●● 楽天 ●●●
陰陽師 鳳凰ノ巻 （文春文庫） [ 夢枕 獏 ]
価格：726円（税込、送料無料) (2026/1/31時点)

2026-01-31

『オリクスとクレイク』マーガレット・アトウッド, 2003年レビュー | アトウッドのSF

オリクスとクレイク
マーガレット・アトウッド, 2003
Oryx and Crake
Margaret Atwood
2026.01 読了
アマゾンであらすじと詳細を見る

🔽 本の紹介と一言レビュー 🔽

✔ カナダの作家のSF作品
✔ 人間がいなくなった世界というディストピア
✔ MaddAddamシリーズ第一弾

★★★☆☆ SFは苦手なんです。たとえアトウッドであっても苦手であると確信。この世界を作り上げることに時間は割かれすぎ？で人物に魅力を感じられない点も私には難しかった。

🔽🔽 読書記録 🔽🔽

SFは苦手なんです。
たとえアトウッドであっても苦手であると確信。

なんでこういう世界にいるのかが436ページ中250ページ位になるまで見えてこないのは私には難しかった。
文章はすごい、描写もすごい、状況を掴めれば面白い、でもこの世界を作り上げることに時間は割かれているにも関わらず人物像を作り上げることがほぼないので、人物に魅力を感じられない点も私には難しかった。

日本語はもう売られていないのか、アマゾンで高額で売ってあるのみのよう。

🔽 関連ページ 🔽
English review “Oryx and Crake” Margaret Atwood (2003) Review | SF from Atwood
tag SF

🔽 買えるところ / あらすじ、詳細 🔽

●●● アマゾン ●●●

オリクスとクレイク

●●● 楽天 ●●●
ー

2026-01-31

“Oryx and Crake” Margaret Atwood (2003) Review | SF from Atwood

Oryx and Crake
Margaret Atwood, 2003
389 pages
Read in 2026.01
check price on amazon.com

✔ Science Fiction
✔ Dystopia  
✔ Friendship


🔽 Review summary 🔽

★★★☆☆ It's Margaret Atwood so the writing is intriguing, imaginative and gripping. But, but but, story-wise I just couldn't get myself to be gripped.


🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

It's a difficult one to judge.
First of all It's a Science Fiction, and I'm no expert nor fan of SF so I can't be fair.

It's about a world after some kind of catastrophe where there are no other human than the protagonist and the science has screwed up with species, and so it's a perfect dystopia. 
It's Margaret Atwood so the writing is intriguing, imaginative and gripping.

But, but but, story-wise I just couldn't get myself to be gripped.
The fact that you can't know what's going on for nearly 2/3 of the book is a problem for me (most probably not for SF fans!)
Another thing is that you can't be attached to any characters because the author is not building up characters, she's just building up the background and the scenes (for a long time)

Maybe it was supposed to be read when it came out over 20 years ago.
Today, with the technology in the post covid society, we feel like we know it's not a mere SF.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

Oryx and Crake (The MaddAddam Trilogy) 

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
Oryx And Crake: Margaret Atwood (The Maddaddam Trilogy)

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
Oryx e Crake (italiano)

2026-01-31

『周作塾』遠藤周作, 1998年レビュー | 狐狸庵先生のエッセイ

周作塾読んでもタメにならないエッセイ
遠藤周作, 1998
274 ページ
2020.04 読了
アマゾンであらすじと詳細を見る

🔽 本の紹介と一言レビュー 🔽

✔ 狐狸庵先生のエッセイ
✔ 男性読者向けへ人生の先輩としての教訓
✔ 軽い話だけでなく無意識や死後の世界なども

★★★★☆ 好奇心旺盛な先生はどうでもいいことを書いておいて、実は密かに何より無意識という観念に結構時間をかけて語っている。でもメインはためにならない話だけど。

🔽🔽 読書記録 🔽🔽

遠藤周作というより、狐狸庵先生のエッセイ。
男性向け雑誌の連載ということでいつもより男性読者向けの、先輩としての教訓を面白おかしく書いている。

彼のエッセイは後から考えると時系列順に読むべきだった。

これがどこにハマるのかわからないけど、好奇心旺盛な先生はどうでもいいことを書いておいて、実は密かに何より無意識という観念に結構時間をかけて語っている。
偶然や死後の世界あど、非合理的な世界。
解説によると、そしてそれは「ディープ・リバー」へ繋がっていく。

🔽 買えるところ / あらすじ、詳細 🔽

●●● アマゾン ●●●

周作塾 (講談社文庫) 

●●● 楽天 ●●●
周作塾【電子書籍】[ 遠藤周作 ]
価格：398円 (2026/1/26時点)

2026-01-29

“Unmarriageable” Soniah Kamal, (2019) Review | Refreshing and lovely

Unmarriageable
Soniah Kamal, 2019
384 pages
Read in 2020.03
check price on amazon.com

✔ Pride and Prejudice
✔ Girls and young society of Pakistan
✔ Uplifting


🔽 Review summary 🔽

★★★★☆ What it says on the tin. Refreshing to read the comic side of Pakistani girls, the real Pakistan written by a woman born in Pakistan an it's lovely.


🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

Pakistani Pride and Prejudice.
It's what it says in the tin.

I haven't read Pride and Prejudice (at this point), so can't judge on the similarities or references but even so it's entertaining.

It talks about the culture and of course the food of Pakistan, so purely for that it's fun. 
It could look too caricaturistic, so it sounds too much like it's written for the West, but still it's refreshing to read the comic side of Pakistani girls, and this is the real Pakistan written by a woman born in Pakistan an it's lovely, no doubt it's a pleasant read.

The chatty girls are definitely a homage to the original.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

Unmarriageable: A Novel

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
Unmarriageable 

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
Unmarriageable: A Novel (English)

2026-01-28

“Crime and Punishment” Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1866) Review | Intolerable pride

Crime and Punishment
Fyodor Dostoyevsky, 1866
Russia
Преступление и наказание
Фёдор Миха́йлович Достое́вский
720 pages
Read in 2023.12
check price on amazon.com

✔ One of the best from Dostoyevsky and of the world
✔ Psychological fiction
✔ Moral dilemma

🔽 Review summary 🔽
★★★★★ Raskolnikov is a problem, not because he causes problems, because he whispers to us to be free to be selfish and problematic to the society. Youth is not beautiful, it’s painful, but growing up with a lot of pride is intolerable. Masterpiece, as always.

🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

I had just finished The Karamazov Brothers recently, and I admit it's been following me around like a ghost, wanting something as grand.
So here it is, Crime and Punishment.

This one is less lengthy and the story is rather "easy" to follow, simply because it's about one person.
It's easier to follow but it's not easy to read.
But, there is not much to say about the story from my part, it's a masterpiece, everyone knows it.

The protagonist, Raskolnikov, is a problem, not merely because he causes problems, because he whispers to us, especially youths, to be free to be selfish and problematic to the society.
Such a provocative book.
"I'm special, I am allowed to be special, why do they treat me unfairly" this is the hatred and anger everyone can related to, anywhere in the world any time.

Youth is not beautiful, it's painful, but growing up with a bit of intelligence and a lot of pride (but without confidence) is intolerable. His innocence and delusion face the reality that is, life.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

Crime and Punishment (Penguin Classics)

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
Crime and Punishment (Penguin Classics)

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
Delitto e castigo (Italian Edition)

2026-01-28

“Anglo-Gurkha Relations” GL Rai-Zimmdar (2007) Review | Britain and Nepal
Anglo-Gurkha Relations
Historical Account of how the Gurkhas Bestowed upon Queen Victoria the Gift of Indian Empire
GL Rai-Zimmdar, 2007
211 pages
Read in 2023.12
check price on amazon.com

✔ History of Nepal and Britain
✔ Between strong countries of Britain and India

🔽 Review summary 🔽

★★★☆☆ An interesting and original view on the matter of Nepal, its position between Britain and India. Make you realise how important Nepal has been in our history and how it’s been neglected.

🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

Probably a self published book, but has an interesting and original view on the matter of Nepal, its position between Britain and India.
The author seems to feel it a mission to correct previous historians’ fake stories, or misunderstandings, so I should have known the general or previous understanding of Anglo-Gurkha relations to appreciate this book.

This doesn’t really teach you the general history Anglo-Gurkha Relations, but it does make you realise how important Nepal has been in our history and how it’s been neglected.
It claims that the world has been misled because of the strong Indian and British influences.
I must find a regular history book on Nepal first.
```
🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

Anglo-Gurkha Relations, New Edition: Historical Accounts of how the Gurkhas bestowed upon Queen Victoria the Gift of Indian Empire

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
Anglo-Gurkha Relations: Historical Account of how the Gurkhas Bestowed upon Queen Victoria the Gift of Indian Empire

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
--
```
2026-01-28

『わたしが・棄てた・女』遠藤周作, 1972年レビュー | 彼女の信じる愛


わたしが・棄てた・女
遠藤周作, 1972年
352 ページ
2020.04 読了
アマゾンであらすじと詳細を見る


🔽 本の紹介と一言レビュー 🔽

✔ 健気で鈍い女の子の青春と半生
✔ 捨てられた彼女の徹底した愛情
✔ 遠藤周作のテーマでもある宗教も

★★★★☆ 辛いだろうとおもって読んだけどやっぱり辛い。鈍くて可愛くもない棄てられた田舎娘は、純粋に他人のためだけに、彼女の信じる愛のためだけに、短い人生を生き抜く。

🔽🔽 読書記録 🔽🔽

辛いだろうとおもって読んだけどやっぱり辛い。
これも作者の永遠のテーマ、宗教が入り込んでくるけれど、健気を通り越して正直言って頭が鈍い女の子の徹底した一筋の博愛というか、言ってみればそれが宗教というか。

簡単に言えば他人の苦しみがわかるということだけど、自分を切り離して他人を苦しみから解き放そうとする彼女の宗教、彼女の愛。

一時的な衝動、男の方も女の方も騙されたとは言え可哀想という衝動で、二人は別の人生を歩みつつも正に運命によって嫌でも繋がっている。

そして、最後。

鈍くて可愛くもない棄てられた田舎娘は、純粋に他人のためだけに、彼女の信じる愛のためだけに、短い人生を生き抜く。

🔽 関連ページ 🔽
English review “The Girl I Left Behind” Shusaku Endo (1972) Review | The love she believes in
タグ: 恋愛

🔽 買えるところ / あらすじ、詳細 🔽

●●● アマゾン ●●●

新装版 わたしが・棄てた・女 (講談社文庫 え 1-47)

●●● 楽天 ●●●
新装版　わたしが・棄てた・女 （講談社文庫） [ 遠藤 周作 ]
価格：814円（税込、送料無料) (2026/1/26時点)

2026-01-27

『Unmarriageable』ソニア・カマル, 2019年レビュー | パキスタン版高慢と偏見



Unmarriageable
Soniah Kamal, 2019
ソニア・カマル
384 ページ
2020.03 読了
アマゾンであらすじと詳細を見る
日本語未出版


🔽 本の紹介と一言レビュー 🔽

✔ パキスタン版の『高慢と偏見』
✔ 2000年ごろの英語の教師が主人公
✔ 元気でおしゃべりなパキスタンの女子たち

★★★★☆ まさにパキスタン版『高慢と偏見』リアルなパキスタンの若い人たちの様子、口うるさい年寄りにうんざりしながらも元気でおしゃべりなパキスタンの女子の様子が新鮮。

