The Best Japanese Books |

What sets Japanese literature apart from the rest of the world? Book Break has travelled to Japan (or at least, the Kyoto Garden in London) to delve into why Japanese literature is so popular across the world.
BUY The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu: amzn.to/2n8ZKUH
BUY Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata: amzn.to/2l180Ft
BUY Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi: amzn.to/2lFwowP
BUY The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide: amzn.to/2lEEwxo
BUY If Cats Disappeared From the World by Genki Kawamura: amzn.to/2l51NIM
BUY The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo: amzn.to/2lDgUtc
BUY The Life-Changing Manga of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo: amzn.to/2lFxngv
BUY Kaizen by Sarah Harvey: amzn.to/2mElKGy
BUY The Bells of Old Tokyo by Anna Sherman: amzn.to/2n7jYy1
READ MORE about how to change habits using kaizen: bit.ly/2n1PvkS
READ our guide to the best things to do in Tokyo: bit.ly/2n7eC5T
Check out Book Break on Instagram: / bookbreakuk
Find us on Twitter:
Pan Macmillan: / panmacmillan
Emma: / drinkbymyshelf
Got a suggestion for future #BookBreak episodes? Well, why not have your say on the videos we shoot by filling out our google feedback & requests form? We want to hear from you: goo.gl/forms/K...

[@BookBreak]

Want to travel to China next? Here are our best Chinese books: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mKakZKWZftmkas0

[@StudioLindsay]

Before the Coffee Gets Cold is one of my favorite reads of this year so far!

[@BookBreak]

Wasn't it gorgeous?!

[@HaleyShealy15]

I've been living in Japan for about 6 months and have become enthralled in the literature. Recently I read Norweigan Wood for the first time and felt like I was thrown off the deep end into despair! I also loved Banana Yoshimoto's Amrita and Tsushima Yuko's Territory of Light!

[@BookBreak]

How amazing - what's it like living there?

[@ronaele2012]

Yukio Mishima is one of my all time favourite authors, Tanizaki is absolutely wonderful too!

[@morisoba2550]

I'm from Japan. Mishima isn't necessarily my favorite author, but 午後の曳航（ The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea ）and 豊穣の海（ The Sea of Fertility Tetralogy ）are good.

[@davidsigler9690]

Love Japanese Literature; lived there for two years.

[@BenRogersWPG]

3:20 read Before the Coffee Gets Cold because of your recommendation. Loved it! Thank you for this!

[@umang7658]

We love Murakami in this household...but let me tell you many japanese authors are as talented so give them a try y'all.

[@jennyfunnell9838]

This is brilliant. I want to read all these books.

[@BookBreak]

They're really brilliant! Before the Coffee Gets Cold was my favourite.

[@ajittffcure]

Lovely and interesting video from Japan. It is really remarkable of you to visit different places and connect with the literature from that place to gain a better understanding and to get a glimpse of each country's culture and History. Best wishes and greetings from India. Liked the video and subscribed to your channel.

[@claireoulton2462]

I have been missing out on many of these. Now going to put that right. Going to start with The Guest Cat.

[@BookBreak]

Hooray!

[@nikolettapr]

Amazing subject!!!! Great video and recommendations!!!! Convenience store woman is in my tbr, also just ordered before the coffee gets cold ;)

[@BookBreak]

Yay I hope you love them both!

[@scrapbooksandreads]

Great video. I have an entire shelf of Japanese literature in my home library. One of my favourite books (not including any authors you mentioned) is The Hunting Gun by Yasushi Inoue. A beautiful novel about a man and how his choices impacted the three most important women in his life.

[@BookBreak]

Wow that one sounds amazing, I'll look it up now!

[@deepakkhalage7513]

Hii

[@fionashaw8646]

Murakami is my dreamboat I am obsessed with him 😍 but looks like I'm going to need to branch out!!! I love the before the coffee gets cold premise, sounds so great!

[@BookBreak]

Fi it's so dreamy I cried in bed reading it and I almost NEVER cry at books

[@urban0443]

This video is great. I really want to read all of those videos.

[@jaidepoppy]

The Marie Kondo manga book sounds amazing!! I’m just starting Kaizen, and am so so ready for it as it sounds awesome. Xo

[@BookBreak]

The manga book is adorable I loved it!

[@ASuitcaseFullofBooks]

I've been looking for Japanese literature recs because I'll be doing a stop in Tokyo in November. Someone just recommended Convenience Store Women to me as well as Strange Weather in Tokyo. I can't wait to check out the Jimbocho Book Town in Tokyo and see what books I can find there!

[@BookBreak]

Oh have so much fun! Sounds like an amazing trip

[@thefastestgrammarteacherwo355]

Your review is awesome I feel you should review THE KINGS GRAMMMAR

[@simonebittencourt8251]

Thank you so very much for the video and the recommendations. Your reviews are so elaborated and compelling that I feel like reading everything you talk about. You are SO captivating... You do deserve all the compliments!!! Bravo!!!

[@nicholasoulton8489]

Super impressed by the pronunciation of these names - not a single hesitation! And for Western writers writing about Japan, how about Lafcadio Hearn? I've heard a lot about him - not least because he is my great, great, great uncle or some such thing - but have to admit to not yet having read a single word he wrote. But apparently he is tip top.

[@BookBreak]

I practised!

[@nl3064]

Maybe no one cares, but mine are, Almost Transparent Blue (Ryu Murakami) The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (H. Murakami) after the quake (H. Murakami) Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids (K. Oē) Life For Sale (Y. Mishima) The Decagon House Murders (Y. Ayatsuji) The Decay of the Angel (Y. Mishima)

[@jemimashort5167]

I loved convenience store woman! Recommended it to loads of people. I also have some Murakami on my shelf waiting to be read, best get on it!

[@BookBreak]

Yes do it! It's definitely a reading experience unlike any other...

[@MaryAmongStories]

YEEESS I NEEDED THIS 💜

[@marisadavies7946]

Loved Convenience Store Woman! Need to give those cat books a read.

[@BookBreak]

Can't go wrong with a book about cats!

[@sally-annmannering]

I bought the audio books of the first two parts of shogun ages ago as I’m so interested in that story but the length of the audios is very daunting and has put me off starting them 🙂

[@BookBreak]

You need to wait till you have a really long car journey or something!

[@imyfujita]

Vessel of Sorrow This is a Japanese literature! The author was reputed to be a Dostoevsky of Japan. A highly prized Japanese après-guerre novel published in 1962.

[@alexellis6669]

🙌 My socks are feeling much more appreciated (and looking more organized) these days!

[@BookBreak]

私は嬉しい

[@alexandrahamlet2888]

私はこのビデオを本当に楽しんだ

[@BookBreak]

私は嬉しい

[@osonhodeleon]

I love japanese books.

[@dragonlord.kingslayer8697]

have you read musashi?

[@BookBreak]

I haven't!

[@DrSachin2476]

You missed IKIGAI