Shogun (part 1 & 2) by James Clavell | Book Of The Month For January 2024

[@CindyCremona]

First read Shogun in the late 70’s. Have read it at least three times and recently listened to the excellent audiobook edition on Amazon’s Audible. It is my all time #1 favorite novel. A world I always look forward to reading-visiting.

[@EerieV23]

My dad gave me this book in the late 80s. I devoured it. I read a few times in 90s. With the announcement of the series, I listened to the audio book. I still love it.

[@kingzzz6509]

I recently purchased Shōgun, and I’m excited to try it based on what you’ve said.

[@jacobsivden8017]

Glad to see you're liking it. I read it recently and I loved it a lot. It goes so much into depth about the late Sengoku Era and it's wonderful to see how intricately built the characters and story are.

[@TokyoAlex]

I'm reading the novel now. Great story and I recommend it to anyone who doesn't know any Japanese. If you call the title /shōgŭn/ instead of /shōgūn/, you will love it. Unfortunately, James Clavell's Japanese is somewhere between gibberish and beginner. The best part of the work is that it acts as a draft for the 2024 series. A bunch of Japanese writers were hired to clean up a lot of bits that were beyond Clavell's understanding of the language and culture.

[@Kev_Cos]

One of my alltime favourite reads. Can't wait for the FX show releasing this month!

[@tabitacarlsson9632]

Oh I read Shogun in the 80s and loved it. Maybe a reread is due. Wonder where my copy is?

[@Thecatladybooknook_PennyD]

Mike Clips.... great idea!!!

[@terrilabeth]

I have not read this book and series in forever, wonderful series! It has been a long time for me, time for a reread! T ✌🏻

[@nazimelmardi]

This book series is a winner. I was surprised that you never read it.

[@fjuran1]

Great video. I am in the middle of a reread, after many years, in prep for the new show coming out the end of this month. Visually it looks excellent.

[@reddalchemy5970]

Eye Spy Sandman Omnibuses in that awesome collection of yours! LOL! Just got mine in the mail, thanks to an awesome seller on Ebay! Now I want this Shogun edition..... Damn, and its already hard to find.

[@safinan8008]

Thank you for the review!! This is on my TBR list… 🎉

[@Heathennation1976]

So I've had this book on myself for years I read it once about 10 years ago I picked it up again when I found out that the new series was coming out it's definitely a masterpiece of historical fiction and man it has it all especially as a fantasy reader there's nothing in here that you won't love characters battle scenes violence sex and a lots of historical fact and fiction

[@jackson633]

Stop showing off that edition I'm going to cry

[@gerardhynes5825]

I read Pillars of the Earth, Lonesome Dove, The Count of Monte Cristo and Shogun last year and I loved them all except Shogun.I never bought in to the main character. I couldn't understand how he survived and succeded.

[@General_reader]

Love the cup.

[@nightmarishcompositions4536]

After Shogun I think you would really enjoy Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa.

[@angelaholmes8888]

So far i am enjoying shogun im almost 800 pages in

[@kevins4254]

I enjoy historical fiction novels but I never had any interest in Japan until I read this book. It blew me away. The Japanese culture is fascinating and so different than western culture.

[@WaskiSquirrel]

That is truly a great book. The others in the series are good, but just don't match this one. I enjoyed the TV miniseries, and I hear that there is a show coming out. Good to see this great book getting some attention!

[@RRW276]

Hey, Mike. Speaking of historical fiction, have you read any John Jakes? I'm a big fan, and historical fiction is my favorite genre, one I came to love when I started with Ken Follett and Pillars years ago.

[@praetorxyn]

I wish i could still get that sexy hardcover edition. I'd have bought it if I'd known it was going to disappear forever.

[@jackson633]

I can't find it anywhere online at any price :(

[@praetorxyn]

@@jackson633 I spent about 10 minutes looking the other day and same result. I wouldn’t pay a fortune for it as I haven’t even read the book, but if I find a Howling Dark hardcover in good condition to complete my Sun Eater US first editions, that one will hurt the wallet. There have been a couple up recently, but I’m not paying $350 for a torn dust jacket etc.

[@jackson633]

@@praetorxyn I wouldn't mind paying up to $60 for a copy, it's easily the best looking hardcover for Shogun ever released and probably going to be the best one for some time because of the Hulu series. Every other edition for a long while is going to have a little blurb about how it's on Hulu and with the way things are trending with cover design it's going to be one of those "stickers" thats built into the cover

[@praetorxyn]

@@jackson633 Yeah, I’d pay $60, but not like $100.

[@SpicyPoison]

Should i read Asian Saga in Publication order or Chronological Order??? What is the suggested order by fans??