🔽🔽 読書記録 🔽🔽

パキスタン版『高慢と偏見』。まさに。

（この時点では）まだジェーン・オースティンのオリジナルを読んでいなかったので似ている点については詳しくわからないけど、間違いなくエンターテイメントな一冊。

パキスタン生まれでアメリカ人の著者の作品。
もうパキスタンは独立はしているけれど、まだ大英帝国の影響は消え去ってはいない2000年頃の社会で英語の先生である若い女性が主人公。
パキスタンの当時の様子、新旧の文化や食文化が次々と描かれそれだけでも楽しい。
出版はアメリカだし、欧米を意識していた感じは否めないけど、欧米メディアを通さないリアルのパキスタンの若い人たちの様子、口うるさい年寄りにうんざりしながらも元気でおしゃべりなパキスタンの女子の様子が新鮮。
きっとその辺はオリジナルと同じ感じなんだと思う。

日本語版はないですが、英語はそんなに難しくないし、コミカルなパキスタンの様子なんてなかなか簡単に読めないので頑張る価値ありです。

🔽 関連ページ 🔽
English review “Unmarriageable” Soniah Kamal, (2019) Review | Pakistani Pride and Prejudice
オリジナル「高慢と偏見」ジェーン•オースティン

🔽 買えるところ / あらすじ、詳細 🔽

●●● アマゾン ●●●

Unmarriageable: Pride and Prejudice in Pakistan (English Edition) 

●●● 楽天 ●●●
Unmarriageable Pride and Prejudice in Pakistan【電子書籍】[ Soniah Kamal ]
価格：960円 (2026/1/24時点)

2026-01-27

『疑惑』松本清張, 1982年レビュー | 人間社会って怖いミステリー

疑惑
松本清張, 1982年
212 ページ
2020.04 読了
アマゾンであらすじと詳細を見る見る

🔽 本の紹介と一言レビュー 🔽

✔ ミステリー短編集
✔ 世間の思い込みから生まれる疑惑
✔ だんだんとタイトルに意味が分かってくる

★★★★☆ ｢疑惑｣｢不運な名前｣の二本立て。どちらも実は不運な名前から生まれた世間一般の思い込みからどう深く知りしていくかというのが鍵。人間社会って怖い。

🔽🔽 読書記録 🔽🔽

｢疑惑｣｢不運な名前｣の二本立て。

｢疑惑｣の方は起こってしまった事件について、鬼嫁が殺したのかしてないのか、というミステリー。
と思っていると、段々とこのタイトル｢疑惑｣の本当の意味がわかってくる。

｢不運な名前｣は歴史上のとある偽札事件の謎を解く、ちょっと細かい所では小難しい作品。

どちらも、実は不運な名前から生まれた世間一般の思い込みからどう深く知りしていくかというのが鍵。
人間社会って怖い。

🔽 関連ページ 🔽
tag 松本清張

🔽 買えるところ / あらすじ、詳細 🔽

●●● アマゾン ●●●

新装版 疑惑 (文春文庫) 

●●● 楽天 ●●●
疑惑 （文春文庫） [ 松本 清張 ]
価格：704円（税込、送料無料) (2026/1/24時点)

2026-01-27

“Frankenstein” Mary Shelley (1818) Review | A lonely unwanted creature

Frankenstein
Mary Shelley, 1818
Frankenstein: Or the Modern Prometheus
UK
224 pages
Read in 2020.12
check price on amazon.com

✔ The most famous horror monster story
✔ The author wrote the best horror story among friends 
✔ Written by a woman


🔽 Review summary 🔽
★★★★★  Mary Shelley had a bet with 2 men to see who'd write the best horror story, thus this world famous horror story written by a 18 year old girl. But it is not about how evil the monster is, it's more a sad story about this lonely unwanted creature.


🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

One of the most famous horror stories is not only about horror.
And it must be specified, written by an 18 year old, a teenage girl, Mary Shelley.
While on a holiday, she had a bet with 2 men, a poet Byron and a writer Polidori, to see who would write the best horror story - what a luxurious game.

It's poetic, it's sad, it's I'd even say beautiful, painfully beautiful.
It's about two men, who both regret the monster's existence - one is the creator and the other the monster himself.
The monster is monstrous simply because that's his nature, not his willing. 

If you are only used to the movie or cartoon versions of it, it's definitely not as you fancy the story of Frankenstein to be.
It's not pure evil, it's not that simple and it's not really about how monstrous he is either.; it's more a sad story about this lonely unwanted creature.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

Frankenstein

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
Frankenstein: Or, the Modern Prometheus (Penguin Clothbound Classics)

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
Frankenstein (italiano)

2026-01-26

“The Diary of a Nobody” George and Weedon Grossmith (1892) Review | Very awkward

The Diary of a Nobody
George and Weedon Grossmith, 1892
176 pages
Read in 2022.01
check price on amazon.com


✔ British humour
✔ Mundane life of middle class in London 
✔ Awkward British comedy


🔽 Review summary 🔽
★★★★☆  Comedy written 100+ years ago but still very British, the awkwardness, pretentiousness, and he really tries to show his dignity but everything goes wrong, so awkward.


🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

One of the books I randomly picked up, and it turned out to be a book of British comedy of a man who lived in Holloway, where I also lived for a while, though it was written over 130 years ago.

It's very British, the awkwardness, pretentiousness, and he really tries to show his dignity but everything goes wrong, so awkward.
You can't help but feel sorry for Mr. Pooter, the Mr. Nobody, and be charmed by his gentleness.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

Diary of a Nobody (Wordsworth Classics) 

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
Diary of a Nobody

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
The Diary of a Nobody (English)

2026-01-26

“It’s Okay Not to Look for the Meaning of Life: A Zen Monk’s Guide to Living Stress-Free One Day at a Time” Jikisai Minami (2017) Review | Live YOUR life

It's Okay Not to Look for the Meaning of Life: A Zen Monk's Guide to Living Stress-Free One Day at a Time
Jikisai Minami, 2017
禅僧が教える心がラクになる生き方
南直哉
284 pages
Read in 2025.10
check price on amazon.com

✔ Teaching from Zen monk
✔ Zen monk trained monks in a monastery
✔ Self help, encouraging

🔽 Review summary 🔽
★★★★★ It teaches you how to live without suffering unnecessarily, by a Zen monk who's eccentric strict yet humane. "If you think that you can decide anything by yourself, you are wrong. If conditions change, your decision becomes invalid"

🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

A book that teaches you how to live without suffering unnecessarily.
Don't struggle unnecessarily, don't believe unnecessarily, just accept as things are.

Don't have too much pride or be too conscious, we were born by chance, and we'll die eventually.
Don't try to overcome sadness or struggles.
Yes it all sounds too easy, easier said than done, but I guess if you keep telling yourself it becomes a part of you and it becomes natural - I hope.

I heard him on a podcast and I was completely shocked how eccentric he was, so honest (he says he accepted to write this book because by chance his wife needed a car!) so strict (Darth Vader of the zen monastery) yet so humane, and very funny.

Some of the lines I liked (it's probably different from the original English translation!)

"If you think that you can decide anything by yourself, you are wrong and childish. You as a being only exist under certain conditions. If the conditions change, your decision becomes invalid"

"I think you can live with regrets. Then one day you will find a meaning in your regrets"

"If you can't overcome sadness, then don't try, it's okay"

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

It's Okay Not to Look for the Meaning of Life: A Zen Monk's Guide to Living Stress-Free One Day at a Time

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
It's Okay Not to Look for the Meaning of Life: A Zen Monk's Guide to Living Stress-Free One Day at a Time

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
It's Okay Not to Look for the Meaning of Life: A Zen Monk's Guide to Living Stress-free One Day at a Time (English)

2026-01-26

“100 Nasty Women of History” Hannah Jewell (2019) Review | 100 kick-a** women

100 Nasty Women of History: 
Brilliant, badass and completely fearless women everyone should know
Hannah Jewell, 2019
376 pages
Read in 2022.03
check price on amazon.com


✔ History of 100 women
✔ Women from different time and places
✔ Feminism


🔽 Review summary 🔽
★★★★☆  Brief history of 100 unapologetic badass women. These great women are not less. As the author says, before we go and read in depth about them, it is first of all important to know they existed.


🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

Brief history of 100 individuals - 100 unapologetic badass women.
As the writer says, before we go and read in depth about these women, it is first of all important to know they existed.

It's amazing how these brave women are buried away in history.
They are equally important to any of the male in history. But no, women are always less. 
Less important. Or they managed to make a difference "by chance" or they're not heroes they are just, "nasty"
Easy and exciting to read, it's entertaining and the writer jokes and swears a lot, but not too much. 
Definitely makes you want to do further reading.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

100 Nasty Women of History: Brilliant, badass and completely fearless women everyone should know

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
100 Nasty Women of History: Brilliant, badass and completely fearless women everyone should know

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
--

2026-01-26

“Darjeeling: A History of the World’s Greatest Tea” Jeff Koehler (2015) Review | Colonial history and Darjeeling

Darjeeling: A History of the World’s Greatest Tea
Jeff Koehler, 2015
286 pages
Read in 2022.04
check price on amazon.com


✔ Colonial history of Darjeeling
✔ Social justice, exploitation of the workers
✔ Life of the workers


🔽 Review summary 🔽
★★★★★  This book talks about Darjeeling tea - history, the people, the owners and workers, the soil; its problems are as iconic as its taste. Darjeeling tea is iconic, that no other place could recreate, yet it's stuck in its colonial history.


🔽 Book review and notes 🔽
All about Darjeeling tea, in details. Extensively in details. 

It talks about all the background - history, the people (the owners and workers), the soil; the problems are as iconic as the taste.
Darjeeling tea is iconic, that no other place could recreate, yet it's stuck in its colonial history. 
And it's entirely based on the exploitation.  
A painful fact is, a cup of Darjeeling tea could cost more than a day's wage of the plucker. It's located in such a unique bit of the planet, that living there alone is a hard job (access to water, heating). 
And also uniquely, unlike other iconic drinks like champagne or whiskey or even matcha, Darjeeling tea is not as appreciated in its own country, India.

With all the problems, will people continue to drink Darjeeling tea? 
Will people continue to make Darjeeling tea?

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

Darjeeling: The Colorful History and Precarious Fate of the World's Greatest Tea

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
Darjeeling: A History of the World’s Greatest Tea

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
--

2026-01-25

“No path in Darjeeling is straight” Parimal Bhattacharya (2017) Review | Complicated history of simple community

No path in Darjeeling is straight
Memories of a Hill Town
Parimal Bhattacharya, 2017
India
200 pages
Read in 2022.02
check price on amazon.com


✔ A memoir of a Bengali teacher
✔ The life in Darjeeling seen by the teacher
✔ Simple life of the people of the Hill


🔽 Review summary 🔽
★★★★☆  A memoir, a nostalgia, of how this Bengali teacher who spent a few years in Darjeeling in the 1990. Their politics and sentiments are complicated, and he carefully observes them as an outsider.


🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

A memoir, a nostalgia, of how this Bengali teacher who spent a few years in Darjeeling in the 1990.

I read quite a lot of books on the history of this area but this is more personal.
Their politics and sentiments are complicated, and he carefully observes them as an outsider.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

No Path in Darjeeling Is Straight: Memories of a Hill Town

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
No Path in Darjeeling Is Straight: Memories of a Hill Town

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
No Path in Darjeeling is Straight: Memories of a Hill Town (English)

2026-01-25

“The Reason I Jump” Naoki Higashida (2016) Review | Revealing

The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism
Naoki Higashida, 2016
自閉症の僕が跳びはねる理由～会話のできない中学生がつづる内なる心～東田直樹208 pages
Read in 2022.03
check price on amazon.com


✔ An essay from a non-verbal autistic boy
✔ How he sees the world
✔ Translated by David Mitchell


🔽 Review summary 🔽
★★★★☆  It’s revealing, beautiful and almost magical. His love for nature, his strong wish with to be with other people and be understood – these are refreshing and optimistic, but how it's written as a book feels too "comforting" for others


🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

It's revealing, beautiful and almost magical.
Not only that, his love for nature and being with others, his strong wish to be with other people and be understood - these are refreshing and revealing but also optimistic, and I must say, comforting.

