Reading List For February, 2025

 

Although there's still several hours left in February, it's unlikely that I'll finish another book today so I'll go ahead and post the list of books I read in February, 2025.

Fevor by Toby Lloyd was recommended by someone on the Commentary Magazine podcast - I think it might have been Seth, I can't remember exactly. I enjoyed the book, although I only rate it three stars out of five. I felt the story fell apart at the end.

Very Good, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse was mildly amusing. Eleven short stories featuring Jeeves and Bertie Wooster; not all the stories are up to par but a good read. Three stars.

I have two books this month by Donna Leon. I enjoy everything I read written by her.

Quest For Fire by J.H. Rosny was published in 1911. It's very different than the 1981 film. I was expecting the book to be better than the film (which I really enjoyed, by the way) but the book seems to be more Tarzanesque. Is there such a word? I can only give the book 2 stars - which translates to "it was OK".

Originally published in 1995, many of the cultural references in the late Carl Sagan's The Demon-Haunted:World Science as a Candle in the Dark ( such as the "crop circles" hoaxes from the 1980s ) are a bit dated. However, the main theme - that people need to be encouraged to learn critical and skeptical thinking - is relevant today. Still, I only gave it two stars on Goodreads.

I remember that as a child of the late 1950s, we were told that America was named for Amerigo Vespucci, but little else was mentioned of him. I recently saw an American TV personality go on a rant about how America was named for "some Italian white guy". I wanted to get a reasonably unbiased history of Vespucci, so I read his biography - written in 1907 by Frederick Ober. I was sure that being written when it was, it wouldn't contain "woke" propaganda. For anyone interested in history, this book is a must read.

I first learned of Ed McBain from reading Haruki Murakami. A character in one of Murakami's novels mentions reading something by McBain. I did a search of McBain and learned he wrote 55 books in the "87th precinct" series. I've read three in the series and find them entertaining. The books are like the "film noir" movie genre of the 40s and 50s.

Now, for the list:

Fervor                    by Toby Lloyd
Very Good, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse
Earthly Remains   by Donna Leon
Cop Hater             by Ed McBain
The Mugger          by Ed McBain
Quest for Fire       by J. H. Rosny
Amerigo Vespucci   by Frederick A Ober
The Demon-Haunted World:Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan
The Temptation of Forgiveness   by Donna Leon
The Pusher   by Ed McBain

Reading List For January, 2025

It's now the end of the month, so it's time again for the list of books read during the month. With twelve books read in January, this is most read in any one month since April of 2021 when the monthly count was 15.

This month, I'll be listing the books differently; normally I'd list the books in the order read. This time they'll be grouped by writer.

There were five written by Donna Leon, three by P.G. Wodenhouse, two by Toshikazu Kawaguchi and one each by Haruki Murakami and Larry Denninger.

I'm giving each book by Leon, Wodenhouse and Murakami five stars. Larry Denninger's book receives three stars. Sadly, Toshikazu Kawaguchi's two books are only getting two stars each. These two are part of a five book series - much of what's written doesn't hold up after five books.

The list:

Beastly Things
The Golden Egg
By Its Cover
Falling in Love
The Waters of Eternal Youth   by Donna Leon 

A Damsel in Distress
Right Ho, Jeeves
The Code of the Woosters   by P.G. Wodehouse 

 
Before We Say Goodbye
Before We Forget Kindness   by Toshikazu Kawaguchi 

 
End of the World and Hard-boiled Wonderland   by Haruki Murakami

 
Songs for Clara   by Larry Denninger

Haruki Murakami's "End of the World and Hard-boiled Wonderland" A New Translation by Jay Rubin

A few days ago, I wrote a blog post on Haruki Murakami's novel End of the World and Hard-boiled Wonderland. As I mentioned in the post, I had read Alfred Birnbaum's 1991 translation, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World in October and after reading Murakami's latest novel, The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami the first week of December, I wanted to read Jay Rubin's new translation of End of the World........

At the time of that blog post, I had only read about 65% of Rubin's translation. I write:
It's odd. I seem to have a good recollection of the "End of the World" section, although in many ways, the "Hard-Boiled Wonderland" section seems almost completely new to me. It's still difficult for me to connect the two sections. With luck, I'll be able to do that when I finish this re-read.

