Y is for Yoshimoto, Banana

September 19, 2014 / Judy Amy / Leave a comment

I discovered Banana Yoshimoto‘s writing when I worked for a few months in a really terribly run bookstore. The manager was a transplant from ToysRUs and I’m not sure she read anything other than The National Enquirer or Weekly World News. She brought over most of her ToysRUs staff to be in supervisory positions, most of whom might have known a lot about toys but didn’t really know very much about books. Which irritated the rest of us, who were either in the middle of or had finished either English Literature or Philosophy degrees. Very shortly the staff became divided. Us versus them. Actually, it was a lot less dramatic than that. Basically what it boiled down to was that those of us who truly loved books spent all our work days searching for new and interesting authors rather than restocking the Bargain books or rearranging the Romance section. We also went out for drinks every Sunday night after the bookstore closed and discussed our new finds. Kind of like a book club, but way cooler.

Amrita (novel) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

One of these discoveries was Banana Yoshimoto. I was drawn in first by her name, then the cover art on Amrita, and finally her writing. I started with Kitchen, and have just kept reading, finishing her most recent novel, The Lake, just last month. Her lyrical style has never let me down yet. The themes of love and loss never seem to become clichéd. Yoshimoto claims that her two main themes are “the exhaustion of young Japanese in contemporary Japan” and “the way in which terrible experiences shape a person’s life”.¹ I’m not sure of the first theme, as I am neither young nor Japanese, but I definitely feel the second theme woven throughout her body of work. I think perhaps what I like best about Yoshimoto’s novels is the beauty in the imagery and the words. Some of this credit must also be given to her long time translator, Michael Emmerich, but a translator is only as good as the words he is given.

It’s hard for me to explain exactly why I love Yoshimoto’s work so much. I feel I’m not doing a very good job at expressing myself. If I could use only one word to describe her work, I think it would be lovely. All I really know is that out of a rotten, crummy, part time job came something beautiful. My discovery of the truly beautiful work of Banana Yoshimoto.

1. http://www.japancoolture.com/en/banana-yoshimoto-and-the-young

If you would like to contact me about this post or about anything else you’ve read please email me at: judyamy74(at)gmail(dot)com or tweet me @JudyAmy74

K is for King (A Book Review)

March 18, 2014 / Judy Amy / 2 Comments

I pulled a book off my shelf a few weeks ago. It’s called On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, by Stephen King. I’d read it once before for one of my Master’s classes, but it had been a few years. I decided to re-read it and enjoyed it just as much as the second time. The opening section reads as an autobiography, where King talks about his childhood and his writing. The second part is a technical, informative, and largely enjoyable read about the craft of writing, with a strong focus on fiction writing. Some really excellent advice is found here for all writers: If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. (p 145) The final section of the book refocuses on King and his continuing journey as a writer. I highly recommend this book, even if you’re not a fan of King’s usual work. (I am not, with the exception of The Shining) It’s well written and entertaining. And if you are having trouble with the reading a lot advice that King gives, this is a good book with which to start.

Here’s a link to the book on amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Writing-10th-Anniversary-Memoir-Craft/dp/1439156816/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1395075100&sr=1-1&keywords=on+writing

F is for A Book Review

March 11, 2014 / Judy Amy / 4 Comments

Today I want to write about one of the strangest yet best self-help books I have ever encountered. Perhaps self-help is not the best label to put on this book, because it’s a bit genre-bending. Part fiction, part self-help, part who knows? The title is “Fuck, Yes!” A Guide to the Happy Acceptance of Everything by Rev. Wing F. Fing. If you like Tom Robbins, I think you’ll appreciate this book. The style of writing is very similar. In fact, there are rumors that Robbins actually wrote Fuck, Yes. These rumors eventually found their way into a lawsuit by the author of Fuck, Yes against Robbins.

I first discovered Fuck, Yes through a fringe play back in the late 90’s. The writer/director of the play gave me his copy. I devoured it in short order. It was great. And really hard to describe. Basically the self-help premise of the book is that one should just say yes to whatever situation or question arises. The story line follows a charismatic man who decides to say yes and forms a church of sorts with several different followers who believe in the power of yes. It details the rise and fall of his organization. Here are some of the chapter titles which both reveal and conceal what the book is about:

Say Yes to Higher Education
Say Yes to Yourself
Say Yes to Vegetables
Say Yes to Confusion

So whether you read it as a self-help book or as a humourous work of fiction, just say yes and read it. It’s worth it. Unfortunately it’s a bit hard to get your hands on a hard copy–for some reason it’s not sitting prominently along with the other self-help books in the bookstore. If you’re a modern reader, the Kindle version is available on amazon for only $2.70. If you do happen to come across a copy, either in a used bookstore or in your grandma’s basement, just say yes. At the very least, go to amazon and read the Look Inside section. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.