It's comforting for people who know little about children with autism.
This book will make you feel moved instantly and I cannot help but think that it's carefully crafted by savvy adults.

We should not forget that it's a book from this particular and talented 13 year old boy. 
He's articulate, even if he doesn't speak in a conventional way and that's great and that's a big hope for parents, but this is one person on the spectrum. 

Definitely need to read in Japanese, which should be closer to how it was originally written by him (and not involving a famous writer) and I'd like to read more of his books, how he is progressing with his writing.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
The Reason I Jump: one boy's voice from the silence of autism

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
Il motivo per cui salto (Italiano)

2026-01-25

“Convenience Store Woman” Sayaka Murata (2016) Review | Ordinary yet mad

Convenience Store Woman 
Sayaka Murata, 2016
コンビニ人間
村田沙耶香
Read in 2020.03
check price on amazon.com

✔ A popular Japanese modern fiction
✔ Woman against expectations of the society
✔ Today's Japanese society


🔽 Review summary 🔽

★★★★☆ Something so painfully normal and boring yet full of madness. Then she realises, she didn't just end up being a convenience store woman, this is her true self.


🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

I always saw the book in bookshops in London but of course I wanted to read it in Japanese so I wanted a bit.
Completely unpredictable.

Somehow I thought it was a love story about a girl working in a convenience store, but of course it was everything but.
It was about no-love-story, it was about something so painfully normal and boring yet full of madness.
It's a pleasant surprise that people not living in Japan get this.

She's getting close to 40 years old, not married, not doing a "grown up's job", no kids, no boyfriend.
It's the "other side" that anyone, I mean everyone, could end up on, but then she realises, she didn't just end up being a convenience store woman, this is her true self.

She doesn't give a sh*t, she is clever and quick.
She can actually defeat the loser guy in arguments, and you just cannot predict the next step, anything can happen.
It's short, and in a way a feel-good book, and for me ends with a happy ending.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

Convenience Store Woman: A Novel 

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
Convenience Store Woman: Sayaka Murata

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
La ragazza del convenience store (italiano)

2026-01-25

“Unfinished Portrait” Agatha Christie (1962) Review | Christie without mystery

Unfinished Portrait
Agatha Christie, 1962
UK
Read in 2022.05
check price on amazon.com


✔ Written under her pseudonym, Mary Westmacott.
✔ Female struggle as a mother
✔ Less famous side of Agatha Christie


🔽 Review summary 🔽

★★★★☆ Her wish to go outside, into the unknown world - that's something she must suppress because she's a wife, a mother. A wonderful storytelling, a story of her mind, by one of the greatest.


🔽 Book review and notes 🔽
Agatha Christy that doesn't involve murders or crimes - in fact she used her pseudonym, Mary Westmacott.

The book is about about the inner emotions of the sensitive protagonist who is now thinking to commit suicide.
After a happy childhood with her family, she was supposed to have a happy family life with her husband.
Her wish to go outside, into the unknown world - that's something she must suppress because she's a wife, a mother.

A wonderful storytelling, a story of her mind, by one of the greatest.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

Unfinished Portrait

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
Unfinished Portrait

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
Ritratto incompiuto (italiano)

2026-01-25

『コンビニ人間』村田沙耶香, 2016年レビュー | 平凡にも狂気あり

コンビニ人間
村田沙耶香, 2016
176 ページ
2020.03 読了
アマゾンであらすじと詳細を見る

🔽 本の紹介と一言レビュー 🔽

✔ 世界中で人気の日本の現代小説
✔ 36歳未婚のバイト人間の主人公が問う「普通」とは
✔ 芥川龍之介賞受賞

★★★★☆ 平凡であり狂気に満ちている。予測不能。全てがどうでもいい古倉さんのテンポが気持ちいい。そうだ、わたしはコンビニ人間であって、コンビニ人間でないとダメなんだ。

🔽🔽 読書記録 🔽🔽

ロンドンの本屋でずっと売り上げ上位で並んでるのを見てて、やっと。
でも例によって全く予備知識ないままだったのでちょっとびっくり。いい意味で。

ただ単にコンビニ店員の恋愛ものと思ったら、確かにそれじゃあイギリスでバカ売れしない。

平凡であり狂気に満ちている。

結婚もせず、まともな就職もせず、子供も生まず、恋愛もせず。
誰もが足を踏み入れそうになる、もしくは踏み入れてしまう「あちら側」の世界。
彼女の前に正真正銘ダメ男が現れて、マニュアルを取り上げられてやっとわかる。
そうだ、わたしはコンビニ人間であって、コンビニ人間でないとダメなんだ。

全てがどうでもいい古倉さんのテンポが気持ちいい。
切り返しが早く、ダメ男のダラダラな理論とのコントラストが明確で、次のページの展開が予測不可能。

短いのでさっぱりスッキリ読める。私にとってはハッピーエンド。

🔽 関連ページ 🔽
English review “Convenience Store Woman” Sayaka Murata (2016) Review | Ordinary yet mad
tag 女性主体

🔽 買えるところ / あらすじ、詳細 🔽

●●● アマゾン ●●●

コンビニ人間 (文春文庫 む 16-1) 

●●● 楽天 ●●●
コンビニ人間 （文春文庫） [ 村田 沙耶香 ]
価格：693円（税込、送料無料) (2026/1/24時点)

2026-01-24

“The Book of Tea” Kakuzo Okakura (1906) Review | Tea and philosophy
The Book of Tea
Kakuzo Okakura, 1906
128 pages
Read in 2022.06
check price on amazon.com

✔ Classic textbook of tea and Japanese culture for the West
✔ Philosophy from the East
✔ The most famous book on Japanese tea for the last 120 years

🔽 Review summary 🔽

★★★★☆ It is the most famous book on tea and Japan for the last 120 years. But it is much more, it’s about what is tea for Japanese people in a very philosophical way – delicate yet strong message to the West.

🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

It is the most famous book on tea and Japan for the last 120 years or so.
But it is much more, it’s about what is tea for Japanese people in a very philosophical way – delicate yet strong message to the West.

This collection of writings were written for the West who looked down on Japan and the East.
It spends lot of time speaking about flowers and the sentiments around flower and it tries to communicate the Eastern aesthetics with the West, ending it with the death of the tea master.
It doesn’t necessarily teach you about the tea ceremonies etc, it’s more about the spirits of Japan via tea.
The afterword is also interesting.
```
🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

The Book of Tea Classic Edition

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
The Book of Tea: The Book of Oz (Penguin Little Black Classics)

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
Il libro del tè (Italiano)
```
2026-01-24
“This Monk Wears Heels” Kodo Nishimura (2022) Review | Make-up and Buddhism
This Monk Wears Heels: Be Who You Are
Kodo Nishimura, 2022
224 pages
Read in 2022.09
check price on amazon.com

✔ LGBTQ essay and self help
✔ Gay Buddhist monk who is a make up artist
✔ Encouraging and uplifting

🔽 Review summary 🔽

★★★★☆ Make-up is to enhance the beauty, not to hide behind it, and Buddhism is to find truth, by being true. So his purposes are not as contradictory. Such a unique person, a person with a mission.

🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

Such a unique person, a person with a mission.
Saw him on Netflix and love the fact that he is a monk and a make-up artist, at the same time, with the same purposes – though they seem completely the opposite, they are not.

This book would be a perfect self-help book for a young person who is struggling to find true self, (whether they are gay or not, I’m not gay and this is inspiring) and his message is clear; be proud.

Make-up is there to enhance the beauty, not to hide behind it, and Buddhism is there to find truth, by being true. So his purposes are not as contradictory as it might seem.
```
🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

This Monk Wears Heels: Be Who You Are

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
This Monk Wears Heels: Be Who You Are

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
ーー
```
2026-01-24

“Nine Lives” William Dalrymple (2013) Review | Being holy in India today

Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India
William Dalrymple, 2013
304 pages
Read in 2025.11
check price on amazon.com

✔ Travel journey throughout India
✔ Historian visits nine individual who are considered holy
✔ Transition from traditional to modern India

🔽 Review summary 🔽

★★★★★ It's a travel journal, except that the focus is not on the places but the people these places "created". These traditions are disappearing. As India is now going for a national holy story, as they call it Rama-fication, how long will these very local faiths last.

🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

A slightly different touch to other books I've read from Mr. Dalrymple.
It's a travel journal, except that the focus is not on the places but the people these places "created".

The book focuses on the 9 people who are admired as holy and sacred, because they have been "decided" to be as holy being by the society, or sometimes they chose to, or maybe they have great skills like creating the religious art.

As always Dalrymple is all about embracing as things are, he's not here to judge, he's just here to pass on their stories and traditions to a wider world.
As he says, and indeed as he saw, these traditions are disappearing.
They are not necessarily less religious but the modern India is now going for a national, standardised holy story, the nationalistic Hinduism, as Dalrymple calls it Rama-fication, rather than 1000s of very local stories.

India is lucky to have Dalrymple as their historian today, his curious eyes will record everything and with passion he shares with us.

The book focuses on;
A devoted Jain nun, dancer in Kannur Kerala, daughters dedicated to a goddess, but actually working as prostitutes, singers in Rajasthan, devotee of Sufi that embraces Hindu and Islam, Tibetan monk who was a soldier, idol maker in Tamil, devotee in Tarapith for a fearful goddess, and a blind singer in Bengal.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India (Vintage Departures)

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
Nove vite (Italiano)

2026-01-23

“BUTTER” Asako Yuzuki (2017) Review | Her life her food her body
Butter
Asako Yuzuki, 2017
柚木麻子
Read in 2025.11
check price on amazon.com

✔ Feminist crime story based on a real case
✔ Power struggle between two women
✔ Relationship with her body and her food

🔽 Review summary 🔽

★★★★★ For a woman to eat oily food, gain a few kilo and have a fun life is a shameful thing. She must give up a lot, including her sanity, to go beyond. Then, there is a place where she can eat what she wants, a life of rich and luxurious butter.

🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

Finally read Butter, the book everyone is talking about, in Japan, in the UK and beyond.

The power of Kajimana is the core, a pale chubby middle aged woman with an undeniable attraction, who is a suspect of murdering her lovers – she hates two things, margarine and feminist.
The book is about the power struggle between the two women; Kajimana and Rika a journalist.
Well actually no, it is always Kajimana who has the control over everything Rika does, including when she sleeps with her boyfriend and what she should eat afterwards when and where, as if her pale chubby arms is grabbing the life of Rika.
It’s a struggle to escape the chubby arm of control.

It’s a bestseller worldwide, but this is very Japan.
You’d enjoy it more if you know how horrible Japanese society is to women, even today (and if you know how expensive butter is there)
It’s a very normal thing to criticise or joke about the weight of a woman in public, and a woman is expected to worry about her appearance constantly and forever.
For a woman to eat oily food, gain a few kilo, have a fun life is a shameful thing. God forbit.
So especially in Japan, for a woman, to have a good life for herself requires more energy.
You must give up a lot, including your sanity, in order to get there.
But as you get there, there is a place where you can eat what you want, a life of rich and luxurious butter.

This book is not merely a feminist book, that’d be an easy observation.
As women become free from the society’s cruel and unrealistic expectations, men are also freed from the unreasonable expectation of manliness.

The novel is based on a real life crime in Japan, but before you know it it becomes less about the crime and the mystery but more about you and me and the society we live in.
```
🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

Butter: The Cult Japanese Bestseller about a Serial Killer Cook (Food and Murder) 

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
Butter: THE No. 1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING SENSATION

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
Butter (italiano)
```
2026-01-23

“The Woman Dies” Aoko Matsuda (2021) Review | She flies away, she throws up, or dies. Whatever she wants.

