My last 5 books: Rowling and samurai

1. The Ickabog, by J.K. Rowling. I loved it. It's obviously a children's book, much more so than the first Harry Potter book, and it's written like a traditional fairy tale. There's a bit of Brothers Grimm to it, and a bit of Disney, maybe even a bit of Aesop... I loved watching the story unfold and see how Spittleworth dug himself into an incresingly deep hole. I honestly didn't expect the Ickabog to actually be real after all that came before the reveal, but in hindsight of course it was. And such a sweet thing. The way it's described it makes me think of a huge and green Cousin Itt... The pairings at the end came about exactly as I expected and hoped, and I was happy that Fred got something of a redemption. He wasn't mean; just ignorant and vain. Ma Grunter was reminiscent of the evil stepmom/witch in Grimm stories. This story tickled my fancy and woke up my childish imagination. Less than 50 pages in I just wanted to keep on reading to find out what would happen next. I wanna go again. 

2. Shogun, by James Clavell. A friend of mine talked about how great this book was so I decided to read it. It was great, amazing even. Only complaint of mine is on the Japanese romanizations in the book like... either he's using 17th century Japanese, which I admittedly know nothing about, or he just doesn't know Japanese even though he makes a great effort at making it seem like he does. The vocabulary, the word order, omfg what are you doing. Also why can't Mariko pronounce Blackthorne's name when she can speak both Latin and Portuguese? Like if she can maneouver her tongue into Portuguese, then "Blackthorne" shouldn't be very hard... The character development in this book is insane. For the first half of the book I wanted to slap Blackthorne for being such a child. Him and his crew kept throwing tantrums at the slightest thing, every time they didn't get what they want, and omg all the complaints about meat and bread and alcohol... Sit down, shut the fuck up and be grateful that they actually cleaned and fed you. They just as well might not have. And then came Blackthorne's big moment of self-realisation and I was so proud of him. At the same time I couldn't help but feel weird about it, like as a European I should relate to the Europeans, right? I should take their side. But I never did. I sighed and rolled my eyes at the Europeans and their blatant disrespect, obvious superiority complex and annoying tantrums. I was sat shaking my head at all the mentions of bleeding. Sorry 17th century doctors, but the blood is supposed to be inside the body. Blackthorne's subsequent reaction to the conditions in the eta village is reminiscent of a modern person hearing about living conditions several hundred years ago; pure disgust. I went into this book completely blind, but while reading I got the sneaking suspicion that Toranaga was based on Tokugawa Ieyasu; probably the most famous shogun in Japanese history, and after I finished the book I read up on it and found out Toranaga most definitely was based on Tokugawa Ieyasu. There wasn't much in this story that I could see coming from a mile away, but I nailed the history xD As proud as I was of Blackthorne at the end, and as much as I appreciated Mariko, Toranaga was my favourite character. So shrewd and clever and always ten steps ahead of everybody else, but still a decent and pretty jovial person... I loved him. Everytime a character said "so sorry" I heard a "sumimasen ga" in my head. ぜひ読んでください。

3. The Christmas Pig, by J.K. Rowling. This was... lovely. An absolutely heart-warming adventure that gave me the same nostalgic happy feeling as Toy Story 3 or The Polar Express. This story is written for children but it doesn't shy away from the difficult subjects, and that's a good thing. Children should be allowed to explore the darker sides of life (from the warmth of a safe home); they should be allowed to ask uncomfortable questions and recieve the truth (however simplified and dolled up). This book does exactly that. Jack is very young, but he learns a lot about himself and the way of the world through his journey in the Land of the Lost, without ever losing the wonder of his childish innocence. When I was very young I used to imagine that lost things were never truly lost; they had just gone somewhere else and would return once they were found. I have a nagging feeling that I didn't come up with that idea, but that I got it from somewhere but it's only a half-remembered feeling and I can't pin-point it. I'm sure every child has at some point imagined that their toys would come to life behind closed doors and in the dead of night. I did too, way before Toy Story was a thing, and this story just hits all the right buttons with the Alivened toys and the lost Things. This story made me take my teddy down from his perching spot atop the bookshelf and hug him for the first time in over a decade. 

4. Samurai William: The Adventurer Who Unlocked Japan, by Giles Milton. So this book is a reconstruction of events of the very real Anjin-sama who inspired the story told in Shogun. (And which also inspired the story in Nioh, and I'm sure many other things). Interestingly, this book carries the name of Samurai William but told more about the Dutch and English mariners who came to Japan after William Adams and employed him and his expertise to gain a foothold in the country. This book tells you more about the unruly 17th century Europeans who literally behaved like teenagers. All money they ever received was used for drink and sex, and then they complain that they have no money... 17th century Europe was suitably aghast to discover Japanese pornography and dildoes. (That was fun). This book details the story of how Europeans tried to access the mysterious country of Japan, situated on the edge of the world; how William Adams came to end up the first Englishman there and how he gained the trust of the shogun; how another group of Englishmen arrived over a decade after Adams and their subsequent struggles; and finally how Japan ended up a closed country for over 200 years. It was a super interesting read that struggled with the extent of information it tried to put out. I had to take several breaks from it because the outpour was intense for such a short book. But did I enjoy it? Yes, very much.

5. Harry Potter: A Magical Year, by J.K. Rowling & Jim Kay. I know this book is supposed to last for a full year, with a small snippet of Harry Potter to read each day, but all those small snippets did was leave me wanting more and so I read all of January in my first sitting. Then I tried to not pick it up again but still I did and went through all of February and March for my second sitting. I tried to forget about it and yet I picked it up a third time (just to look at the pictures) and ended up finishing the whole thing.  I adore the illustrated versions of the Harry Potter books and Jim Kay's illustrations are marvelously perfect. Unlike most material out there, his illustrations are based entirely upon the descriptions in the books and not on the movies and I'm all here for it! His portrait of Dumbledore is amazing ♥ I've wanted illustrated Potter since I got my hands on the first book back in the 90s and I will collect every single illustrated version to come. This book made me want to reread the entire Potter series again. Might be about time I do that...