Every 14 Days...(18)

Looking for the Lost (Alan Booth)

‘The Roads to Sata’ was a book I very much enjoyed. Beyond it being what I wish my life was, it is a very well written and interesting journey across Japan, by a sarcastic Englishman, walking all the way.

‘Looking for the Lost’ is very much a sequel, published posthumously, telling the tale of three further journeys across Nihon, following the path of famous Japanese before him. All three journeys find something of Japan’s past, now lost through the ages, and ultimately never found.

The first trip is one through Aomori, following the footsteps (or dirt tracks) of Dazai Osamu and his journey around his home region. The second takes Booth to Kyushu, following the rocky road of mythical warrior Saigo Takamori. The third then starts off in Nagoya, and the high-tech world of Nagoya's International Design Exposition, before traipsing north through some of Japan’s less explored areas, hoping to find something of its past.

The book acts as a bit of a metaphor for Booth’s reasons to be in Japan. Moving during the Seventies to study Noh theatre, he soon lost his passion for it, but remained in the country despite this. Almost as if trying to rediscover what brought him there to begin with, Booth searches for something intangible that he knows he will never find. The journeys coming at a time when he would succumb to bowel cancer seem all the more poignant, delivered with mild black humour references towards the book’s conclusion.  

It is sad that this and ‘The Roads to Sata’ are the only real lasting works of Booth, though leave enough for the start of another journey.

Days to read: 21

Days per book: 16.2

Can't Stop, Won't Stop (Jeff Chang)

I've read many a 'hip hop history' book, all written in different ways, by different people, most of which say the same old things. 'ego trip's Book of Rap Lists' is without doubt the pick of the bunch, aiming more to entertain, inform and educate, rather than simply do a chronological look at how the music progressed from the Seventies Bronx to the painful noises of today. Jeff Chang's go at writing a hip hop history book is long, but engrossing enough to keep you ploughing along through its considerable pages.

Bought for me as a birthday present based on a comment I must have made many years ago, I'm always sceptical of any hip hop history book, feeling it will probably annoy me for various reasons giving far too much page time to penises, like Puff Daddy, or whatever he now chooses to be called. I, therefore, started this with a sense of dread.

But, I was nicely surprised, finding myself quickly drawn in to the book, absorbing every word. Focusing less on the music, Chang places hip hop more in a wider social context, with the first few chapters looking at Fifties and Sixties New York town planning and the politics of the music industry in Jamaica.

Gradually, the music comes in and how the young stars deal with their newfound fame takes over, looking at the more controversial acts, like Public Enemy and Ice Cube. Groundbreakers, like Run DMC, the Beastie Boys and De La Soul feature less in this history, being that they are more remembered for their music, rather than the public outcry it created. This does mean that penises, like Raymond 'Benzino' Scott get a disproportionate amount of pulp dedicated to them.

A bit like hip hop music, the more time goes on, the less interesting it becomes, but there is more than enough here to keep your head nodding, in thought at interesting points, rather than the boom bap.

Days to read: 25

Days per book: 16.3

Japanamerica (Roland Kelts)

'Japanamerica' was part two of my two-part thirtieth birthday present from an old friend. Again, I was sceptical. A book written about the coming of anime into US consciousness seemed a bit of a cash-in on the sudden popularity of anime, manga and hardcore Japanese goblin sex snuff biscuits in the West. But, like the pre-conception-having twat that I am, my expectations were unjustified.

Focusing on some specific case studies, Japanese-American Roland Kelts looks more at how Japanese companies have perhaps failed to exploit the potential success of their offerings in the West, particularly America. This is the countered against products being shipped in the other direction, with American companies varying success in Japan.

There is more interest in the business models of marketing anime and manga both at home and abroad rather than the creative content. This would, I thought, be something that would leave my cock floppier than a flick through a copy of Geordie Readers' Wives.

'Japanamerica' isn't the greatest read, but does give some interesting little insights into how Japanese media makes its way to us ignorant gaijin baka.

Days to read: 10

Days per book: 16.2

Animal Farm (George Orwell)

It's been many a year since I last read 'Animal Farm' at school, and after some long reads, I fancied something short, but not so sweet...and I saw it on the cheap.