The Woman Dies
Aoko Matsuda, 2021
女が死ぬ
松田青子
Read in 2025.11
check price on amazon.com


✔ A collection of 52 short stories
✔ Feminist theme
✔ Funny and fierce critique of Japanese patriarchy 


🔽 Review summary 🔽

★★★★★  What did I just read. It's about strong women, but it's not only that it's full of female rage. She flies to wherever she wants as a modern Tinker Bell, and she throws up whatever she wants in the toilet. Fabulous.


🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

What did I just read.
My first time reading Aoko Matsuda, and as you can see from the title it's about strong women, but it's not only that it's full of female rage (also feminine rage).
It's not explosive anger though, it's the anger that's slowly simmering.

"I hate the girl you like" or "a male sensitivity" these are the things she hates and she tells you in your face with "the woman dies" and "demonstration of misogynies demolished".
It might be surprising for some but in Japan it's still normal to say "typically female" or "it talks to the female sensitivity" in advertisement or magazines.

She won't give in.
Whatever the others say, she flies to wherever she wants as a modern Tinker Bell, and she throws up whatever she wants in the toilet.
Fabulous.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

The Woman Dies

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
The Woman Dies

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
The Woman Dies (English)

2026-01-23

“A Sense of Direction” Gideon Lewis-Kraus, (2012) Review | Pilgrimages to yourself

A Sense of Direction: Pilgrimage for the Restless and the Hopeful
Gideon Lewis-Kraus, 2012
US
352 pages
Read in 2025.11
check price on amazon.com

✔ Essay and travelogue of a 30 year old man
✔ Pilgrimage to Spain, Japan and Ukraine
✔ His Jewish sense of humour and conflict with his father

🔽 Review summary 🔽

★★★★☆Travel journal of a 30 year old writer, while living in Berlin constantly whining he decides to go on pilgrimages. It's a fun read about pilgrimages, he has no sense of spirituality. It's also about him trying to connect with his father, a rabbi who now lives with his boyfriend.

🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

When you start reading this book, it's about this guy, 30 year old writer, whining while living in a liberal cheap and bare concrete yet artistic Berlin and decides to go on pilgrimages, to Christian Camino de Santiago in Spain, Buddhist Shikoku 88 temples in Japan and Jewish holiday in Uman in Ukraine.
But as you read through you realise it's a book about a guy who is trying to connect with, or forgive, his father that he loves.

So yes in a way it's typical, you travel around the world to find out that what you need was always at home, but we also know that it was necessary to do all the painful journeys, hardship and solitude.
If forgiving is somehow obnoxious, then not holding grudges, to find peace.

Apart from that, it's a good read about pilgrimages, he has no sense of spirituality let alone religion, but that's what most of us are today, and yet there's still a meaning to go on pilgrimages.
He did Camino with a friend and manages to stay friends, and Shikoku alone, and Ukraine with his brother and father.

His Jewish humour shines whenever he whines, about whatever.
Reading his description of destroyed feet and cold rainy miserable nights might not encourage us but it's a fun read.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

A Sense of Direction: Pilgrimage for the Restless and the Hopeful

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
A Sense of Direction: Pilgrimage for the Restless and the Hopeful

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
A Sense of Direction: Pilgrimage for the Restless and the Hopeful [Lingua Inglese]

2026-01-23

“The Darjeeling Distinction” Sarah Besky (2014) Review | Dark side of the posh tea

The Darjeeling Distinction: Labor and Justice on Fair-Trade Tea Plantations in India (California Studies in Food and Culture Book 47)
Sarah Besky, 2014
US
258 pages
Read in 2022.11
check price on amazon.com


✔ Everyday life of the tea plantation
✔ How the fair trade affects the workers in practice
✔ Social justice


🔽 Review summary 🔽

★★★★☆ Darjeeling is the most expensive tea in the world, most well marketed and iconic - how is it that the workers remain so poor? A cup of Darjeeling costs more than a plucker's daily wage, but not known because it's always linked to luxury.



🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

Exactly the topic I was interested in about the Darjeeling tea, its industry and its workers.

Darjeeling tea is the most expensive tea in the world, most well marketed and iconic - how is it that the workers remain so poor?
Uncomfortably, a cup of Darjeeling costs a lot more than a plucker's daily wage, but not known enough because the tea is always linked to luxury.

Darjeeling and Sikkim area not like the rest of India, indeed the majority of the people are ethnically Nepali. 
India would do anything to keep Darjeeling tea Indian, it's the most iconic single product and one of the most famous from India.
Gorkhas don't own anything, not even their history. 
Speaking of Fair Trade, since it's been forced on the locals, ironically, their lives became harder.

So iconic yet so exploited.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

The Darjeeling Distinction: Labor and Justice on Fair-Trade Tea Plantations in India

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
The Darjeeling Distinction: Labor and Justice on Fair-Trade Tea Plantations in India (California Studies in Food and Culture Book 47)

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
--

2026-01-22

“The Bangalore Detective Club” Harini Nagendra (2022) Review | Nice mystery for India lovers
The Bangalore Detective Club
Harini Nagendra, 2022
India
292 pages
Read in 2022.12
check price on amazon.com

✔ Mystery from an Indian author
✔ Housewife detective
✔ Life in Bangalore in 1920

🔽 Review summary 🔽

★★★★☆ Set in 1920 Bangalore, a freshly married housewife goes around the city to solve mysteries. Nice locations and food – a nice little crime novel for India lovers.

🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

Set in 1920 Bangalore, Kaveri only recently married to a doctor and was expecting a quiet life, instead she goes around the city to solve a murder.
A bit of tension with British is always a good pinch of spice.
There are some treats, of famous locations in Bangalore and food – a nice little crime novel for anyone who’s interested in India.

What’s a bit unusual is that the author is an ecologist, so with her background like that I’m more looking forward to reading her other books.
```
🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

The Bangalore Detectives Club (The Kaveri and Ramu Murder Mystery Series)

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
The Bangalore Detectives Club (The Bangalore Detectives Club Series)

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
The Bangalore Detectives Club (English)
```
2026-01-22
“The Midwich Cuckoos” John Wyndham, (1957) Review | Uncomfortable
The Midwich Cuckoos
John Wyndham, 1957
UK
240 pages
Read in 2022.12
check price on amazon.com

✔ Weird Science Fiction from the UK
✔ Strength of a community
✔ Family

🔽 Review summary 🔽

★★★★☆ In a quiet town all women got pregnant, but the babies only like each other, with their bright eyes and unusual senses. Uncomfortable, feels too real.

🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

Recommended by a friend, so no knowledge of the story or the author, and it was subtly weird.
Maybe I’ve never really read sci-fi books consciously, so I can’t really compare with other books in the genre but it is a mild but certainly worrying sci-fi.

In a quiet town, one day they all fell unconscious, when they woke up women were pregnant, all at the same time.
Soon the babies are born, not looking like their parents but like each other, with their bright eyes and they become worryingly strong, smart and connected to each other.
Who, or what are they?
What do we do? What is the right thing to do? How do we stop?

It’s uncomfortable and definitely worrying because it feels too real.

Once upon a time, our enemies were aliens or some obvious external factors.
Good ol’ days.
Now we need to he scared of us humans.
```
🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

The Midwich Cuckoos

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
The Midwich Cuckoos

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
Il villaggio dei dannati (italiano)
```
2026-01-21

『ダイイング・アイ』東野圭吾, 2007年レビュー | ちょっと怖い東野圭吾

ダイイング・アイ
東野圭吾, 2007
416 ページ
2020.02 読了
アマゾンであらすじと詳細を見る

🔽 本の紹介と一言レビュー 🔽

✔ ちょっとホラー、ちょっとSF
✔ 事故にあい一部の記憶をなくした主人公の謎解き
✔ 交通事故の怖さ

★★★★☆ ちょっとホラーな感じ。ちょっとSFで、じわじわとした狂気に溢れている。ハードボイルドなキーワードもたくさん。とにかく事故は怖い。

🔽🔽 読書記録 🔽🔽

ちょっとホラーな感じ。
ホラーと言えば「人魚の住む家」のようなちょっとサイエンスフィクションで、じわじわとした狂気に溢れている。

一部の記憶がなくなった主人公が今自分の身に起きている秘密と過去の秘密を同時に謎解きしていくというストーリーで、バーやカクテル、高級マンションなど、ハードボイルドなキーワードもたくさん。
エンターテイメント性も忘れずに入れてくれる。

でも、何故、という部分の解決がされてない箇所もあるような。

とにかく事故は怖い。
交通違反の取り締まりなどに読ませれば効果あるかも。

🔽 関連ページ 🔽
タグ: 東野圭吾

🔽 買えるところ / あらすじ、詳細 🔽

●●● アマゾン ●●●

ダイイング・アイ (光文社文庫 ひ 6-11) 

●●● 楽天 ●●●
ダイイング・アイ （光文社文庫　ひー6-11） [ 東野　圭吾 ]
価格：880円（税込、送料無料) (2026/1/21時点)

2026-01-21

『陰陽師付喪神ノ巻』夢枕獏, 2000年レビュー | 古代日本的な包容力

陰陽師付喪神ノ巻
夢枕獏, 2000
352 ページ
2026.01 読了
アマゾンであらすじと詳細を見る

🔽 本の紹介と一言レビュー 🔽

✔ 陰陽師シリーズ第3弾の短編集
✔ 女の恨み、男の恨み
✔ 祟りを消し去らないという古代の日本人的な暗闇

★★★★☆ 死んでも死にきれない、死んでからも祟ってやる、そういう強い思いを主人公の陰陽師は消し去らないことだってあるのがなんとも人間らしく古代の日本人的な包容力。

🔽🔽 読書記録 🔽🔽

シリーズ第三弾。
短編集なので一つ一つのストーリーについて書くのもなんだけど、女性の恨み系が多いのはやっぱりそうなんだよね、女性の恨みはそう簡単に払えないよということなんだろう。
ただちょっと長めの「ものや思ふと」は男の恨みでこっちだって容易く解決はしない。

いや、そういう観点でいうと、多くのストーリーに置いて問題が解決されないのも特徴かも。
死んでも死にきれない、死んでからも祟ってやる、そういう強い思いを主人公の陰陽師は消し去らないことだってあるのがなんとも人間らしく古代の日本人的な優しさというか暗闇もオッケーだと思う包容力。

🔽 関連ページ 🔽
シリーズ 『陰陽師』 夢枕獏, 1988 感想 | なに本当に面白い
tag 日本史
tag 怪談

🔽 買えるところ / あらすじ、詳細 🔽

●●● アマゾン ●●●

陰陽師 付喪神ノ巻 (文春文庫 ゆ 2-5)

●●● 楽天 ●●●
陰陽師　付喪神（つくもがみ）ノ巻【電子書籍】[ 夢枕獏 ]
価格：780円 (2026/1/19時点)

2026-01-21

“Sweet Bean Paste” Durien Sukegawa (2015) Review | sweetness of life

Sweet Bean Paste
Durien Sukegawa, 2015
あん
ドリアン助川
Read in 2025.12
check price on amazon.com

✔ Feel good Japanese literature
✔ Elderly woman living with social injustice
✔ Meaning of life

🔽 Review summary 🔽

★★★★★ It’s often said that being useful for others is the meaning of life, but maybe, the meaning of life, the meaning itself, is simply to feel “ah this is good”. The happiness that the humble sweet beans can bring will give you that feeling.

🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

It’s so warm, like a hug, you feel the warmth that’s probably happiness.

It’s often said that being useful for others is the meaning of life, but I’m not sure, isn’t it more like a feeling of significance living in a society, and that’s a great thing.
But maybe, the meaning of life, the meaning itself, is simply to feel “ah this is good”

Here the main characters had all suffered, and they met, and they shared the same sweet beans.
Tokue suffered from leprosy the disease, and after recovering, she suffered from the society’s prejudice and ignorance.
I myself also didn’t know that there were facilities until the 90s in Japan, and that is the horror of ignorance and I’m part of it.

