Nihon No Kinyoubi (16)

Nihon no Kinyoubi (Japanese Friday) is a weekly (or at least I try to make it weekly, though mostly I fail) feature here at Brizmus Blogs Books inspired by French Friday, which is a weekly feature hosted by Charlotte at the Book on the Hill. Charlotte features French bookish things, and I plan on featuring Japanese bookish things, though I won't limit myself if I find something non-bookish that I think will interest you guys.

So, the Japanese have a thing for watching leaves fall off of trees. Or rather, for just looking at things in trees. In the spring, you have お花見(ohanami), which is when they sit and picnic under the most beautiful cherry blossom trees. Frankly, they are AMAZING!

And in the fall, they have こうよう(kouyou) or もみじ(momiji), which is when they go and look at the changing of the colors of leaves. And frankly, it is beautiful! I went last weekend to a place that is known for its beauty this time of year, and I thought I'd share a picture or two with you guys.

It was really really amazingly beautiful, and if you're interested in seeing more pictures or hearing more about it, I'll be writing in more detail soon in my personal blog, Brizmus Around the World, so be sure to check it out!

Happy Japanese Friday!

Nihon No Kinyoubi (15) Review: Kwaidan by Lafcadio Hearn

Nihon no Kinyoubi (Japanese Friday) is a weekly feature here at Brizmus Blogs Books inspired by French Friday, which is a weekly feature hosted by Charlotte at the Book on the Hill. Charlotte features French bookish things, and I plan on featuring Japanese bookish things, though I won't limit myself if I find something non-bookish that I think will interest you guys.

This week I thought I would treat you guys to a review of a book of Japanese stories that I absolutely loved! Since it's close to Halloween, I think it's especially appropriate!!

Title: Kwaidan

Author: Lafcadio Hearn

Rating: 1/2

Who Should Read It? This is a fabulous book for anyone interested in ghost stories or Japan!

What I Have to Say:
Kwaidan is a beautiful selection of Japanese ghost stories; some of them are horrifying, some of them are touching, and all of them provide an intricate look into the many subtleties that make up the Japanese culture. I am greatly enjoyed each and every story in this book, and each of them I enjoyed for different reasons. Some of the stories were translations of old Japanese texts wheras, for others, this book was the first place they were ever written. The author heard them while traveling through small-town Japan and enjoyed them so much that he transcribed them. Because of this, it is somewhat difficult to write a real review. The stories are not his; they aren't even retellings, but the author does an amazing job of transcribing/translating them and making them his own. Obviously, some things are lost in translation, but the author did a great job of minimalizing this loss, and I really feel like I got the full effect of what was originally being said.

At the end of this book, there was a brief study of insects in relation to Japanese culture which I found absolutely FASCINATING. I found the sections on ants and butterflies to be especially enjoyable (though I should perhaps note that I am slightly obsessed with ants). The chosen poems and texts along with the author's observations and commentary gave me great insight as to the roles that insects played (and insects are VERY prominent in Japan) in ancient Japan.

I GREATLY enjoyed this book (and learned a lot!), and, for the first time in a very long time, I found myself so enraptured that I couldn't stop myself from staying up into the wee hours of the morning reading. I highly recommend this selection of stories to anyone who is even remotely interested in Japanese culture.

Summary: KWAIDAN is a collection of weird, ghostly legends and beliefs of old Japan. Hearn spent 14 years in Japan, translating into English with superb effect the atmosphere of the tales which he avidly collected.

Based on Japanese literature and folklore, KWAIDAN contains 17 stories. The stories of Loichi, the blind biwa player who was called to perform for the dead; of Muso, the journeying priest who encountered a man-eating goblin; of the samurai who outwitted the ghost of a dead man. All these plus 14 other spooky tales are included in this collection.

Cover Story: It's so creepy and Japanesey and perfect! I absolutely LOVE it! With a capital heart! :-)

Nihon No Kinyoubi (14)

Nihon no Kinyoubi (Japanese Friday) is a weekly feature here at Brizmus Blogs Books inspired by French Friday, which is a weekly feature hosted by Charlotte at the Book on the Hill. Charlotte features French bookish things, and I plan on featuring Japanese bookish things, though I won't limit myself if I find something non-bookish that I think will interest you guys.

