The Arabic Summer Reading Challenge and Japanese Lit Challenge IV

I know: more challenges! Especially when I’m spending my June reading trying to catch up with the ones I’ve fallen behind in. ;) But the Once Upon a Time and Canada challenges are coming to an end, and I’ve found two new challenges too tempting to refuse!

For the Arabic Summer Reading Challenge, I’m committing to the higher level of reading one book a month from the lists of recommended ones on the blog. So, here they are:

• June: I Saw Ramallah by Mourid Barghouti: I was attracted to this memoir by a Palestinian poet about the exiled, state-less condition because I’m deeply interested in refugee issues. I haven’t read many Palestinian authors before (just Khoury, and I can’t say I enjoyed The Gate of the Sun), so it’ll be good to read such a well-respected author.
• July: Cities of Salt by Abdelrahman Munif : this is a historical novel set in a Gulf country among a Bedouin community whose lives are changed when an American company discovers oil. It’s been banned in Saudi Arabia, which is reason enough for me to want to read it! ;) Anyway, I’m a sucker for huge historical epics, especially ones with a hint of the political. :)
• August: Women of Algiers in Their Apartments by Assia Djebar OR The Map of Love by Ahdaf Soueif: the former is a collection of stories set during Algeria’s war with France while the latter is an epic family saga spanning generations and set in Egypt. I’ve put in an ILL request for the Algerian one, in large part because I haven’t read any Algerian authors, but if it doesn’t arrive, my library has a copy of the latter. I’m hoping I’ll enjoy it more than the other Soueif novel I read (In the Eye of the Sun).

For this fourth round of the Japanese Lit Challenge, participants technically only have to read one book by a Japanese author between June 1 and January 31. But I’m still in the habit of the older rules, which had participants read three books, so that’s what I’m signing up for! I wanted a mix of contemporary and classic, and of authors new-to-me and ones I’ve already loved.

• After the Banquet by Yukio Mishima: I loved the first Mishima novel I read (The Sound of Waves), and I’ve been wanting to try more of him ever since! This one, about a strong woman who’s forced to choose between her career and love, sounds right up my alley.
• The Sleeping Dragon by Miyuki Miyabe: I’ve never tried any Japanese horror stories, simply because I’m not a fan of gore and the ones I’ve come across sound too hard-core for me. But this one sounds more like a suspenseful mystery than horror, what with a teen claiming to have psychic abilities, a murder, and a journalist who decides to become amateur sleuth.
• Kusamakura by Natsume Soseki: I’ve been curious about Soseki ever since the I Am a Cat read-a-long at the beginning of the year that I had to sit out. This one is translated by Meredith McKinney, whose translating skills impressed me with The Pillow Book, and simply follows a young artist on his meandering walk in the mountains. Doesn’t that sound a bit like Mrs. Dalloway, which I love?

Have you read any of these books? Where should I start?

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