By chance, I made my first sweet beans last year, and I also made dorayaki several times after that.
I found a “quick and easy recipe” online, “quick” but you’d still need to soak the beans from the night before and cook for several hours.
I’d love writing about my first delicious, slightly hard, sweet beans I made all day here, but I instead I tell you the feeling was definitely the happiness.
The happiness that the humble sweet beans can bring, something that takes hours to make but needs 2 seconds to eat, to say, ah this is good.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

Sweet Bean Paste: The International Bestseller

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
Sweet Bean Paste: The International Bestseller

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
—

2026-01-21
“Caledonian Road” Andrew O’Hagan (2024) Review | Dark reality of London today
Caledonian Road
Andrew O’Hagan, 2024
UK
657 pages
Read in 2025.11
check price on amazon.com

✔ Today’s London for rich people
✔ Power struggle and corruptions
✔ Crimes

🔽 Review summary 🔽

★★★★☆ People come with hope for a better life, and soon enough realise there is no such thing. London is a place for rich to rule. The money, the power, the evil. And what is the shared feeling? the loneliness.

🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

If anyone asks what today’s London is like, I’d say read this book.
It has all the problems the city is experiencing in the last few years.

People come with hope for a better life, and soon enough realise there is no such thing.
London is a place for rich to rule, it’s something we ordinary people have difficulty seeing, but it’s always in the background.
The money, the power, the evil.
And what is the shared feeling? the loneliness.

This sense of “us” vs “them”.
We the people, they the evil things.

An exciting book that contains a lot of aspects of today, traditional rich, Russian rich, rich kids, rich kids who are Eco warriors, young gangs, illegal immigration, the class struggles – it depicts different points of view from different class and communities.

Lastly it was nice to read a story about Islington where I lived for more than 10 years, it’s a big borough with all the essences of London.
```
🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

Caledonian Road: The Sunday Times bestseller

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
Caledonian Road: The Sunday Times bestseller

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
Caledonian Road (English)
```
2026-01-21
“The White Tiger” Aravind Adiga (2008) Review | Energy of young India
The White Tiger
Aravind Adiga, 2008
India
336 pages
Read in 2021.04
check on amazon.com

✔ Booker Prize
✔ Entrepreneurship of India
✔ Violence and power struggles

🔽 Review summary 🔽

★★★★★ Exciting as I expected. So raw, so angry, seem so nonchalant but has full of energy, just like today’s India and their youths. It’s so easy to dismiss India merely as a place to get enlightenment and exotic etc, but this is also the reality.

🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

Netflix was starting the film, so I had to get the book first.

This was as exciting as I expected.
So raw, so angry, seem so nonchalant but has full of energy, just like today’s India the world imagine.
It’s so easy to dismiss India merely as a place to get enlightenment and exotic, but this is also the reality, it’s where people live and try to go further than what their parents achieved, just like any other place in the world.

While it’s raw and its people all tangled up, they know their places, like caste, it’s in their skin.
It’s similar to Japan in a sense that this is Asia, just that Japan doesn’t have that big proportion of poor or extremely poor which makes this story more exciting and energetic.

As our protagonist predicts here, in his lifetime all white men die out and brown and yellow men rule the world – might not be that far from truth.

The Netflix film was also good, with Priyanka Chopra, as great as ever, of course it doesn’t have the Bollywood dance or music but it has the energy, power and the different music to pump up the story.
```
🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

The White Tiger: WINNER OF THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2008

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
The White Tiger: WINNER OF THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2008

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
La tigre bianca (italiano)
```
2026-01-20

『陰陽師飛天ノ巻』夢枕獏, 1995年レビュー | 二人のいい漢ぶり

陰陽師飛天ノ巻
夢枕獏, 1995
304 ページ
2026.01 読了
アマゾンであらすじと詳細を見る

🔽 本の紹介と一言レビュー 🔽

✔ 陰陽師シリーズ第2弾
✔ 「そういうことになった」などのセリフが確立
✔ 話ごとの季節の庭の描写

★★★★★ やっぱり面白い安倍晴明と源博雅シリーズ第二弾。この二人の「いい漢」ぶりはもちろん、彼ら二人の会話のテンポといつも同じように「そういうことになった」となる様子がいい。

🔽🔽 読書記録 🔽🔽

やっぱり面白い安倍晴明と源博雅シリーズ第二弾。
この二人の「いい漢」ぶりはもちろん、彼ら二人の会話のテンポと結局いつも同じように「そういうことになった」と連なって出ていく様子がいい。

それぞれの妖怪や霊のストーリー自体はもちろんユニークなのは当然。
でもそこにある背景の草花や樹木などの豊かな自然の様子、特に晴明の庭のエピソードごと、季節ごとの描写はほんわりと静かな気持ちにさせてくれて、そうかこれほど美しい自然が身近なんだから魔物くらいでてくるよな、という不思議な感覚に陥ってしまう。

🔽 関連ページ 🔽
シリーズ 『陰陽師』 夢枕獏, 1988 感想 | なに本当に面白い
tag 日本史
tag 怪談

🔽 買えるところ / あらすじ、詳細 🔽

●●● アマゾン ●●●

陰陽師 飛天ノ巻 (文春文庫 ゆ 2-4)

●●● 楽天 ●●●
陰陽師 飛天ノ巻 （文春文庫） [ 夢枕 獏 ]
価格：748円（税込、送料無料) (2026/1/19時点)

2026-01-20

“Chokher Bali” Rabindranath Tagore, (1903) Review | Tragedy from India
Chokher Bali
Rabindranath Tagore, 1903
India
298 pages
Read in 2022.03
check price on amazon.com

✔ Indian classic
✔ Strong female characters
✔ Strange friendship between the wife and the lover

🔽 Review summary 🔽

★★★★☆ A beautiful widow. She cannot give up her pursuit for happiness. Chokher Bali, the sand in the eye, she disturbs everything she touches and disappears. A strong sense of un-happiness.

🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

My first Tagore.
This is actually popular that it’s made into film and TV series in India.
The sentiment is close to what they have in Japan: husband-wife relation, mother-son, or even mother-in-law and wife, it’s something many in Asia can easily understand, and cannot avoid.

Then comes the beautiful widow.
Despote “her place” as a widow, she cannot give up her pursuit for affection and happiness.
Chokher Bali, the sand in the eye, the annoying thing, she arrives and disturbs everything she touches.
And like an eyesore, before you know it it goes away and the life is back to normal, the witch is punished.

Her happiness was taken away because she’s a widow, she brings bad things.
Could they ever blame her?
A strong sense of un-happiness.
```
🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

Chokher Bali

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
Chokher Bali

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
Choker Bali (English)
```
2026-01-20
“Pachinko” Min Jin Lee (2017) Review | Zainichi Korean female epic
Pachinko
Min Jin Lee, 2017
US
512 pages
Read in 2021.10
check price on amazon.com

✔ Korean zainichi in Japan
✔ Historical fiction World War Two
✔ Mother and daughter relationship

🔽 Review summary 🔽

★★★★★ Life of a Korean woman who survived all the difficulties the life threw at her. And about her beloved ones, Korean or Japanese. Life is a Pachinko. It’s not fair. You’re bound to lose. But you keep playing. An epic.

🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

Life of a Korean woman who survived all the difficulties the life threw at her.
And about her beloved ones, Korean or Japanese.

By narrowing down the novel to one woman’s life, it tells about real struggles, somehow making it universal.
The history of Japan and Korea, or Japanese and Koreans, is not an easy one to fully grasp – because it’s still alive.
The war is partly to be blamed but it’s not that simple.
The book is rich, depicts how little luck or timing could change your life, it is probably difficult to understand if you’re not Asian beyond it being “fascinating”.

Again Koreans do better in storytelling.
It’s dramatic, but that’s how it was in Japan up to the early 90s.

Life is a party, Fellini says. But here this novel tells you, life is a Pachinko. It’s not fair. You’re bound to lose, but you keep playing.
```
🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

Pachinko (National Book Award Finalist)

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
Pachinko: The New York Times Bestseller 

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
Pachinko. La moglie coreana (italiano)
```
2026-01-19

“Fires on the plain” Shohei Ooka (1952) Review | Crossing the line as a human


Fires on the plain
Shohei Ooka, 1952
野火
大岡昇平
Read in 2021.10
check price on amazon.com

✔ World War Two Historical fiction
✔ Solitude of a solder
✔ Taboo as human


🔽 Review summary 🔽

★★★★★ Isolated at the war on the field, he questions everything. It's haunting, but not merely because the plot is shocking, it's because, even people like me, who never had the experience, can recognise his internal struggles.

🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

I had always wanted to read it, but hadn't, and when I finally started reading it, I just wanted to get it done with and delete it from my memory. 
Too painful.
It's so daunting and it haunts you, it's about a man who's completely isolated during the war and he questions his survival, moral, humanity, everything outside of him as well as inside.

You're on the edge and a step away from the death. Do you trust or not, and what do you trust, yourself? others? Can he trust himself to stay a human or will he cross the line?

The book is haunting, but not merely because the plot or its description is shocking, it's because, even people like me, who never had the same experience or anything remotely close, can recognise his internal struggles.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

Fires on the Plain (Tuttle Classics) 

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
Fires on the Plain (Tuttle Classics) 

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
--

2026-01-19

“Silent Parade” Keigo Higashino (2018) Review | Stay silent

Silent Parade
Keigo Higashino, 2018
Read in 2020.01
check price on amazon.com

✔ Japan’s popular series, Galileo Series
✔ Comradeship of town people
✔ Murder mystery

🔽 Review summary 🔽

★★★★★ A classic Galileo where it’s all about people, their lives and love and hatred, with tricks that’s seemingly impossible. This time the keyword is “silence”; if you stay silent, you cannot be guilty. Perfect entertainment.

🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

There are a few of Detective Galileo Series translated into English – and do read them all!
Yukawa is a professor of Physics and he tackles “impossible’ mysteries with his friend, Inspector Kusanagi.
This one, I’d say, is a classic Galileo where it’s all about people, their lives and love and hatred, with tricks that’s seemingly impossible.

This time the keyword is “silence”; if you stay silent, you cannot be guilty.
And maybe “generation gap”, some are so patient for their own revenge, or can carry the burden for decades, while others might give up instantly, or couldn’t wait just a moment longer.