I went to readings list to compare the length of time it had taken me to read the two different translations. The new translation was taking a bit longer. I read exclusively e-books now, so I did not immediately notice the difference in the actual length of the books. I opened both files and saw right away that in my PC's e-reader, the difference was obvious - Birnbaum's translation contains 273 pages - Rubin's translation comes to 404 pages! It's little wonder that much of the "Hard-Boiled Wonderland" section seemed completely new. Had these two books been in print form, I would have seen the difference. In his afterword to his translation, Rubin explains why Murakami wanted him to restore the pages omitted in Birnbaum's translation.

Having read the Rubin translation, I can connect the two sections. Anyone wanting to read Sekai no Owari to Hādo-Boirudo Wandārando should choose the newly released Rubin translation - End of the World and Hard-boiled Wonderland..

Books Read in 2024

In 2011, I began a tradition of keeping a list on my PC of the books I'd read. I had originally posted these lists once a year on another blog. When I started this blog, it became apparent to me that posting the list annually was no longer practical and in January, 2021 I began posting the book lists monthly. In January 2022 I started providing links to the monthly book lists. I'm continuing that tradition with this post.

In 2024,I read 80 e-books. There's a tie between Donna Leon and Haruki Murakami for the most books read by one writer, at six books each. Since discovering those two, I've read twenty books by Leon, but that number is spread out over two years. There are currently thirteen books by Donna Leon that I haven't read - I'll try to finish her collection in 2025.

In 2022, I discovered the work of Toshikazu Kawaguchi. He had three books in a series available at that time. I've since learned that he has released two more books in the series which I hope to get to this year. There's so much I need to read!

Here are the links to the monthly reading lists of 2024

January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

Reading list for December, 2024

 

Today is the final day of December and the time has come for the list of books I've read this month. Unlike in most months, I was able to post onto the blog a little bit about each book read. Clicking on the titles listed will, of course take you to the individual blog post.

There are only six books listed; I was certain that I'd have more, but that was not to be. A few days ago, I had created different images with the book covers - one image showing eight books, another showing seven just in case. Sadly, I was unable to finish End of the World and Hard-boiled Wonderland in time to make this month's list.That book will be the first in 2025. That's just as well. I'll be doing an additional blog post on the book.

Here is the list of books I read in December, 2024.

The City and Its Uncertain Walls  by Haruki Murakami
Crime and Punishment   by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Kafka on the Shore   by Haruki Murakami
Armageddon: What the Bible Really Says about the End   by Bart Ehrman
The Stranger   by Albert Camus
The Plague   by Albert Camus

End of the World and Hard-boiled Wonderland by Haruki Murakami

As I write this post, I am approximately 65% finished with a re-read of Haruki Murakami's novel from 1985, Sekai no Owari to Hādo-Boirudo Wandārando. This past October, I read Alfred Birnbaum's 1991 translation, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. The novel was recently released with a new translation by Jay Rubin as End of the World and Hard-boiled Wonderland, reversing the order in the title.

I wanted to re-read the novel, mainly because I had just read Murakami's latest novel, The City and Its Uncertain Walls, which is a rewriting of the "End of the World" portion of the earlier book.

I'm hoping to have this re-read finished in time to make my December,2014 reading list. I'm writing this post now while the book is fresh in my mind.

Not being able to read the original Japanese, it's difficult for me to be totally objective as to which is the superior translation. I'm leaning toward the later Jay Rubin translation - after all, why would a newer translation be needed if Birnbaum's translation had been up to the job? Still, I do feel that Rubin's version flows better.

It's odd. I seem to have a good recollection of the "End of the World" section, although in many ways, the "Hard-Boiled Wonderland" section seems almost completely new to me. It's still difficult for me to connect the two sections. With luck, I'll be able to do that when I finish this re-read.

I follow a Haruki Murakami fan page on Facebook. Another follower asked if The City and Its Uncertain Walls was a stand alone novel, or if it was necessary to read End of the World and Hard-boiled Wonderland first? Of course, The City........ is certainly a stand alone novel, I answered that I thought it best to read Hard-Boiled..... (or the later translation) first, if for no other reason than because it was written first.