There's probably not much that I can say about the book that hasn't been said before, and much better (just like every other book I've ever read), so I won't bother pretending that there's anything I can particularly say about it, other than that it is the classic it is, though, for me, not Orwell's best.

Days to read: 7

Days per book: 16.1

More Trees to Climb (Ben Moor)

Ben Moor has always been a bit of a Kevin Eldon for me: pops up in the shows of more successful comedian friends. Though Moor was always a bit of a poor man's version. But the boy has talent!

The scripts from three Edinburgh shows, 'More Trees to Climb' is a collection of bizarre tales, but done with an earnest wit and charm that make their short length seem like a bit of a prick tease.

The manner of the writing (or delivery if you're lucky enough to have seen the shows) flows effortlessly, despite the peculiar nature of the subject matter and punbearable wordplay.

This is a book that is simultaneously hilarious, magical, endearing and all that other crap. Now, I simply want to see him in his own show...much like Kevin Eldon.

Days to read: 6

Days per book: 15.9

Mustn't Grumble (Joe Bennett)

With nothing on my book shelf that hadn't been read needing something to read, I dipped into my girlfriend's book collection, picking one of her many books by non-Aston Villa left back, Joe Bennett. Being English, I opted for 'Mustn't Grumble', the Englishman in Kiwiland's journey around the land, commenting on how we're all moaning bastards.

Following in the footsteps of Morton before him for much of the journey, 'Mustn't Grumble' is very much like fellow Englishman living abroad, Alan Booth's 'Looking for the Lost'. Taking the same route as someone before him, he journeys in pursuit of identifying a national identity, stopping off in as many drinking establishments as possible along the way. But while Booth chose to walk, Bennett chose the very thing Booth was against: hitchhiking, only to quickly find that this will never happen in modern day England, soon deciding to borrow the car of an old school friend.

'Mustn't Grumble' is also written in the same, dry, almost arrogant wit of Booth's travel accounts; often humorous, often insightful and well-observed, often borderline alcoholic. And while entertaining, Bennett doesn't quite have the same magic as Booth, though with many of his titles sat on my girlfriend's shelf, I'm sure I'll be polishing off some more of his titles soon.    

Days to read: 15

Days per book: 15.9

Samaritan (Richard Price)

'Clockers' is without doubt one of the best books I've read in a while. Richard Price's story of a battle-weary detective's working through a case that makes him rethink his preconceptions is a detailed account of the motivations around murder and how the authorities work to solve them. 'Samaritan' is a similar story, again looking at a veteran detective, working a final case before retirement, struggling to comprehend the motivations of victims and suspects alike.

Returning to the fictional town of Dempsey, New Jersey, Ray is an overly generous television writer volunteering at a local school who is attacked at his home. With the case lacking interest for most detectives, the soon-to-be-retired Nerese, an old school friend of Ray, takes the case on but finds her old pal unfriendly in volunteering information as to who may be involved in his attack.

Again, Price divides the telling of the story between the two sides, detective and victim, gradually piecing the puzzle together and leaving the reader guessing as to the final outcome. Again, this is an absorbing read, drawing you in and leaving you to play detective yourself; coming to your own conclusions from seeing both sides of the story, unlike the protagonists.

'Samaritan' is good: Price has a definite style to his writing which is evident from both this and 'Clockers'. However, while 'Clockers' has eye-opening revelation, the conclusion to 'Samaritan' fails to hit the same heights, perhaps due to so many potential suspects turning it into more of a whodunit than an in-depth, psychological piece as to motivation to crime.     

Days to read: 21

Days per book: 16.0

Every 14 Days...(16)

Something Like an Autobiography (Akira Kurosawa)

Aww, relief….

After the long and enduring read that is ‘Mao: The Unknown Story’, I needed something light, entertaining and easy to read. Kurosawa’s sort-of-autobiography was the perfect tonic.