Though it’s always clever, Galileo series always insist on human drama, a perfect entertainment.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

Silent Parade (Detective Galileo Series, 4)

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
Silent Parade: A DETECTIVE GALILEO NOVEL (Detective Galileo Series)

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
Silent Parade: A DETECTIVE GALILEO NOVEL (English)

2026-01-19

『火花』又吉直樹, 2015年レビュー | 上下関係の危うさを描く

火花
又吉直樹, 2015
192 ページ
2026.01 読了
アマゾンであらすじと詳細を見る

🔽 本の紹介と一言レビュー 🔽

✔ お笑いタレントの芥川賞受賞の純文学
✔ 主人公とお笑いコンビを組む先輩との関係
✔ 芸人そしての生活の厳しさ、人間関係の描写も

★★★★☆ 師匠と仰ぐ男と主人公の曖昧でギリギリバランスが取れていて実は取れていない関係。どこまで愛情をもって寄り添えるか。上下関係を基礎とした関係の危うさを暖かく描く。

🔽🔽 読書記録 🔽🔽

誰もが知っている一冊。
芸人でありながらも小説を書き、芥川賞を取る。
その意外さ通りのストーリー。

芸人としての10年を描くんだけど、それはあくまで背景であり、メインは師匠と仰ぐ男と主人公の曖昧でギリギリバランスが取れていて実は取れていない関係にある。

そこまで尊敬できる人に会えることは羨ましいことであり、その関係が10年近く続くことも微笑ましくも見える。
しかし尊敬できるほどに高い位置に持ち上げた人間の人間らしい弱さ、愚かさいつまで見ないようにできるか。
関係のバランスは崩れるか。
どこまで愛情をもって寄り添えるか。
恋愛感情でもない、同等の立場にある友情でもない、上下関係を基礎とした関係の危うさを暖かく描く。

🔽 関連ページ 🔽
tag 友情

🔽 買えるところ / あらすじ、詳細 🔽

●●● アマゾン ●●●

火花 (文春文庫 ま 38-1) 

●●● 楽天 ●●●
火花 （文春文庫） [ 又吉 直樹 ]
価格：715円（税込、送料無料) (2026/1/19時点)

2026-01-19

『ジェーン・エア』シャーロット・ブロンテ, 1847年レビュー | ノーという女性の古典

ジェーン•エア
シャーロット・ブロンテ, 1847
Jane Eyre
Charlotte Bronte
2026.01 読了
アマゾンであらすじと詳細を見る

🔽 本の紹介と一言レビュー 🔽

✔ 女性主体の英文学の古典
✔ 当時の社会の常識に反抗した主人公の潔さ
✔ ゴシック、ホラー的な要素もある恋愛小説

★★★★★ 一人の女性の惨めな子供時代を経て自らの手で這い上がる成長物語であり、当時のイギリスにとっての社会的なテーマが盛り沢山。狂気の女の象徴するところもとっても気になる。

🔽🔽 読書記録 🔽🔽

古典って避けてしまう傾向にあるけど、実はエンターテイメント性が高いものが多いんですよね。
まあ、だからこそ何世紀も愛されるわけですが。

この本もそう。
ドロドロのメロドラマもあればロマンスもある。
強い女性像のイメージがあったのでロマンス要素に関しては想像以上だった。
一人の女性の惨めな子供時代を経て自らの手で這い上がる成長物語であり、フェミニズム満載であり、宗教の問題も、ちょっと怖めのゴシックでもあり、階級社会、人種、植民地主義などなど当時のイギリスにとっての社会的なテーマが盛り沢山。

そして当時の批判は目に浮かぶよう。
家父長制に服従しない女？男にノーという女？地位もなく地味な見た目のくせに？なんということでしょう。

もちろん今日の社会では見方は変わる(といってもいまだに女のくせにという意見は無きにしも非ず)。
彼女は男性にただ単に宝石やきれいな服を浴びるように与えられる人生は送りたくない。
自分も対等に貢献できると確信できる日まで彼女は愛する人をも拒否し続ける。

あと「屋根裏部屋の狂気の女」もとっても興味深い。
当時の差別主義が隠さずに描かれており、混血の人間、黒人であるこの女は理性がなく暴力的で、高貴な白人の文明から遠ざけなければいけない。
そしてジェーン本人はあまり怖がっても憎んでもいないというところも気になる。
この辺りは本が出ているそうなので、いつか。

🔽 関連ページ 🔽
English review “Jane Eyre” Charlotte Bronte (1847) Review | A woman who says no
tag 女性主体
tag フェミニズム

🔽 買えるところ / あらすじ、詳細 🔽

●●● アマゾン ●●●

ジェーン・エア（上） (新潮文庫)

●●● 楽天 ●●●
ジェイン・エア（上） （光文社古典新訳文庫） [ シャーロット・ブロンテ ]
価格：924円（税込、送料無料) (2026/1/19時点)

2026-01-19

“Jane Eyre” Charlotte Bronte (1847) Review | A woman who says no

Jane Eyre
Charlotte Bronte, 1847
UK
624 pages
Read in 2026.01
check price on amazon.com

✔ Classic English literature
✔ Strong female character, feminist icon
✔ Love story

🔽 Review summary 🔽

★★★★★ Has all the juicy stuff, mainly romance, but it has the themes of coming-of-age, feminism, religion, gothic, class, race/colonialism, anything. She's a woman who says no. How dare.

🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

It's always pleasantly surprising to find many of the classics are entertaining, but then, it does make sense, if it was boring or merely difficult, it couldn't have been loved for centuries.

Jane Eyre has all the juicy stuff, mainly romance, more romance-y than I had imagined, but it has the themes of coming-of-age, feminism, religion, gothic, class, race/colonialism, anything that reflects the life in the north of England in early 1800s.

You can easily imagine why there was a huge criticism when it came out - a woman who doesn't obey? A woman who says no? All with her plain childish looks? How dare.

But today we of course see it differently.
She's a cool independent woman, she doesn't want her man to shower her with expensive stuff, she wants an equal relationship, only when she's sure that she can also be helpful, does she accept.
She knows how to forgive, she knows how to be useful in practical ways, and she grows and glows.

The matter of the madwoman in the attic is also an interesting point.
Pretty clearly a typical racist view of the time; indicating her to be of the mixed race, thus a black woman, therefore she is irrational and violent, must be kept away from the white civilisation.
Also the madwoman haunts Jane, but Jane doesn't seem particularly to hate her, despite everything she represents and does?

Gripping, and surprisingly entertaining with difficult themes tangled up.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

Jane Eyre (Penguin Classics) 

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
Jane Eyre: Charlotte Bronte (Penguin Classics) 

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
Jane Eyre (italiano)

2026-01-19

『密やかな炎』セレステ•イング, 2017年レビュー | 女たちの内なる怒りを描く

密やかな炎
セレステ•イング, 2017
Little Fires Everywhere
Celeste Ng, 2017
2020.03 読了
アマゾンであらすじと詳細を見る

🔽 本の紹介と一言レビュー 🔽

✔ 社会的地位や家族構成の違う二つの家族
✔ 母親と娘の関係
✔ アマゾンでドラマ化

★★★★☆ 二つの家族、二つの逆の生き方。フェミニズムを語るときそこには常に人種や貧富の差、社会的地位、イデオロギーの違いなどが確実に存在している。

🔽🔽 読書記録 🔽🔽

この映像化に関わったので同僚から借りた本。

静かにゆっくりと始まる、まさにこの原題のように小さな炎があちらこちらで生まれていく。
二つの家族、二つの逆の生き方、異なる母親像に、異なる娘像、そして異なる運命。


登場人物はほの女性で彼女たちの内側の怒りを描くんだけど、ここで重要なのは女性と言っても一つの存在ではなく、社会的地位と貧富の差が女性を分け隔てるということ。
フェミニズムを語るときに重要なことは、そこには常に人種や貧富の差、社会的地位、イデオロギーの違いなどが確実に存在しているという事実。
フェミニズムの一言でまとめられる問題じゃない。

女性同士の問題を、なんというか心持ち分かりやすくしすぎている気がしてそこがちょっと気になるけど、でも私のいつもの屁理屈なだと思う。

もうちょっと壊れていく感じを出していたら私の好みにもっと近づくのではと密かに思う。

🔽 関連ページ 🔽
English review “Little Fires Everywhere” Celeste Ng (2017) Review | Women’s inner anger
tag フェミニズム
tag 女性主体

🔽 買えるところ / あらすじ、詳細 🔽

●●● アマゾン ●●●

密やかな炎

●●● 楽天 ●●●
密やかな炎 [ セレステ・イング ]
価格：2,750円（税込、送料無料) (2026/1/19時点)

2026-01-19

“Little Fires Everywhere” Celeste Ng (2017) Review | Women’s inner anger

Little Fires Everywhere
Celeste Ng, 2017
US
400 pages
Read in 2020.03
check price on amazon.com

✔ Strong female characters
✔ Social differences in the American suburbs
✔ Mother and daughter relationship


🔽 Review summary 🔽

★★★★☆ Women and their inner angers, and how the social class divides women. Their little angers start everywhere.


🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

Borrowed from a colleague as I was working on this project.
It starts slowly and as the title suggest little fires start in everyone. 2 families, opposite ideals, and different mothers different daughters with different fates.

The story goes around women and their inner angers, and how the social class divides women. 
Like when you talk about feminism you must also remember the class and the race, it's more complicated than we'd lightly assume.

It might be a bit too obviously girlie buddie book, but maybe I'm too harsh.
Mia is great, she's the cool one, everything is all nicely done, but in this kind of books I always want characters to break down and go insane to be happy.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

Little Fires Everywhere: A Novel

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
Little Fires Everywhere: 'Outstanding' Matt Haig

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
Tanti piccoli fuochi (italiano)

2026-01-19

“(To India)” Tadanori Yokoo (1977) Review | India as fantasy

★★★★★ A spiritual journey to India by this psychedelic graphic designer, but it's not merely a travel journal. It's more a journey to India that he holds within himself, his fantasy. Very personal, very 70s.


🔽 log 🔽
(To India)
インドへ
横尾忠則
Tadanori Yokoo, 1977
Read in 2020.01

Not published in English 

🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

A spiritual journey to India by this psychedelic graphic designer, but it's not really a travel journal. 
It's more a journey to India that he holds within himself, within his consciousness or subconsciousness, it's his fantasy and not necessarily a real place, but this is what he saw and felt.

It's about India that he fantasised and dreamt about, through the drug, hippies, America, 70s, The Beatles and eventually the death of Yukio Mishima, who committed a public suicide, days after he told the author he was ready for India, that became a final trigger.

In this second visit, he goes to Kashmir but mainly he talks about the universe and how he managed to be a part of it.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●
–

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
–

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
–

2026-01-18

“Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race” Reni Eddo-Lodge (2019) Review | silence won’t protect us

Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race
Reni Eddo-Lodge, 2019
UK
288 pages
Read in 2020.01
check price on amazon.com

✔ Nonfiction from a young black British female author
✔ Racism in the UK and the world
✔ Standing up for the social justice


🔽 Review summary 🔽

★★★★★+❤ How the author, a young black British woman, got fed up talking to white people while trying to protect their fragile sentiments and trying not to be labelled as "one of those angry black women". But now she knows, the silence won't protect us.


🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

What is wrong then? 
The problem of racism is not the black, brown or yellow people. 
It is the white people who regard the people of any colour other than white as the problem. 
Today it's as if being called a racist is "worse" than being actually affected by the racism. 

It was Stormzy who once said something like, in the UK there might not be "obvious" racism, but though it might be hidden it exists, and today they believe they have the right to be racist in public, and that's the scary thing. (I wrote this note originally in 2020, so it's probably a bit old)

The book is about how the author, a young black British woman, got fed up talking to white people while trying to protect their fragile sentiments and trying not to be labelled as "one of those angry black women". 
But the silence won't protect us. 
So it is actually about how she decides, through complex discourses of feminism, class and one-and-only Britishness, that she still needs to speak up to start this important conversation even if it might be uncomfortable for some, I mean, frankly, even if it pisses off many fragile people.


🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race: The #1 Sunday Times Bestseller

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
Perché non parlo più di razzismo con le persone bianche (italiano)

2026-01-18

“Gautama Buddha” Vishvapani Blomfield (2011) Review | Intro to Buddha’s own life


Gautama Buddha
The Life and Teachings of The Awakened One
Vishvapani Blomfield, 2011
416 pages
Read in 2020.02
check price on amazon.com


✔ A biography of Buddha as a person
✔ Life in India 2500 years ago
✔ Not much on the teaching but only historical facts


🔽 Review summary 🔽

★★★★☆ A sober biography of the Buddha as a person. It follows from his birth to death, through history and myth of 2500 years ago. A perfect introduction, to understand why Buddhism started there and then in India.

🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

A sort of biography of the Buddha as a person, and is trying its best to stay sober.

It's 2500 years ago so it is difficult to give a chronological order but it follows from his birth to death, with very good description to the background that is the Indian society which itself is mythical.