Reading Murakami is a good way for me to learn about musical recordings and writers that I'm not familiar with. In this book, the narrator of the Hard-Boiled Wonderland section reads Stendhal's The Red and the Black. I had a difficult time reading that particular book in 2021. I believe the problem may have been the translation. Murakami and Jordan Peterson both give the novel high marks. Perhaps I should consider reading a newer translation.

Another writer mentioned by the narrator of the Hard-Boiled Wonderland section is the author of 87th Precinct novels, published under the pen name Ed McBain. I've downloaded the entire series. I'll try to read a few of those next year.

Albert Camus' The Plague.

 

As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, most of the books I'll read in December will be books that I've read before. I also mentioned in that post that one of the books I'll re-read this month will be Albert Camus' The Plague.

I last read The Plague in April, 2020, during the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. According to wikipedia, I wasn't the only one reading the novel at that time - the novel's British publisher Penguin Classics reported struggling to keep up with demand for copies of the book:
"Sales in Italy tripled and it became a top-ten bestseller during its nationwide lockdown.Penguin Classics' editorial director said 'it couldn’t be more relevant to the current moment' and Camus's daughter Catherine said that the message of the novel had newfound relevance in that 'we are not responsible for coronavirus but we can be responsible in the way we respond to it'."

While the reading of the novel during a global pandemic was certainly relevant, it's not exactly what I'd call Christmas reading. Yes, the novel is a masterpiece, but reading the novel doesn't give one an abundance of hope and joy that might be associated with yuletide reading choices.

Camus published the novel in 1947 - the story takes place in the French Algerian city of Oran sometime in the 1940s. No exact date is given. The photo at the beginning of this post is a view of Oran in 1943 , taken from the above mentioned wikipedia article.

Rereading Albert Camus' The Stranger

After reading The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami, I wanted to spend some time this month rereading some of my favorite novels. I managed to stay on track with Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment and Haruki Murakami's Kafka on the Shore . I took a little detour with Armageddon: What the Bible Really Says about the End by Bart D. Ehrman. I'm now back on schedule with my rereading  of Albert Camus' The Stranger.

I can't recall when I read The Stranger the first time - probably back in the 1980s. I began making note in my PC in 2011 of the books I read and I have it on record that I read the book in 2014 and 2020. Now, I've read the book once again. (December - 2024) Assuming that I'd managed to read it twice between 1980 and 2011, it's fair to say I've read The Stranger about five times - each time the Stuart Gilbert translation. There are other English translations, although I haven't been able to download copies.

Needless to say the book is one of my favorites.

In his 1956 analysis of the novel, Carl Viggiani wrote:

On the surface, L'Étranger gives the appearance of being an extremely simple though carefully planned and written book. In reality, it is a dense and rich creation, full of undiscovered meanings and formal qualities. It would take a book at least the length of the novel to make a complete analysis of meaning and form and the correspondences of meaning and form, in L'Étranger.

I'll be staying with Camus. I'm now reading The Plague which I last read in 2020 during the COVID 19 pandemic.

Armageddon: What the Bible Really Says about the End by Bart D. Ehrman

In his book, Armageddon: What the Bible Really Says about the End , professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina, Bart D. Ehrman puts foward the notion that the New Testament book of Revelation (aka The Book of the Apocalypse) has been misunderstood and misinterpreted in modern times. This misinterpretation has been going on, basically since the early 19th Century. Ehrman describes the book's writer, known as John of Patmos, as a misguided Christian who did not understand the teachings of Jesus Christ as proclaimed in the Gospels.

Not only is the book of Revelation not a prophesy of future events as maintained by many Evangelicals, (and certainly no "rapture") but the vengeful nature of the events - not to mention the glorification of materialism and violent retribution - is in no way Christ-like. Ehrman examines how the Christ of Revelation differs from the Christ of the Gospels. A God of love and mercy versus a God who is cruel and unmerciful.

Ehrman's arguments are compelling. After reading this book, I cannot believe that the Book of Revelation belongs in the Biblical canon.