So, if you'll recall, last week I posted the number one book in literature for the week.

Well, I got some interesting comments on it. The first of which is that a better translation of the title would be "What if the female manager of the high school baseball team read 'Drucker's Management?'." And it totally is. I somehow had added a word to the end of the Japanese title that wasn't actually there, and now that it's gone, it makes so much more sense.

So there.

The other is that, apparently, someone has translated the first chapter, and the translation can be found HERE.

I would highly recommend going to check it out, as it is quite interesting, I find, so see what the Japanese are interested in right now, especially as it's so different from what the English speaking part of the world seems to be interested in.

And that's it for this week.

Enjoy!

Nihon No Kinyoubi (13)

Nihon no Kinyoubi (Japanese Friday) is a weekly feature here at Brizmus Blogs Books inspired by French Friday, which is a weekly feature hosted by Charlotte at the Book on the Hill. Charlotte features French bookish things, and I plan on featuring Japanese bookish things, though I won't limit myself if I find something non-bookish that I think will interest you guys.

This week's post will be short, as the day has been EXHAUSTING, and I am in need of SLEEP! Thought you guys might be interested to see what the number one seller in literature on Amazon is this week.

It's a book that, oddly enough, I've been seeing around a lot lately., THe title, in Japanese, is pronounced "moshi koukouyakyuu no joshi maneejaa ga dorakkaa no 'manejimento' wo yondara 'tankoubon'," which translates loosely and with my limited Japanese to something like "If you read Drucker's high school baseball girl manager's special management book."
I'm obviously missing something, and yet, I feel inspired to read this.

Until next week. . .

Nihon No Kinyoubi (12)

Nihon no Kinyoubi (Japanese Friday) is a weekly feature here at Brizmus Blogs Books inspired by French Friday, which is a weekly feature hosted by Charlotte at the Book on the Hill. Charlotte features French bookish things, and I plan on featuring Japanese bookish things, though I won't limit myself if I find something non-bookish that I think will interest you guys.

This is my first Nihon no Kinyoubi using one of the new buttons, and I'm psyched! I hope you guys like it as much as I do!

Anyhow, this week, since the release of Mockingjay is so recent and the story so fresh in my mind, I thought I'd share with you guys the Japanese cover of the Hunger Games.

It's SO different from the US, British, and Australian covers, isn't it? It's really super cool, though. I actually kind of love it.
With the drawing and with Katniss looking so hardcore on the cover, it really seems VERY Japanese to me. The Japanese title is ハンガーゲーム, which, sounded out, is HungaaGeemu. They like to take English words in Japanese and keep then, just a little Japanesified.

Anyhow, what do you guys think? I would post some of the other covers, but I think we've all already seen them by now. And this is the only one released in Japan so far (the poor Japanese having to wait so long!).

Nihon No Kinyoubi (11)

Nihon no Kinyoubi (Japanese Friday) is a weekly feature here at Brizmus Blogs Books inspired by French Friday, which is a weekly feature hosted by Charlotte at the Book on the Hill. Charlotte features French bookish things, and I plan on featuring Japanese bookish things, though I won't limit myself if I find something non-bookish that I think will interest you guys.

This week is my last Nihon no Kinyoubi without a button. Voting is going on until Sunday, so if you haven't already,(be sure to go vote!) Yay! Right now Michelle from the True Book Addict is in first place with Kirthi from Pages in a close second!

So, since coming to Japan, I've been trying to find a manga that I actually WANT to read. Given how much I ADORE reading and how much I LOVE comic books and Japan, you would think that this would be an easy task. And yet, it is not.
Finally, on a recommendation from a friend, I have decided to try out Sugar Sugar Rune. It's about two young witches with French names that come from The Magical World.

How ADORABLE does that sound? It sounds super me, and now if I can just find it, I will be super excited about it. Apparently it was also, as most manga are, turned into an anime. And, oddly enough, I feel more excited about that than about the reading of the manga itself.

In any case, do you guys read any manga? If so, what do you read? Do you have any recommendations for good, simple ones that you think I might like (and that I might also be able to read in Japanese with my VERY BASIC Japanese knowledge)? I'd love to know what you think!

Nihon No Kinyoubi (10)

Have you entered my contest yet to win a copy of Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer?!? NO?!? GO DO SO NOW!!!!