A perfect introduction, to understand why Buddhism started there in India. 
It was a long read and a difficult one to follow (so many long names!) but now that I finished I miss reading it.
He was a fascinating person and definitely philosophical one which is why Buddhism is still spreading even in the West and is being re-imported back in India.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

Gautama Buddha: The Life and Teachings of The Awakened One

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
Gautama Buddha: The Life and Teachings of The Awakened One

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
ーー

2026-01-18

“Pro Bono” Seicho Matsumoto (1961) Review | A girl just wanna have a revenge

★★★★☆ He made a simple mistake, but now just because of his male pride, his life gets worse and worse. Tough people survive, a classic Seicho Matsumoto.

🔽 log 🔽
Pro Bono
Seicho Matsumoto, 1961
霧の旗
松本清張
Japan
286 pages
Read in 2020.02
check on amazon.com

🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

I was attracted to the Italian title of this book "La ragazza del Kyushu", a girl from Kyushu - just like me she's from Kyushu but her revenge is something a lot more unique.

A girl from Kyushu goes to Tokyo to meet a popular lawyer to prove her brother's innocence, but he turned down because she didn't have money.
Now that might have been rather common, but upon her brother's  death in prison, she decides to go very far to perfect her revenge.

A classic Matsumoto, the author doesn't go in details about anything other than her obsession and revenge, because nothing else matters, it's all about her madness.

Oh and the lawyer, he should have realised earlier, his little mistakes accumulate and he's too proud, he's now completely trapped.

Bad people get punished by the society, and tough people survive, they are the classic characters from Seicho Matsumoto.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

Pro Bono

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
Pro Bono

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
La ragazza del Kyushu (italiano)

2026-01-18

『霧の旗』松本清張, 1961年レビュー | 男のプライドの悲劇

霧の旗
松本清張, 1961年
368 ページ
2020.02 読了
アマゾンであらすじと詳細を見る

🔽 本の紹介と一言レビュー 🔽

✔ 九州から来た少女の弁護の依頼を断る弁護士
✔ 歯車のズレからエスカレートする復讐劇
✔ 松本清張らしい、悪人の姿と執着心

★★★★☆ 余計なことをしなけりゃいいのに男のプライドのせいでどんどん深くはまっていく。悪人は社会的な罰を与えられ、したたかな人間は生き延びる、清張の作品の人間たち、ここにも。

🔽🔽 読書記録 🔽🔽

イタリア語のタイトル、La ragazza del Kyushuに惹かれて。

九州からの少女(ragazza) 、桐子は兄の無罪を弁護してもらおうと東京の日本有数の弁護士を頼るが、お金がないことを理由に断られる、という、ひとつの歯車のズレからストーリーがどんどんと展開していく。

さすが松本清張、桐子の執着というテーマに直接関係ないことはさらっとしてて、執着というより静かな狂気とも言える彼女の振る舞い言動は、ミステリアスに沸々と描く。

余計なことをしなけりゃいいのに男のプライドのせいでどんどん深くはまっていく。

悪人は社会的な罰を与えられ、したたかな人間は生き延びる、清張の作品の人間たち、ここにも。

🔽 関連ページ 🔽
English review “Pro Bono” Seicho Matsumoto (1961) Review | A girl just wanna have a revenge
tag 松本清張/Seicho Matsumoto

🔽 買えるところ / あらすじ、詳細 🔽

●●● アマゾン ●●●

霧の旗 (新潮文庫)

●●● 楽天 ●●●
霧の旗 （新潮文庫　まー1-20　新潮文庫） [ 松本 清張 ]
価格：781円（税込、送料無料) (2026/1/17時点)

2026-01-17

“Deep River” Shusaku Endo (1996) Review | Embracing life and death
```
Deep River
Shusaku Endo, 1993
深い河
遠藤周作
Japan
Read in 2020.02
check price on amazon.com
```
```
✔ A group of Japanese travel to India to seek spirituality
✔ Different religion and believes in the group
✔ The best from the author's late age


🔽 Review summary 🔽

★★★★★ A group of strangers joins a tour to India, to Benares, a sacred place, a place of death. It asks the question, what is a religion, what is a life itself? They face Mother Ganga who embraces all deaths and lives, of all people. A masterpiece.
```
🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

Endo Shusaku is now even more known for his more clearly religious book, Silence, since Scorsese directed the movie.

This is a story about a group of strangers who joined a same packaged tour to visit temples in India.
They all had regrets and disappointments in life, with fragile hope in their hearts, they head towards Ganges River.

Benares, Varanasi, is a sacred place, a place of death.
There they face their inner selves and the extreme poverty in a boy who trust absolute power of gods.
It asks the question, what is a religion, what is a death or a life itself?
There they face Mother Ganga who embraces all deaths and lives, of all people.

Endo, a Catholic, was 70 years old when it was written, it was a way for him to look back at his own life to once again ponder his eternal question “what does it mean to be a Japanese and a Christian”
A masterpiece.
```
🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

Deep River

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
Deep River: Shusaku Endo (Pushkin Press Classics) 

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
```
2026-01-16

“White Man, Yellow Man” Shusaku Endo (1955) Review | Christianity between the races


White Man, Yellow Man
Shusaku Endo, 1955
白い人 黄色い人
遠藤周作
Japan
Read in 2020.01
check price on amazon.com

✔ A novel from Japanese Christian author
✔ Christian moral during wars
✔ Historical fiction

🔽 Review summary 🔽

★★★★★ Christianity and evil. It's the evil that overflows out of the moral of White Man, of Christianity in which you believe in the one absolute God, or not. / A resignation from good or bad, believe or not-believe, it's the lightness of living without a sin.

🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

Christianity and evil.

White Man
The protagonist understands his ugliness, and he fantasises his superiority because of it.
Evil is universal, it's political but above all it's so powerful that you can destroy the others.
Crushing his friend means crushing all hypocrites, and violating this girl means violating all virgins.
It's the evil that overflows out of the moral of White Man, the moral that's cultivated in Christianity where you believe in the one absolute God.
It's whether you tolerate it, or you reject to tolerate the absolute good and become evil itself.

Yellow Man
In a way this is harsher.
It's close to the author's personal yet eternal struggle of "Being a Christian even if I am Japanese"
During the war, a Christian Japanese young man was exhausted.
Us yellow people actually do not truly believe the God you white people fear.
Us yellow people actually do not have Original sin like you, any way Mother Mary is not in this country.

An ex-priest who betrayed his God finally realises that the truth is in the tired eyes of the yellow people.
They don't fear death or life, they have no sins, they don't believe in the God, his absoluteness, and in this country even the criminals are saved as they are.
Can we, the men with white hands, come close to these yellow people?
It's a liberation or rather resignation from good or bad, believe or not-believe, it's the lightness of living without a sin.

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

White Man, Yellow Man: Two Novellas

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
White Man, Yellow Man: Two Novellas

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
ーー

2026-01-16

“Sea of Poppies” Amitav Ghosh (2008) Review | Leading up to Opium War

🔽 log 🔽
Sea of Poppies 
Amitav Ghosh, 2008
559 pages
Read in 2025.12
check price on amazon.com


✔ A gripping trilogy from an Indian author
✔ Strong, inter-cultural friendship on a slave ship
✔ Historical fiction


🔽 Review summary 🔽

★★★★★ In India, under British, Opium farming leading up to the Opium War. You meet some interesting strong characters. It’s gripping, a grand storytelling.

🔽 Book review and notes 🔽

I'd heard of it for a while and finally, finally started and instantly it was obvious, this is one if those great books.

In India, under British, Opium farming leading up to the Opium War.
That's already enough for me to like the book even without even opening it. 

And immediately you meet some interesting strong characters.
Deeti who had a miserable married life, Paulette and Jodu and their unique friendship, a delicate Raja, Zachary who leads us into the mesmerising journeys.
They all meet on Ibis the slaving ship, all carrying their own destinies - it's as intense as it sounds.
Some of detailed descriptions of ship and sailing are hard for me to follow but that doesn't stop me from getting excited at every page.

It's a trilogy so there are 2 more books to go to give the full view on the story but so far, it's gripping, grand storytelling.
Need to read 2 and 3 soon.

🔽 Related pages 🔽
tag インド/India

🔽 Where to buy / Summary and more info 🔽

●●● Amazon.com (US) ●●●

Sea of Poppies

●●● Amazon.co.uk (UK) ●●●
Sea of Poppies: Ibis Trilogy Book 1 Kindle Edition

●●● Amazon.it (Italy) ●●●
Sea of Poppies: Ibis Trilogy Book 1 (English)

2026-01-15

『アイヌ神謡集』知里幸恵, 1923年レビュー | アイヌの鮮やかな世界観

アイヌ神謡集
知里幸恵編訳 1923
224 ページ
2020.02 読了
アマゾンであらすじと詳細を見る

🔽 本の紹介と一言レビュー 🔽

✔ アイヌの神話の日本語訳
✔ 19歳で亡くなった少女が丁寧に残したカムイユカラ
✔ 人間と神と自然が共存していたアイヌの世界観

★★★★☆ アイヌの神話は歌にのせて語り(歌い)継がれてきた。それをアルファベットで書き留め日本語訳に。ひとりの少女が丁寧に残した神や動物の神が自ら歌ったとする謡で、人間と神と自然が共存していたアイヌの世界観が鮮やかに描かれる。

🔽🔽 読書記録 🔽🔽

アイヌの神話、カムイユカラは文字ではなく歌にのせて語り(歌い)継がれてきた。
それをアルファベットで書き留め、日本語訳したもの。

19歳で亡くなったひとりの少女が丁寧に残したものは、神や動物の神が自ら歌ったとする謡で、人間と神と自然が共存していたアイヌの世界観のその内容ももちろん興味深いけど、それをアルファベットで正確に残すという方法の歴史的な価値。
日本語とは全く違う言葉で、ぜひ聞いてみたいと思う。
でも残念ながら現代日本は、というか中世から日本はアイヌを蔑み彼らの文化をとことん抹消してきた。
少数派の文化を殺していることに気づいていない。
悲しいことです。

最近やっとゴールデンカムイの映画をみたんですが、これでアイヌ文化が身近になるとそれも素敵なことですね。

🔽 関連ページ 🔽
tag　宗教/Religion

🔽 買えるところ / あらすじ、詳細 🔽

●●● アマゾン ●●●


知里幸惠　アイヌ神謡集 (岩波文庫 赤80-1)


●●● 楽天 ●●●
知里幸惠 アイヌ神謡集 （岩波文庫　赤80-1） [ 中川 裕 ]
価格：836円（税込、送料無料) (2026/1/15時点)

2026-01-15

『殺人の門』東野圭吾, 2003年レビュー | 著者の幅の広さを感じる人間ドラマ

殺人の門
東野圭吾, 2003
624 ページ
2025.12 読了
アマゾンであらすじと詳細を見る

🔽 本の紹介と一言レビュー 🔽

✔ 凄いトリックもマジカルな要素もない東野圭吾作品
✔ 派手ではない分ドロドロな人間関係を強調
✔ 映画化決定

★★★★★ 凄いトリックもマジカルな要素もない。だからその分この本のストーリーの素晴らしさが強調されている。昭和を感じる人間ドラマは東野圭吾の幅の広さ奥の深さを確実に掴める一冊。

🔽🔽 読書記録 🔽🔽

いままで読んだ東野圭吾の派手さがない。
凄いトリックもマジカルな要素もない。
だからその分、この本のストーリーの素晴らしさが強調されている。

お金持ちに生まれたのに次々と続く不幸で苦しみに溢れた半生の主人公、その影にいつもいる幼馴染み。
タイトルからも分かるように殺人がテーマでずっとその匂いだけがしているサスペンスの側面と何が起こっているんだろうと想像を巡らさせるミステリーの側面。