Rereading Haruki Murakami's Kafka on the Shore.

I began December by reading Haruki Murakami's latest novel, The City and Its Uncertain Walls. This novel is a retelling of a short story of the same name (which is no longer in print) and a novel from 1985, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World which I read in October of this year. The two novels share several similarities and in some ways I thought of  my reading "The City" as almost like reading the earlier novel a second time.

This idea led me to consider rereading novels I had actually read before. With that in mind, I reread Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. Riding that same train of thought led me to once again read Haruki Murakami's Kafka on the Shore.

With Murakami being Murakami, in each these three novels, a library plays a significant part, as does Ludwig van Beethoven. Add the Oedipal aspects, the old, disabled man with the uncanny ability to talk to cats, and the feeling of moving in and out of alternate realities and we're in for quite a ride.

In a blog post from November, 2021, I said of Kafka on the Shore:
The story takes several bizarre twists and turns. In an interview posted on his English-language website, Murakami says that the secret to understanding the novel lies in reading it several times. That may well be the case.

I can say that upon my second reading of the novel, I do have a somewhat better understanding of the work. Reading the wikipedia article on the novel was also a help in my (partial?) understanding.

I'm certain that I will follow Murakami's advice and read the novel again, although I suspect that will not be in the near future.

Rereading Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment

I first read Fyodor Dostoevsky's highly acclaimed novel, Crime and Punishment in 1979. I found the story of the protagonist Rodion Raskolnikov's murder of an elderly pawnbroker and her handicapped sister, Lizaveta Ivanovna, absolutely shocking. Over the years, I've reread the novel several times - first, in the middle 1980s, and again in 2012 and then in 2021. All of these readings and re readings were of the Constance Garnett 1914 translation.

I recently wanted read it once again - this time, a translation by Michael R. Katz.

I mentioned in my blog post after the 2021 rereading that I had forgotten a number of sections which seemed almost new to me. This time, I would not be surprised, although sections were not exactly fresh in my mind.

The novel was originally published in installments in 1866 and first translated into English by Frederick Whishaw in 1885. From a review of the 1885 translation:

"Dostoieffsky [sic] is one of the most remarkable of modern writers, and his book, ‘Crime and Punishment’ is one of the most moving of modern novels. It is the story of a murder and of the punishment which dogs the murderer; and its effect is unique in fiction. It is realism, but such realism as M. Zola and his followers do not dream of. The reader knows the personages—strange grotesque, terrible personages they are—more intimately than if he had been years with them in the flesh. He is constrained to live their lives, to suffer their tortures, to scheme and resist with them, exult with them, weep and laugh and despair with them; he breathes the very breath of their nostrils, and with the madness that comes upon them he is afflicted even as they. This sounds extravagant praise, no doubt; but only to those who have not read the volume. To those who have, we are sure that it will appear rather under the mark than otherwise."

The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami

I first became aware of the Japanese writer, Haruki Murakami in early 2021 when I had come upon reviews of two of his novels, Kafka on the Shore, and Norwegian Wood. I was later able to download mobi files for the two and read the books in November and December of that year.

This year, I managed to read six more of his novels - or eight if you count 1Q84 as three books as was originally done when released in Japanese in 2009 and 2010.

The remaining five include - Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, After Dark, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, and now The City and Its Uncertain Walls.

The City and Its Uncertain Walls was published in Japanese in 2023 with the English translation released on November 19, 2024.The novel shares its title with an earlier short story of the same name, which was published in the September 1980 issue of a Japanese monthly literary magazine, Bungakukai. Unfortunately, Murakami has not permitted this short story to be reprinted but Murakami expanded that short story into his 1985 novel, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World.

Like most of Murakami's novels, this latest one has a surreal quality. I'm not inclined to give spoilers, but like in the earlier novel, the character in The City..... spends a good deal of time in a library. This recurring library reminded me of Kafka on the Shore where a library also plays a prominent role. In my earlier blog post on Kafka on the Shore, I wrote that in an interview posted on his English-language website, Murakami says that the secret to understanding that novel lies in reading it several times. I've decided to do just that. First, I plan on rereading Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment (in a more modern translation than the one I've read so many times before).