Nihon no Kinyoubi (Japanese Friday) is a weekly feature here at Brizmus Blogs Books inspired by French Friday, which is a weekly feature hosted by Charlotte at the Book on the Hill. Charlotte features French bookish things, and I plan on featuring Japanese bookish things, though I won't limit myself if I find something non-bookish that I think will interest you guys.

This week button voting is going on (Be sure to go vote!), and I'm so excited because that means that in TWO Fridays, I'll have a new exciting button for the feature!  Yay!

Anyhow, when I was in Tokyo, I briefly stepped into a book store, and there was something about it that just seemed perfect to me. Maybe it was the calm feel or the hardwood floors or the metal bookcases - I don't know. What I do know is they had a great English book selection and a really cool way of announcing the different sections (like the random bike sitting at the end of the shelves in the sports section - sorry it's blurry).




I also know that, if I lived in Tokyo, I would regularly frequent this book store. I have found that, so far, I love bookstores in Japan because they are so colorful inside - everything is always displayed in an organized, fun, creative way, and the atmosphere is always calm and relaxed yet fun!
I find that the bookstores here are such a NICE change from the bookstores in France.

What appeals to you most about the bookstores you love?

Make me a Button Contest EXTENSION!

So, perhaps you noticed that I did it again - I disappeared for a week without saying a single word about it. Or perhaps you didn't notice. In any case, I am sorry, and the disappearance wasn't planned at all.

My boyfriend came to visit me in Japan for two weeks. The first week, we hung out where I live in Okazaki, and I had minimal internet time, but I still managed to get some posting in. The second week, we went traveling, and I had actually written most of the posts I was planning to post, but I thought I would have at least a LITTLE internet time, so I didn't schedule them.

I had no internet time. I didn't look at the internet even ONCE while I was away. Nor did I study my Japanese (oops, I am a bad, bad student). So, sorry about that, and I hope that it won't happen again any time soon.

I'll soon be blogging about our travels in my other, personal blog, Brizmus Around the World, so be sure to check it out if you're interested in seeing some pictures!

Also, I have only received TWO entries for my MAKE ME A BUTTON CONTEST! Thanks Charlotte and Kirthi! As such, I am extending the contest. I haven't decided for how long (though I am thinking until August 22), so get your buttons in QUICK, as it could end any second! And please do enter, even if you think your button making talents aren't up to par.

And I think that's all. I have a HUGE test on Thursday for which I am MASSIVELY unprepared, but I'm thinking I won't let that get in the way of my blogging and reading, so all is good. :-)

Nihon no Kinyoubi (8)

Before anything, have you checked out my Make Me A Button Contest?!? I'm asking people to make a cool button for this feature. Some fun Japanese themed books are up for grabs, so be sure to check it out, if you haven't already! I haven't received any entries yet, so get on it! I'm dying to see what you'll come up with!

Nihon no Kinyoubi (Japanese Friday) is a new feature here at Brizmus Blogs Books inspired by French Friday, which is a weekly feature hosted by Charlotte at the Book on the Hill. Charlotte features French bookish things, and I plan on featuring Japanese bookish things, though I won't limit myself if I find something non-bookish that I think will interest you guys.

Have you ever seen a cicada? I actually hadn't before I came here. And if I'm being totally honest, I'd actually never even HEARD of them before moving to Japan.


Now, though, let me assure you, I have seen a cicada.
And felt a cicada.
And HEARD a cicada.

And boy have I heard them. Nonstop. All the time. Some days, I don't want to spend a bagazillion yen just so that I can have my air conditioner on, so I think I want to open my window. But no - think crickets but a million times louder and more grating. The cicadas love to make noise.

You might be wondering what this has to do with anything. Why I would post something like this. So far, it's the only thing about Japan that I really dislike. And to be honest, I think it wouldn't bother me, except that the sound of the cicada has become one of the few things that can distract me from reading.
I just can't seem to concentrate while they are playing their nonstop song.

Is there anything that always manages to distract you from reading, no matter how into the book you are? I want to hear about it!

Nihon no Kinyoubi (7)

Before anything, have you checked out my Make Me A Button Contest?!? I'm asking people to make a cool button for this feature. Some fun Japanese themed books are up for grabs, so be sure to check it out, if you haven't already! I haven't received any entries yet, so get on it! I'm dying to see what you'll come up with!

