Adam’s 25 Recent Japanese Book Recommendations
As you probably know, I read a lot of Japanese books. However, I’m not especially fond of writing about (reviewing) those books. I’ve done so in the past, but stopped over 6 months ago due to lack of motivation to continue. I want to continue, in a way that makes it easier on me, but still beneficial to you. So I will try the following:
1. Ultra brief summaries. Most people decide if something sounds interesting to them in a line or 2. So rather than write out detailed blurbs, I’ll keep it extremely short.
2. Instead of trying to somehow organize the books I’ve read into specific topics that fit together into a nice category, I thought it would be simply easier to have an ongoing list of recent books I have finished, enjoyed and recommend.
1. アムリタ (Amrita & Immortality)
Japanese Level: ☆☆☆
An aspiring movie director finds a way to create a movie so powerful it can “resurrect” her dead boyfriend.
2. 舞面真面とお面の女 (Maitsura Matomo and The Masked Woman)
Japanese Level: ☆☆☆☆☆
When 3 puzzles are left in a will, leading to a presumed fortune, a family must try to come together to solve them and receive their deserving inheritance.
3. 2
Japanese Level: ☆☆☆☆
Creating a movie that will completely change the world requires some sacrifice along the way. There are only two that matter. Who will they be?
4. 鈴木ごっこ (Let’s Play Suzuki)
Japanese Level: ☆☆
Pretend you are a member of the Suzuki family and your massive debt shall be forgiven in return. After living together for a year, an unexpected fate awaits the new Suzuki family.
5. サバイバー (Survivor)
Japanese Level: ☆☆
The apocalypse hits with no warning or reason and Japan becomes a wasteland. This is the comedic and dramatic story of people and their interactions as they experience the end of the world.
Founder of Jalup. iOS Software Engineer. Former attorney, translator, and interpreter. Still watching 月曜から夜ふかし weekly since 2013.
キタ━(゜∀゜)━!
最近から読む程度を上げているので新しいおすすめの小説あって嬉しいです。もっとお願いします!
役に立ってよかった。日本小説バンザイ!
Will be checking out that 木下半太 book! I’ve enjoyed a few of his 悪夢の~ novels off of your recommendations in the past and I really like his dark humour and clever narrative twists.
I’ve just been blessed (?) with a longer commute meaning a lot more time to read, so I’m very glad you’ve decided to start this series.
It feels like my goal is to read every novel he’s written (I’m pretty close haha). Hope you enjoy this new one.
And a long commute, which I also have, is a great and focused time for reading.
I bought サバイバー and read the first five pages or so and it seems good so far! I’m currently reading お前を好きって言ったらうする (high school love drama, it’s not bad :P), so I’ll finish that first.
Yeah, it really draws you in right from the beginning. There are a lot of fun and weird twists inside, so I think you’ll definitely enjoy it.
If you do read it, make sure to come back when you are finished and leave a comment about it!
サバイバーが来ったばかりですね、僕は読むことを確かめるのためにここで書いておきます。
読み終わったら是非、ここで意見を述べてください!
This is a strange question for a Japanese language learning blog, but I use it more generally, as a foreign language learning blog (my obsession is Russian): I’d really like to read some of these – are any of these books available in English, too? Or are these the kind of books one would absolutely have to learn Japanese for?
(I could see that motivating me…)
I don’t know if any of these specifically were translated to English but the best way to search would just to check your desired title (or author) on Amazon. Major Japanese books are sometimes translated into English.
Thanks, Adam!
I’ve been searching around for a book recommendation list organized by level and yours is really helpful! I’m an intermediate level student and would like to start reading books as a way of reaching the advanced level, but picking up anything without know if I’ll be able to actually read it is kinda hard. By the way, how do you usually get these books?
I usually use Amazon Kindle Japan. I’ll occasionally buy a physical book (either from an actual Japanese bookstore, or through a service like YesAsia).