I've also learned that a new translation of Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World will be released sometime this month. That will probably wind up in the queue.

Reading List for November, 2024

 

The list of books read in November is, unfortunately rather sparse, particularly when compared to the number of books on October's list.

The first on the list is one written by South Korean writer, Han Kang. Han has four books translated into English (I've read them all) and sorry to say, Greek Lessons is far from my favorite. A bit too poetic for my tastes. The book received dazzling reviews but frankly, I could not take a liking to it.

Death Among the Undead by Masahiro Imamura can be described as a Japanese, Sherlock Holmes styled locked room mystery, with zombies. A little over the top, but mildly entertaining.

Third on the list is The War on Warriors by Donald Trump's pick for United States secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth. This book was recommended by Commentary magazine's editor, John Podhoretz. The book goes a long way in describing the changes Hegseth might make to the armed services, but it isn't at all clear that he'll pass Senate confirmation.

My favorite for the month is Percival Everett's James: A Novel. As described in wikipedia,  

James is loosely based on Mark Twain's classic Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Some of the early scenes of Everett's novel closely follow Huckleberry Finn, but as the two separate and Jim goes off on his own picaresque "adventures", the tone turns more serious as it explores issues of rape, murder, beatings, and racism. 

Of the four books read this month, James receives my highest praise.

The list:
Greek Lessons     by Han Kang
Death Among the Undead     by Masahiro Imamura
The War on Warriors     by Pete Hegseth
James: A Novel       by Percival Everett

The October, 2024 Reading List

 

The time has come again to post a list of books that I've read this past month. With ten books, October leads the year in total number of books read per month.

Two of these books were recommended by the folks at the Commentary Magazine daily podcast; one of those being written by a podcast regular, Christine Rosen - The Extinction of Experience: Being Human in a Disembodied World. The second book - Israel Alone by Bernard-Henri Lévy.

In her book, Rosen discusses the cultural and emotional difficulties stemming from our addiction to modern technology.

Israel Alone focuses on the isolation of Israel and the tragedy of October 7, 2023 starting with Lévy’s eyewitness account the day after the attack by Hamas terrorists.

Two of the books on the list were written by one of my favorite modern writers - Haruki Murakami. The 1985 novel, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World and the 2004 novel, After Dark.

I wrote about three of the books making the list in a previous blog post - Arthur Koestler's Trilogy .

The three remaining books making the list were written by this year's winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, Han Kang. 

A review of her first novel, The Vegetarian can be found by following this link. Four of Han's novels have been translated into English; three made my October reading list. In addition to The Vegetarian, I managed to finish The White Book, described as "an exploration of personal grief through the prism of the color white", and Human Acts , a story one boy's death during the Gwangju Uprising of 18 May 1980 in South Korea.

The list:

The Extinction of Experience    Christine Rosen

Israel Alone           Bernard-Henri Lévy

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World    Haruki Murakami

After Dark                  Haruki Murakami

The Gladiators           Arthur Koestler

Darkness at Noon       Arthur Koestler

Arrival and Departure  Arthur Koestler

The Vegetarian             Han Kang

The White Book            Han Kang

Human Acts                  Han Kang               

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

When I first read that Han Kang had become the first South Korean writer and the first female Asian writer to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature I decided to look into her work. As of this writing, four of her books have been translated into English - the book receiving the most "buzz" is her 2007 novel, The Vegetarian. Wikipedia describes the book as being "set in modern-day Seoul and tells the story of Yeong-hye, a part-time graphic artist and home-maker, whose decision to stop eating meat after a bloody nightmare about human cruelty leads to devastating consequences in her personal and familial life". That description wasn't enough to encourage me to read the book, but in spite of that ho-hum description Han's winning the Noble Prize led me to download the ebook and place it in the queue.

I'm glad I did. The book is much more than the wikipedia description would have one believe. There are elements dealing with abuse, sexual infidelity and mental illness. Han takes the story to places I did not expect it to go. The Vegetarian has received much deserved international critical acclaim and a number of prestigious awards. After reading this novel, I'll certainly add more of Han's work into the queue.