Nihon no Kinyoubi (Japanese Friday) is a new feature here at Brizmus Blogs Books inspired by French Friday, which is a weekly feature hosted by Charlotte at the Book on the Hill. Charlotte features French bookish things, and I plan on featuring Japanese bookish things, though I won't limit myself if I find something non-bookish that I think will interest you guys.

This week, let's look at something bookish.
Most Japanese (globally) best-selling authors write, oddly enough, mysteries. Now, I'm a mystery fan, but I've never actually read a Japanese mystery.
One of the few Japanese bestselling authors that does not write mystery just so happens to write in one of my favorite genres - Historical Fiction.

Perhaps you've heard of him:　司馬遼太郎 Or, in English, Ryotaro Shiba. Author of the Last Shogun.

I love this book, and I'm guessing you would, too! This week, I thought we'd look at the English and the Japanese covers of this book, as they are amazingly different.
English cover

Japanese cover

Don't even ask me to try to translate that title! Tokugawa something.
It's amazing how plain the Japanese one is compared to the English one.
What do you guys think?

Make Me A Button Giveaway!

So, my blogiversary, which was July 3, 2009, came and went, and I didn't make a fuss about it. I was going to have a giveaway, but I realized that, while I started my blog in July, I didn't really star BLOGGING, per say, until August 29, 2009. So I thought it would be more fun to celebrate then.
So be looking out for a big giveaway at the end of August (and if you've got any suggestions about what should be given away, don't hesitate to let me know).

In the meantime, though, I've been itching for a reason for a giveaway, and I need a button for my newish feature, Nihon no Kinyoubi (aka Japanese Friday). And soooo, welcome to my

Make Me A Button Giveaway!

Guidelines:

1)I'm looking for something fun and funky, hardore yet cute, to match my blog theme.

2)The button should say Nihon no Kinyoubi somewhere on it.

3)Once the button is made, e-mail it to me at zedster.tbb(at)gmail(dot)com

4)And that's it really - have fun and remember what the button is for!

Once the contest is over, I'll ask my readers to vote (and hopefully they will!), and then we'll pick a winner! There will be two winners - the one who makes the button I use and the one who gets the most votes (in the event that they are the same, second place will go to those with the second highest number of votes)

Now for the exciting part: THE PRIZES! Since it's for a Japanese feature, the winners will get to pick one of the following Japanese-themed books of their choice:


Option 1: The Wind Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami - my favorite book by my favorite Japanese author!


Option 2: A Pale View of the Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro - another fabulous book by a fabulous Japanese author!


Option 3:Battle Royale by Koushun Takami - fabulous Japanese dystopian fiction! If you loved the Hunger games, you will love this!


Option 4: Real World by Natsuo Kirino - absolutely amazing Japanese horror!

So, since the books will be coming from the Book Depository (most likely!), it's open internationally! And I will keep it open for two weeks - so until August 8.

Summary:
1)Make me a button for Nihon no Kinyoubi
2)mail it to me at zedster.tbb(at)gmail(dot)com
3)pick the book you want to win
4)OPEN INTERNATIONALLY
5)closes August 8

Nihon no Kinyoubi (6)

Nihon no Kinyoubi (Japanese Friday) is a new feature here at Brizmus Blogs Books inspired by French Friday, which is a weekly feature hosted by Charlotte at the Book on the Hill. Charlotte features French bookish things, and I plan on featuring Japanese bookish things, though I won't limit myself if I find something non-bookish that I think will interest you guys.

I for some reason have been really into the books of my youth lately. Right now, I'm rereading A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle (oooooo good! be expecting a review soon!), and I've recently acquired a copy of Pippi Longstocking, which I adored when I was little.

So I thought this week we could see some covers of Japanese versions of the fabulous books!

Japanese Pippi Longstocking! If I had to venture a guess, I would say that that title is pronounced "Chuukutsushita no Pippi," which would loosely translate to "Pippi, chief of socks." My Japanese isn't THAT fabulous, though, so don't quote me on that. Somehow Pippi looks totally different from how I imagined her on this Japanese cover. What do you think?