Like Ronseal, ‘Something Like an Autobiography’ does exactly what it says on the tin (cover). Written in 1981, Kurosawa believed that his life from 1950 onwards, when corking, copper-bottomed hit ‘Rashomon’ brought him international acclaim, was nothing more than making films, and as such a documentation of that period would be of little interest to any. Of course, this is harsh self-criticism, but the man himself believed that his films would be a better reflection of his life from that point on – he is a film director, after all.

The book, therefore, follows his childhood upbringing from a samurai family, through school and into his starting in the film industry as an assistant director under Kajiro Yamamoto and Mikio Naruse, before directing his own films. Focusing on some of his earlier and lesser-known works, ‘Rashomon’ is the cut-off point where he stops.

Written well over thirty years after the events for much of the book, it reads more like a collection of short anecdotes from an aging man as he looks back on his youth. The films are looked at, but not in any great detail, as he focuses more on the relationships he had with the cast and other crew and what he learnt from them, such as how to drink.

‘Something Like an Autobiography’ feels like a taster of what was to come later, when his career as a director really took off and he made many of the films he is known for today. But, it is an enjoyable read of an old man and his musings.

Days to read: 12

Days per book: 15.9

The Japan Journal: 1947-2004 (Donald Richie)

For years, Donald Richie was little more to me than just an American who wrote a lot about Japanese cinema. The leading foreign voice, writing celebrated books on Ozu and Kurosawa, I didn't know too much about him beyond writing about 'Seven Samurai'. His death earlier this year, prompted new light to be shed on his life, and as such I proceeded to delve further. 'The Japan Journals' is what resulted.

Started when he first moved to Japan after the Second World War, 'The Japan Journals' is a cobbled together collection of some of his diary entries over the years of his life spent living in Tokyo, looking at his life as a translator, film maker, writer. Structure is not a term appropriate for the collection, being that Richie was not meticulous in his maintaining of the journal, nor keeping it in an ordered manner. To read, it is, therefore, inconsistent, with several year leaps in places, and new life stages reached without any build-up.

At its best, 'The Japan Journals' sees Richie comment on the social, cultural and economic changes in Japan over his time there; at its most boring, it is anecdotal about the various artists that he served as interpreter and guide for while they visited the country; and at its worst, it is preoccupied with his sex life, focusing too heavily on any young boys he met and to whom took a fancy. Pointed out by close friends, while not a complete reflection of his life, the collection makes Richie out to be sex mad, often picking up men, hanging out in sex cinemas and brothels, regularly conversing with prostitutes. While this paints a picture of both his and Japanese life, it does get a bit tiresome after a while.

But, when the focus is on cultural differences and the changing face of his accidentally adopted homeland, it shows a love affair with a rapidly changing country, for better or worse.

Days to read: 26

Days per book: 16.1

The Roads to Sata (Alan Booth)

Set off from Cape Soya, Japan's northernmost point, and walk the 2,000-mile journey to Cape Sata, the southernmost  point of Japan's four principle islands, and you're probably mad. Well, I am mad and I like this idea.

Born in Leytonstone, like the much-travelled David Beckham, Alan Booth is an English writer who moved to Japan after his time at the University of Birmingham to study Noh theatre. Married, he clearly got bored and decided to wonder off for a few months in the Japanese equivalent of Land's End to John O'Groats. 'The Roads to Sata' is his account of the four month journey, documented the people he met, the places he saw and the alcohol he drank.

Done in 1977 at the age of 30, a white man from East London meandering around the Japanese countryside was probably an unusual sight, made even more unusual by his ability to speak the lingo. Booth was often met with 'full' ryokan, hostile receptions and cries of 'gaijin!' alongside friendly drinking companions, offers of lifts from drivers and calls for his head to be examined. 

'The Roads to Sata' is a witty account of his journey, with numerous drunken tales, but also shows a changing Japan, away from the bright lights and big cities. The differences in human geography as he makes his way further south are noted, as well as the various history lessons offered as he searches for the 'real' Japan.

Days to Read: 13

Days per book: 16.0

Three books, from three different perspectives, all about the Land of the Rising Sun: An elderly Japanese, not giving too much away; an American in search of his identity; and an Englishman that likes to drink beer, all entertaining and educational in their own respects.