However, not everyone in Korea is pleased with Han and The Vegetarian. The Confederation of National Parents' Associations in Korea has called for the removal of The Vegetarian from school libraries, arguing that it is harmful to minors. The group says that the extreme and violent content - as well as the sexual content - makes the novel inappropriate for elementary, middle or high school students. I would add that the portions of the novel dealing with mental illness make the book a difficult read for children in that age group.

As much as I believe that this book is well deserving of praise, I don't believe it is a book for younger audiences. I don't feel comfortable with book bans, in general, but there are some books which elementary, middle or high school students shouldn't be encouraged to read.The Vegetarian is one such book.

Arthur Koestler's Trilogy

 

In the early 1980s, I came upon a copy of Arthur Koestler's Darkness at Noon in my public library and until recently, I believed that, in spite of the fact that I couldn't remember story details, I had read the novel. I wanted to "reread" the book recently and discovered that the book is part of a trilogy on, as Koestler wrote in a postscript to the third novel, "the conflict between morality and expediency".

If I was to "reread" Darkness at Noon, I wanted to read the the other novels in the trilogy as well. The first novel in the series is The Gladiators which portrays the effects of the Spartacus revolt of 73 BC in the Roman Republic. The novel was certainly interesting, but I would not classify it as a "must-read". If I were to grade it on a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give the book, perhaps a 6.5 at best. One odd problem with the book is the mentioning of the Romans eating "corn". At first, I thought Koestler's translator was using the word, as it is sometimes used in British English, as a generic term for cereal grain. However, at one point, the word was translated as "maize" which is strictly "Indian corn". Maize was not available to the Romans before the Columbian exchange in the late 15th Century. I put that error on the translator.

It didn't take long into my reading of Darkness at Noon to admit that I did not read the book in the 1980s as I had imagined. Unlike the first book in the trilogy, I would classify this book as a classic and a "must-read". The novel is set between 1938 and 1940, after the Stalinist Great Purge and Moscow show trials. I would put this novel along side Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment and Albert Camus' The Stranger.

The third novel in Arthur Koestler's trilogy is Arrival and Departure. This was Koestler's first novel written originally in English. According to wikipedia, Arrival and Departure "is often considered to be the weakest of the three. " I wouldn't agree. While not exactly reaching the level of Darkness at Noon , I believe it is better than The Gladiators. The time line and theme of the third book in the trilogy is much closer to the second than is the story of the Spartacus revolt.

If one has the time and inclination, then read the entire trilogy. If you don't have the time, read Darkness at Noon. As I said, that one is a "must-read".

The September, 2024 Reading List

 

Today is the last day of the month, so the list of books read this month is called for. September is a relatively short month, but I still managed seven books - that's about average for me.

You might say the September list was inspired by Japanese writer, Akimitsu Takagi. Four of the seven listed were written by Takagi; two of the seven were mystery novels by other writers, but were books mentioned by Takagi in one of his novels. Only one book, The Lady of the Barge & Other stories by W.W. Jacobs, is in no way related to Takagi.

I've written blog posts on four of the books on the list - The Tattoo Murder Case by Akimitsu Takagi, The Three Coffins (AKA The Hollow Man) by John Dickson Carr, The Noh Mask Murder and The Informer, both written by Akimitsu Takagi.

I wanted to read S.S.Van Dine's The Greene Murder Case because it was mentioned favorably in The Noh Mask Murder. This, in spite of my having read another in Van Dine's Philo Vance series and not being impressed. The Greene Murder Case turned out to be better than I had expected.

Takagi's The Informer was top notch. Like all of Takagi's work, I highly recommend it.

The outlier in this month's list is W. W. Jacobs' The Lady of the Barge & Other stories. This book is a collection of short stories by the English writer. The most famous story in the collection is The Monkey's Paw, which was adapted into film in 1915, 1923, 1933, 1948, 2008 and 2013. My interest in reading the collection came from Commentary Magazine's John Podhoretz mentioning The Monkey's Paw on the magazine's podcast, in reference to the idea that wishing for something you shouldn't wish for can lead to tragic consequences.