Unfortunately, I can't seem to find the Japanese cover of A Wrinkle in Time (well, I found one, but it's SUPER small and hard to see), so we'll look at Bridge to Terabithia instead. How I loved that book!

I like how the Japanese covers are sort of pretty and watercolory. I think the Bridge to Terabithia is serene and beautiful to fit with a serene and beautiful but intense book. This title would be "Terebishia ni kakeru hashi," which translates (again, very loosely - the whole not good at Japanese thing) to "the bridge built in Terabithia."

What do you guys think?

Nihon no Kinyoubi (5)

Nihon no Kinyoubi (Japanese Friday) is a new feature here at Brizmus Blogs Books inspired by French Friday, which is a weekly feature hosted by Charlotte at the Book on the Hill. Charlotte features French bookish things, and I plan on featuring Japanese bookish things, though I won't limit myself if I find something non-bookish that I think will interest you guys.

And this week, I am definitely writing about something that has NOTHING to do with books. And that thing is VENDING machines. The Japanese are OBSESSED with them. Seriously, to the point of ridiculous obsessed. One of the weird things about their obsession, though, is that the majority of these vending machines only sell drinks. You can find vending machines in the most RANDOM of places here, but it is very rare to find one that sells things other than drinks. Seriously - in the middle of abandoned buildings, on the side of the road, in front of places that look like stores but are actually just for vending machines. . . I think you have to see the random places in which they put them to really understand.
ANd they all look something like this:





Which is why I was surprised to read this article.

It's about Japan's first banana vending machine in Tokyo. Seriously. . . it's a vending machine. That just sells BANANAS. And it looks super awesome and next time I go to Tokyo I am totally going to have to check it out. I wish I would have known it was there last time, as I would have definitely visited and bought a banana.

Apparently it's going over pretty well.
I don't know about you guys, but I think that's cooool! :-)

Nihon no Kinyoubi (4)

Nihon no Kinyoubi (Japanese Friday) is a new feature here at Brizmus Blogs Books inspired by French Friday, which is a weekly feature hosted by Charlotte at the Book on the Hill. Charlotte features French bookish things, and I plan on featuring Japanese bookish things, though I won't limit myself if I find something non-bookish that I think will interest you guys.

So, living in Japan for three months now, I have come to discover that the Japanese are absolutely ADDICTED to cute. I knew this before I came, but I think that, without living here, it's impossible to really understand the true extent to which they are, as I said, absolutely and utterly addicted to cuteness.



And one of the cute things that Japanese people seem to love is Rilakkuma, which basically means lazy bear. And that is exactly what Rilakkuma is. He is this adorable little bear that seems to spend all of his time lazing around eating. One of the things he especially likes to eat is mochi (basically glutionous rice), and in some of the most adorable pictures of him, he has a cheek full of the sticky, glutionous mochi, and is pulling out the gooeyness.


Basically, you can find Rilakkuma EVERYTHING in Japan. They have key chains and stuffed animals and notebooks and clothes and umbrellas and, really, if you can dream of it, they have it Rilakkuma.

Which means, of course, that they also have Rilakkuma books.　　Well, more manga than anything else. I haven't read one yet, but, as I've been seeing Rilakkuma everywhere, and as he really is adorable, I find myself falling more and more for him. Especially when he is eating strawberry cake and is thus surrounded by pink. And so, I really want to read one of the books. They're also, for the most part, in really simple Japanese, so maybe I would actually be able to understand! I'll be sure to post a review if I ever do get around to reading one.

Hopefully, I'll be featuring more cute Japanese things here in the future. I hope you guys will love them all as much as I do!

Nihon no Kinyoubi (3)

Nihon no Kinyoubi (Japanese Friday) is a new feature here at Brizmus Blogs Books inspired by French Friday, which is a weekly feature hosted by Charlotte at the Book on the Hill. Charlotte features French bookish things, and I plan on featuring Japanese bookish things, though I won't limit myself if I find something non-bookish that I think will interest you guys.

Last week in Japanese class, we read a short 10 to 15 sentence story called "Hachiko." It was SO sad that I literally started CRYING IN CLASS. I would have been embarrassed, but I was too depressed from how sad it was. Basically, a professor finds a dog, an Akita, which is a royal Japanese dog, and they do everything together. One day, the professor dies, and every single day for the next *9* years, the dog goes to the train station to wait for his professor to come home. It's really the sweetest story ever.