昭和を感じる人間ドラマは松本清張のような面白さがあり、巧みな謎解きミステリーだけではない、東野圭吾の作家としての幅の広さ、奥の深さを確実に掴める一冊。

🔽 関連ページ 🔽
tag　東野圭吾/Keigo Higashino

🔽 買えるところ / あらすじ、詳細 🔽

●●● アマゾン ●●●

殺人の門 (角川文庫) 

●●● 楽天 ●●●
殺人の門　上 新装版 （角川文庫） [ 東野　圭吾 ]
価格：990円（税込、送料無料) (2026/3/3時点)

2026-01-14

『(ケシの海)』アミタヴ・ゴーシュ , 2008年レビュー | アヘン戦争直前の奴隷船にて

Sea of Poppies
Amitav Ghosh, 2008
(ケシの海)
アミタヴ・ゴーシュ
559 ページ
2025.12 読了
アマゾンであらすじと詳細を見る
日本語未出版



🔽 本の紹介と一言レビュー 🔽

✔ アヘン戦争へ向かう時代のインドが舞台の歴史小説3部作
✔ 人種も階級も超えて奴隷船の上でつながる登場人物たち
✔ 植民地主義をテーマにするアメリカ在住の英語インド人作家

★★★★★ 大英帝国が治めるインド、そこで行われるケシの栽培、そしてアヘン戦争の匂いを受けて奴隷船に乗り込む人々。それだけでもう本を開く前から自分好みなのは一目瞭然。３部作、先が気になる。

🔽🔽 読書記録 🔽🔽

噂には聞いていたけど、やっぱり圧倒的に面白かった。

大英帝国が治めるインド、そこで行われるケシの栽培、そしてアヘン戦争の匂いを受けて奴隷船に乗り込む人々。
それだけでもう本を開く前から自分好みなのは一目瞭然。

開けてみると、個性的な登場人物がどんどん出てくる。
辛い結婚生活から逃げた主人公の女性ディーティ、フランス人ポーレットとインド人ジョドゥの兄妹愛、破綻した繊細なラジャに、秘密を持ったアメリカ人船乗りザッカリー、などなどがそれぞれの思いを胸にモーリシャス諸島へ向かう奴隷船アイビス号に乗り込む。
その流れだけで分かるよう、壮大なストーリーがこの3部作で描かれるのです。

女性たちの無謀さと、それについて行ってる男性たちだったり、騙されて人生が一転するラジャの変化などがエンターテインメントを込めて書かれているのでこの後どうなるのか。
まだ最初の一冊を読んだばかり、先が気になる。

日本ではまだ翻訳されてないので残念。
英語はちょっと難しいです、というかインド英語やそれぞれの訛りなどもあり分かりにくい。

🔽 関連ページ 🔽
English review “Sea of Poppies” Amitav Ghosh (2008) Review | Leading up to Opium War
category 文学 インド 南アジア/Indian S. Asian Lit.
tag インド/India

🔽 買えるところ / あらすじ、詳細 🔽

●●● アマゾン ●●●

Sea of Poppies: Ibis Trilogy Book 1 (English Edition)

●●● 楽天 ●●●
Sea of Poppies A Novel【電子書籍】[ Amitav Ghosh ]
価格：2,044円 (2026/1/16時点)

2026-01-14

『もう、怒らない』小池龍之介, 2012年レビュー | エネルギーの無駄遣いはしない

もう、怒らない
小池龍之介, 2012
182 ページ
2025.12 読了
アマゾンであらすじと詳細を見る

🔽 本の紹介と一言レビュー 🔽

✔ 少し変わったお坊さんの著作
✔ 今も昔も自分の力では変えられない状況を生きる
✔ 自分をコントロールして怒りを放り出す方法

★★★★☆ 神様がいうから人の悪口を言わない、じゃなくて、自分にとってネガティブだから人の悪口ごときににエネルギーを使わない。それにしても仏教で心を落ち着かせる本を読み始めたのは、年齢のせいか、それともイタリアのせいか。

🔽🔽 読書記録 🔽🔽

またもや小池龍之介というお坊さんの本。
包み込まずにストレートに書いてあり、自身の実体験からきていると分かる反省をもっての伝え方なので受け付けやすいのかも。

それにしてもイタリアに来て仏教で心を落ち着かせるとか、いわゆる仏教系の自己啓発を読み始めたのは、年齢のせいか、それともイタリアがそこまでムカつきにまみれた国だからか。
どっちもあるかな。
日本もイギリス(というかロンドン)は大体のことは決められた通りに進み、みんな決められた仕事をこなし、距離感を保つ。
イタリアは全て逆、極度の官僚主義社会だから誰もが抜け道を必死に探し、自分のために怒ること多々。怒らないと永遠に後回しにされる。

そんな感じで、生きにくい社会の程度はそれぞれ時代や地域によって違ったにしても、2500年前から仏教によって人々が救われたのはやっぱり自分一人の力では変えられない環境のなかで自分自身を整えて、ある意味自分自身をマインドコントロールして、乗り越えていくという方法が手っ取り早く効果的だったのでしょう。

神様がいうから人の悪口を言わない、じゃなくて、自分にとってネガティブだから人の悪口ごときににエネルギーを使わない。

私にもいつかは、そうね、はいはい、と全てをさらっと流せる日が来るのでしょうか。

🔽 買えるところ / あらすじ、詳細 🔽

●●● アマゾン ●●●

もう、怒らない (幻冬舎文庫)

●●● 楽天 ●●●
もう、怒らない （幻冬舎文庫） [ 小池龍之介 ]
価格：502円（税込、送料無料) (2026/1/8時点)

2026-01-09

『最高のオバハン』林真理子, 2017年レビュー | 自由な女性像を女社長にみる

最高のオバハン
中島ハルコの恋愛相談室
林真理子, 2017
240 ページ
2025.12 読了
アマゾンであらすじと詳細を見る

🔽 本の紹介と一言レビュー 🔽

✔ 主人公が出会う自由に生きる中年女社長の物語
✔ 口が悪くケチなのに憎めない社長がいやいや恋愛の相談にのる
✔ 真剣なというより無謀なアドバイスに笑いつつも納得

★★★★☆ 楽しいしエンターテイメントなので深く考えずに一緒に笑うための一冊。まあ何はなくとも、女性が自由になるにはダメ男から離れて生きるしかない。そのためにはやっぱり経済力。

🔽🔽 読書記録 🔽🔽

風邪だし、軽めのをどんどん読む。 

前に読んだエッセイ「運命はこうして変えなさい」がいまいちだったけど、こっちはフィクションなので林真理子節がぶっ飛んでる。

楽しいしエンターテイメントなので深く考えずに一緒に笑う読書の仕方で。
まあ何はなくとも、女性が自由になるにはダメ男から離れて生きるしかない。
そのためには経済力。

ただ率直にいうと、いや卑屈なこと言うと、日本では蔑んで自分をオバサン、オジサンと呼んだり(もちろん愛嬌とは違うレベルで)年齢を気にしすぎるし、それで笑いを誘うという感覚がどうしても気になる。
ニュースとかでも無駄に一般人の年齢が公表されたり。
そんなに他人の年齢が気になるのか。
いやでも、それ自体はこの本とは関係ないんですよ、本は面白い。

🔽 買えるところ / あらすじ、詳細 🔽

●●● アマゾン ●●●

最高のオバハン　中島ハルコの恋愛相談室 (文春文庫)

●●● 楽天 ●●●
最高のオバハン 中島ハルコの恋愛相談室 （文春文庫） [ 林 真理子 ]
価格：748円（税込、送料無料) (2026/1/8時点)

2026-01-08

『父と暮らせば』井上ひさし, 1998年レビュー | 戦争で残された人々の痛み

父と暮らせば
井上ひさし, 1998
128 ページ
2025.12 読了
アマゾンであらすじと詳細を見る

🔽 本の紹介と一言レビュー 🔽

✔ 1994年に初演された広島弁の戯曲
✔ 原爆で亡くなった父と残された娘の二人の登場人物
✔ 戦争の酷さ、残された人間のつらさを描く

★★★★★ ユーモアに溢れていて、広島弁でゆっくりと進んでいく物語。ここにじんわりと写された苦しみと痛さと、自分なんかが幸せになってはいけないという葛藤。その痛みを忘れないための大切な一冊。

🔽🔽 読書記録 🔽🔽

前書きで著者はずっと命の限り広島と長崎のことを書いていくという強い意思を示している。
絶対に絶やしてはいけないことだから。 

その思いで書かれたこの作品。

ここにじんわりと写された苦しみと痛さと、自分なんかが幸せになってはいけないという葛藤。
父の生と死を越えた愛情と、娘の方からも深い愛情があり、原爆で命を奪われた人と「死ねなかった人」の次元を越える慈悲に溢れていて、短いながらもその深さに、読む人の心にずっと残るものになる。

ユーモアに溢れていて、広島弁でゆっくりと進んでいく物語。
私はまだ原爆の巨大な被害にあった人の話を直接聞けた世代。
その次に続く高度成長期のあとの明るい未来を知らない世代。

忘れないための大切な一冊。

🔽 関連ページ 🔽
tag 戦争/War

🔽 買えるところ / あらすじ、詳細 🔽

●●● アマゾン ●●●

父と暮せば (新潮文庫)

●●● 楽天 ●●●
父と暮せば （新潮文庫　新潮文庫） [ 井上 ひさし ]
価格：539円（税込、送料無料) (2026/1/8時点)

2026-01-08

『深い河』遠藤周作, 1996年レビュー | 生と死を受け止める偉大な河へ

🔽 基本情報 🔽

深い河 
遠藤周作, 1993
400 ページ
2020.02 読了
アマゾンであらすじと詳細を見る


🔽 本の紹介と一言レビュー 🔽

✔ 遠藤周作が70歳の時の代表作
✔ それぞれの思いを胸に5人の主人公がインドへ向かう
✔ 著者の生涯のテーマ「キリスト教と日本人」を掘り下げる

★★★★★ ベナレスは聖地でありガンジスに向かうことは死に向かうこと。母なるガンジス、その母性が全ての人の生と死を隔たりなく抱き抱える。何世紀と続く聖地の力を感じる。壮大であり静粛な一冊。

🔽🔽 読書記録 🔽🔽

宗教関係、宗教にまつわる積読をまとめて読む読書月間を勝手に開催した。

当時70歳のカトリックの著者遠藤周作による、登場人物たちがインドへ向かう一冊。
偶然一緒の仏跡訪問ツアーになった数人の日本人それぞれが後悔や喪失の中の淡い期待を胸にインド、ガンジス川へ。
ベナレス(バラナシ、ヴァラナシ)は聖地でありガンジスに向かうことは死に向かうこと。
彼らがそれぞれの過去を胸に、生と死が共存するベナレスで想うこととは。

神という大きな力の信じ、ことごとく生活を否定されても、信念強く生きる青年の背負うものとは。
色々なストーリーが、母なるガンジスに向かい、生と死を含むその母性が全ての人を隔たりなく抱き抱える。
遠藤周作らしい、壮大であり静粛な一冊。

70歳という年齢を迎え、きっと本人も死を意識しながら生きていく上で、彼の永遠のテーマである「日本人でありキリスト教信者であること」をもう一度振り返ってみたんだと思う。
そしてその答えは、インドの深い河であった。

🔽 関連ページ 🔽
English review “Deep River” Shusaku Endo (1996) Review | Embracing life and death >>
tag 宗教/Religion

🔽 買えるところ / あらすじ、詳細 🔽

●●● アマゾン ●●●

深い河 新装版 (講談社文庫 え 1-48)

●●● 楽天 ●●●
深い河　新装版 （講談社文庫） [ 遠藤 周作 ]
価格：902円（税込、送料無料) (2026/1/7時点)

2026-01-06