Some of Jacobs' stories are humorous, while others are meant to be "horror" stories. The horror stories aren't really frightening by today's standards, but the book is, by and large, entertaining.

So now, the list:

The Tattoo Murder Case   by Akimitsu Takagi
The Hollow Man (The 3 Coffins)  by John Dickson Carr
The Noh Mask Murder   by Akimitsu Takagi
The Informer    by Akimitsu Takagi
Honeymoon to Nowhere   by Akimitsu Takagi
The Greene Murder Case   by S.S. Van Dine
The Lady of the Barge & Other stories   by W. W. Jacobs

The Informer by Akimitsu Takagi

As I've mentioned in earlier blog posts, the late Japanese crime fiction writer, Akimitsu Takagi has four novels translated into English. Two of these four feature State Prosecutor Saburo Kirishima and are part of a seven part series. The Informer is the second in this series.

In The Informer, a former Tokyo stock exchange worker, Shigeo Segawa, is fired because of illegal trades. Segawa accepts a job from an old friend and discovers that this new firm is actually an agency for industrial espionage.

Early on, I was beginning to think that The Informer was strictly a story about industrial espionage and not a murder mystery. It takes a while before a murder takes place in the novel.

The story turns out to be more complicated than I originally suspected. The circumstantial evidence builds against Shigeo Segawa, so naturally I assumed that Segawa would not be the killer, although figuring out who the actual killer might be wasn't so easy.

Upon finishing The Informer, I'll move on to the third book in the Prosecutor Saburo Kirishima series, Honeymoon to Nowhere. 

It doesn't appear that there will be additional translations of Takagi's work and at 72, I'm too old to learn enough Japanese to read the entire series. That's unfortunate.

The Noh Mask Murder by Akimitsu Takagi

In my blog post on The Tattoo Murder Case by Takagi Akimitsu , I mentioned that "I found this novel surrounding the tattoo subculture in Japan one of the best mysteries I've read this year." I've read two mysteries novels since making that statement, and while I still believe it remains "one of the best", Akimitsu Takagi's second novel, The Noh Mask Murder is even better.

Like The Tattoo Murder Case and John Dickson Carr's The Three Coffins, The Noh Mask Murder is a "locked room mystery" and like Carr's book, the story has three coffins. When it comes to "locked room mysteries", Takagi learned his lesson well.

I thought I had the story figured out. I was certain I knew the identity of the killer, only to be fooled and fooled yet again.

Four of Akimitsu Takagi's mystery novels have been translated into English. I'm about to start The Informer and then on to Honeymoon to Nowhere. It's unfortunate for me that there aren't more of his books in English. 

As an aside, one of the characters in the book is considered the "Japanese Philo Vance".  The Greene Murder Case is mentioned - there's even a chapter in The Noh Mask Murder with that title. I may get around to reading the S. S. Van Dine novel, although not until I've finished with Takagi.

The Three Coffins (AKA The Hollow Man) by John Dickson Carr

As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, one of the main characters in Akimitsu Takagi's mystery novel, The Tattoo Murder Case, Kenzo Matsushita is himself a big fan of mystery novels. It's mentioned that Kenzo is reading The Three Coffins by John Dickson Carr. Naturally, I searched the web for information on Carr's book.

The Three Coffins was published under that title in the U.S. in 1935. The book was published that same year in the U.K. as The Hollow Man and has received high praise from many critics, particularly for the often-reprinted "locked room lecture" given by investigator Gideon Fell in chapter 17. In 1981, a panel of 17 mystery authors and reviewers selected the novel as "the best locked room mystery of all time".

Upon reading such praise, I decided to read The Three Coffins before going on to Akimitsu Takagi's other novels that are available in English.

I have mixed thoughts on the book. Frankly, I feel the story drags in the early stages and it isn't until the chapter 17 "locked room lecture" that the book picks up. The ending, where the locked room mystery of The Three Coffins is explained is top notch but, unfortunately, one must read a good deal of sub-par writing to get to the end. 

The book was placed at No 40 on the Crime Writers' Association's list of The Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time and No 96 on the Mystery Writers of America's Top 100 Mystery Novels of All Time. 

Honestly, I don't see it.