I of course immediately came home after class and watched the US movie version of this story with Richard Gere. I heard that us Americans had DESTROYED the story, but the fact is, the movie was wonderful. It was so emotional and fabulous, and I must have cried for at least 4 hours. I started about midway through the movie and then just didn't stop until long after it was over. I highly recommend checking this movie out!

Now, I'm dying to read some longer versions of this story. So far I have found this, which seems to be a beautifully illustrated picture book:




and this



which seems to be for middle school aged kids.

Do you guys know this story? Do any of you have suggestions for books that might do it justice?

Now, what I want to know is, is there any story that has affected you this way? A story that brings tears to your eyes just at the mere thought of it. A story that could be summarized into ten sentences and would still make you cry? I want to know!

Nihon no Kinyoubi (2)

Nihon no Kinyoubi (Japanese Friday) is a new feature here at Brizmus Blogs Books inspired by French Friday, which is a weekly feature hosted by Charlotte at the Book on the Hill. Charlotte features French bookish things, and I plan on featuring Japanese bookish things, though I won't limit myself if I find something non-bookish that I think will interest you guys.

And this week, I thought I'd talk a little about my favorite Japanese author, Haruki Murakami.


Since he is so awesome, he has become popular outside of the United States as well, which means that you've probably heard of him. His most popular book is "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle," but my absolute favorite is "Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World." He has been praised by the Guardian as one of the world's "greatest living novelists," and frankly, I have to agree. His amazingness will never cease to amaze me. He was born in 1949, wrote his first fiction when he was 29, and has just been getting more and more amazing ever since.




His most recent book 1Q84, pronounced in Japanese the same way you would pronounce 1984, was published in Japan in 2009, and I am SO excited for it to be released in English. You should be, too! I don't know anything about it other than the 1984 reference, and since 1984 was such an AWESOME book, and Murakami is also the awesomest, I don't really need to know more.


My dream is to someday be able to read Murakami in Japanese, as I know that would be awesome.

If you are interested in seeing some of the French and American covers of these books, I point you to the French Friday I did on French Japanese covers.

Anyhow, that's all I have to say about Murakami for now. If you've never read anything by him, I highly recommend you do so. NOW!

Blogging Around the World Feature

Just thought I would give you guys the heads up that I am being featured today at the Book on the Hill!!!! Charlotte has a weekly featured called "Book Blogging Around the World." It is super fun getting to read about different bloggers' relationships with books in different countries!



I started my blog in France, and now I am in Japan, so I talk a little bit about both of those places. It was an incredibly fun interview, so I hope you guys will head on over there to check it out!

:-)

Japanese Friday (1)

I've decided to start a feature here at Brizmus Blogs Books inspired by French Friday, whiche is a weekly feature hosted by Charlotte at the Book on the Hill. Now that I'm in Japan, I thought it would be fun to do the Japanese version of this. I haven't asked Charlotte if it's okay, but I vaguely remember her mentioning a while back that I should, so I don't think she'll mind (Charlotte! Please tell me if you do!)

Anyhow, for now it will be called Japanese Friday (it's a pity Japanese doesn't also start with an F!), but I'm going to try to think of something more catchy. Maybe Nihon no Kinyoubi, which is Japanese Friday in Japanese. Basically, I'll write about Japanese things. Most will be book related, but I've decided not to limit myself to just books, but other things you guys might find interesting as well.

To start with, I thought I'd share with you guys the Japanese covers of the Twilight books. They're really quite interesting.





It's like the same cover, but not. I quite like the font that they chose for the Japanese writing.
I also like how they have the front and the back looking so nicely together. It is practically BEGGING you to buy two of the book, the way it just fits together like that.

I would show you all the rest of the covers as well, but it's just more of the same cover separated in two like that, with the same font. And I'm sure we've ALL seen the American and the British covers.

I for some reason actually find this more appealing than the American covers.

Anyhow, I'm hoping I'll be able to come up with lots of fun ideas for this feature! If there are things you'd like to see, please don't hesitate to let me know!

French Friday (19)

French Friday is a weekly feature hosted by Charlotte at the Book on the Hill. We both live in France, so French Friday is a meme to write about Frenchy bookish things.