[@Glm4149]

How did you find that black version?

[@pearspeedruns]

It looks to be out of print now from the publisher. It’s selling on eBay for several hundred dollars.

[@fletch44]

Just finished it, almost 1200 pages, and my Goodreads rating I gave it is a solid 4 stars. I liked it, but it falls short to me of being a great book, but there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it being merely “solidly good”. The setting and research that went into Shogun was incredible and I mostly liked the plot. The characters were good to a point but there were not enough sympathetic protagonist characters was one quibble I had outside of Blackthorn and one rather prominent female Japanese character. Also. I felt like the pacing at times was a bit off, not all through but at a couple points in the novel. I’m ok with pacing issues if the author writes beautiful prose. Needless to say, Clavell’s prose is very workmanlike and “meat and potatoes”. It gets the job done I guess but it’s not going to win any awards. Still, I’m glad I read the book, it definitely has more positives than negatives, and I’m really looking forward to the FX mini series which wouldn’t surprise me if I end up liking that even more. Btw, another quibble I had was the one note monotonous depiction of the samurai. They were uniformally portrayed as absolute cold douche bags. As one historian of Japan notes, a Dr Bakkalian, when he analyzed Shogun just a few years back, it’s not even accurate: “Meanwhile, the men, especially the samurai, are often depicted as casually cruel, cutting people down in the middle of the street and coldly ordering people to commit seppuku on the turn of a dime. Warriors did have the right to cut down commoners for real or perceived offense. However, the real Shogunate authorities frowned upon its exercise, frequently punishing samurai after the fact. It was thus not frequently invoked.” That and the fetishized female Japanese characters were some other drawbacks to the novel, despite it being mostly entertaining. Also, I had another issue near the end that I’m just not going to write for fear of spoiling it.

[@michaelkibble740]

I can not find it in my area poor me.

[@pembie2]

I tried to read this and found it really hard to follow I thought it jumped around way to much and I found the names confusing to actually know which character was which maybe just me but I will try the series coming out maybe I will find that easier to understand Mike clearly you’re much smarter than me when it comes to reading lol

[@mikesbookreviews]

The names can get quite confusing.

[@erth_mu]

wondering - does Hattori Hanzo or any characters based on him appear in the book??

[@ALwinDigital]

No, Hattori Hanzo doesn't appear. The events in the book cover a period of somewhere within a span of 6-9 month period of 1600.

[@louisblackforester]

I, Claudius by Robert Graves and The Winds of War by Herman Wouk Are my recommendations 😎

[@CindyCremona]

Loved the Winds of War and War and Remembrance. Also made into a mini series.

[@louisblackforester]

i love the Shogun mini-series with Richard Chamberlain. I haven't watched Wind of War. I failed with I,Claudius because of the bad video quality. @@CindyCremona

[@Dirtyharry313]

where can i get that edtion of the book?

[@jasonbarber7647]

super hard to find right now, Blackstone doesnt make that edition any more. Just keep an eye on ebay and other places online. You will pay in the triple digits for it though.

[@waseemparkarx]

Read the book Watched the mini series Peerless

[@pembie2]

I was disappointed in book I was hoping to read it before show but I don’t think it it written that well to fully understand it So I will see if show is any better

[@timtillack]

Just picked this up on my three week Japan trip traipsing through Edo period old towns and feudal castles. I'm an avid reader but this one skipped by me somehow. Though upon reflection I think I purposely didn't read it due to unfounded prejudice that it was a white man's view of Japanese history.

[@gryftkin]

All those poor other books that got read in January that never had a chance :D

[@RemmySkye]

Very historically inaccurate but entertaining to be sure. First of all when Shimazu defeated Otomo that was the end of the Christian cause and that happened easily 20 years before the events of the novel. Furthermore there were 3 councils and Ishida (Ishido) was not in the senior council. Theres alot off but its entertaining

[@wassr1956]

Connie Willis is a member of the Science Fiction Hall of Fame and a Grand Master of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. She has received seven Nebula awards and eleven Hugo awards for her fiction; Blackout and All Clear--a novel in two parts--and Doomsday Book won both. Her other works include Passage, Lincoln's Dreams, Bellwether, Impossible Things, Remake, Uncharted Territory, To Say Nothing of the Dog, Fire Watch, and Miracle and Other Christmas Stories. Connie Willis lives with her family in Colorado, where she deals on a daily basis with the delights

[@rvt_h3d]

ok, but who asked?

[@wassr1956]

Letting Mike know about one of the most honored Sci fi writers ever. He wants to read classic Sci fi. Why did you feel like you had to reply? Are you a karen?

[@77thass]

DNF for me 🤷‍♂️