Once again, French Friday is happening on Saturday. Sorry! Yesterday was moving out of hte apartment and into the boyfriend's parents house for the few days I have left before Japan day. I don't think I even turned on the computer. But since this is potentially my LAST French Friday (I might do one again next week), I couldn't miss it!

This week, I decided we'd do another cover comparison, this time looking at books of my favorite author of all time, Neil Gaiman. Man,I love him!

First, we will look at one of my absolute favorite Neil Gaiman books, also known as onz of the top 3 greatest books of all time, American Gods.




I adore the American cover of this book, and the French one kind of makes me laugh. What's with the coke looking thinbg and the George Washington on the cover? I don't know why, but it just seems SO wrong for the book to me. Maybe it appeals more ot French people? Maybe they were trying to go with the comic book style cover because the French were, at the time, more likely to know Neil Gaiman as a writer of comics.

And speaking of George Washington on the cover, let us now look at the covers for Anansi Boys:




What is with the French and George Washington? Anyhow, I love the US cover of this book, but I think the French one, which almost seems silly to me, actually contains more of the book content. I oddly can't seem to find anywhere on the internet cover of the book that I have. If I had it with me, I would take a picture. It's definitely my favorite of the covers.

Now, since we can't look at ALL of his books, as he is very prolific, we'll take one last look at Neverwhere, a book I absolutely ADORE!




I'm super attached to the American cover, almost out of some weird sense of loyalty, but in the end, I actually think I PREFER the French cover. Which is weird because it just seems so, well, FRENCH to me. If I had seen the cover and not known it was the French cover, I would have guessed. I am continually shocked by how culture can change the sort of book cover that will appeal to someone. The French covers are often so different from the American ones, and while I find the American ones more appealing, I'm guessing the typical French person must find the French ones more appealing. It's weird how that works.

Anyhow, I also think it's slightly odd that the majority of Gaiman's books have the same names in French and English. U've been thinking about why that might be, and I just really can't figure it out. Ideas, anyone?

Anyhow, I hope that you have enjoyed this week's French Friday on Saturday! Be sure to make your way on over to the Book on the Hill!

Maybe a vendredi prochain!

French Friday (18)

French Friday is a weekly feature hosted by Charlotte at the Book on the Hill. We both live in France, so French Friday is a meme to write about Frenchy bookish things.

I guess this week it's actually French Saturday. Or maybe even really French Sunday, as it's presently midnight exactly. It's been a long day of packing and moving, and this is actually the first time I've been on the computer all day. Still, yesterday I promised a French Friday on Saturday, and given that I might not have too many French Fridays left, it's a promise I really wanted to keep. So here we go!

And this week, I want to do some cover comparisons. For books by an author that I absolutely LOVE - Sophie Kinsella.

The first is for Confessions of a Shopaholic - Confessions d'une accro du shopping in French, and it translates pretty much exactly.



Guess who likes the French cover better for once? Yeah, that would be me! (and oops, I just made the covers really big, but I really don't feel like going back and changing that - sorry!). The US version is so, well, boring, for such a fabulous, girly, fluffy book!

Next, we'll look at the Undomestic Goddess. In French, it's Samantha, bonne a rien faire, which means Samantha, Good at Nothing (it sounds nicer in French, I think, but I'm still not sure about this title).



Here, it's hard for me. I like them both, but I think I'm going to have to go with the US one. The French one makes it look like there's magic going on, and as there's no magic in the book, it's sort of misleading.
Also, I always thought that I would be PERFECT for the part of Sam if ever they make a movie, and I don't really look like that girl on the cover.

Last one, Lexi Smart a la memoire qui flanche (Lexi Smart's memory is giving out) aka Remember Me? What is up with French titles having the name of the main character in them. It doesn't really jive with me, that.



Even though the girl sort of looks as if she might be nude in the shadow, I absolutely prefer the French cover. The flower on the US cover is pretty, but the French cover is fun and scattered and wonderful!

Anyhow, that's it for this week. Sorry this was so late, but I hope you enjoyed nonetheless. I'd love to know what you think. :-)
Don't forget to check out Charlotte's French Friday at The Book on the Hill.

Now, good night, I'm off to read!