Sayaka Murata Book Club

Japanese Language Reading
#1

Welcome to the Sayaka Murata Book Club!

This book club is dedicated to the works of Sayaka Murata (surprise!). Why a whole book club for one author? Because her writing is very suitable for intermediate level Japanese reading. Her use of language is straightforward, without flowery vocabulary or crazy long sentences. This means we can enjoy the literary merits of her works and discuss the themes she explores (non-conformity, especially with regard to gender roles, parenthood and sex) without getting too bogged down in the language.

Currently reading in the IBC: 地球星人

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Complete works

Title Year Page # Status
授乳 2005 240 Read
マウス 2008 256
ギンイロノウタ 2008 284
星が吸う水 2010 240
ハコブネ 2011 224
タダイマトビラ 2012 229
しろいろの街の、その骨の体温の 2013 320
殺人出産 2014 208 Read
消滅世界 2015 288
コンビニ人間 2016 168 Read in the IBC and repeat club
地球星人 2018 336 Currently reading in the IBC
生命式 2019 272 (hc)
変半身（かわりみ） 2019 176 (hc)
丸の内魔法少女ミラクリーナ 2020 216 (hc)
となりの脳世界 2021 336
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Master List of Book Clubs
コンビニ人間 Home Thread (Intermediate Book Club)
:books::books: Read every day challenge - Fall/Autumn 2021 :maple_leaf::fallen_leaf::raccoon:
Master List of Book Clubs
殺人出産 🤰🔪 Book Club
授乳 🤱 Book Club
[2022] 多読/extensive reading challenge
Level 60 at Last!
Master List of Book Clubs
#2

Yes! I am very happy this exists. Now our little offshoot of an offshoot repeat of a repeat book club has found its true purpose. Thank you for putting it together!

I’d suggest changing “Read in this club” to “Currently Reading” for 殺人出産. And you’re probably already on top of it but it deserves a spot in the Master List of Bookclubs as well.

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#3

Aye aye sir!

With 7 weeks to go until our current pick is finished, it’s probably time to pick another book. If we take a week or so to decide, those who want to buy the physical book will have 6 weeks for shipping, which should hopefully be enough even in this crazy covid world.

Please pick up to four books you’d be keen to read.

What book(s) are you keen to read?

0 voters

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殺人出産 🤰🔪 Book Club
#4

Ooh, this is exciting! Thank you for putting this together, @Phryne ! :blush:

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#5

Awesome! I didn’t know she wrote that many books, plenty to read :grin:

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#6

I didn’t know if it was overly ambitious (and crazy obsessed) to put all her books in a table in the main post, but… #goals :raised_hands:t3: :grin:

Maybe it’s not so much a book club as a cult :joy:

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#7

Well, she is the only person I’m following on Instagram… And a big part of her posts are nature shots, and I’m swooning over each one, despite them having absolutely no connection to her work…
And I want this for myself ( ミラクリーナ’s promo stand)

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So, I’m in :star_struck:

And anyway, she even described herself as a cult writer in that spoilery Guardian interview:
[context - about how Earthlings is more grim than Konbini]

“The people who know me through Convenience Store Woman are disappointed. But I was a cult writer before that success. People are saying the old Murata has returned.”

9 Likes
#9

Oh wow. 授乳 is on top now!

#10

I think it’s cause someone removed their vote for しろいろの街の、その骨の体温の :thinking: Let’s give it until it’s been 7 days (so about 36 hours) and then we’ll call it. If it goes back to being a tie we could always read both (shortest book first, then the longer one) :woman_shrugging:

We’re going to be reading all of them eventually anyway, so… :smirk:

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#11

That’s what I was thinking when I voted. The poll makes for a convenient shopping list. :grin:

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#12

It was me :grimacing: @NicoleRauch made me aware of the fact that the 体温 book is pretty expensive on bookwalker compared to 授乳. Since I don’t really have a preference of one over the other (I just voted based on titles that I’d seen in Bookoff before), I thought why not think a little economical :wink:

3 Likes
#13

Yes, I was a bit surprised to see that about half the books are in a decent price range (600-800 yen) while others are very expensive (1300-1800 yen), probably because they are newer. I usually defer reading the expensive ones until they get old enough to become cheaper :wink: or until there is a general sale. Can’t always avoid the expensive ones because of book clubs, but if there is a choice, then why not factor in the price, I thought. :woman_shrugging:

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#14

Wow, that’s weird. It’s about the same on Amazon.

I don’t think that’s necessarily the case. Konbini Ningen is half a year younger than コーヒーが冷めないうちに and it’s just half the price. Whatever the reason may be, it’s super annoying. :joy:

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#15

Actually, this one is a problem for me :sweat_smile: My original plan was to start Murata Marathon on my own sometime Fall/Winter 2021 and continue into 2022 and hopefully finishing in 2022.
Now, this book club will obviously go slower. But reading with others is so much more energizing~
On the other hand, there is also high risk of people dropping out on the way :confounded: So, uh, I need a crystal ball or a clairvoyant to tell me which books will go first, so I can start with the ones at the end of the queue :laughing:

Oh, and by the way, Murata also has 3 non-fiction books. :stuck_out_tongue: As far as I could tell, these are reviews, articles, essays and such, compiled from various magazines.

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#16

Maybe the poll gives a good indication? You could start with the ones at the bottom?

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#17

Yep, that’s my plan for now. But I saw favorites changing places in the consecutive “main” book clubs polls, so there’s still some risk :wink:

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#18

There we have it. I have closed the poll. Looks like we’re reading 授乳 next! Will make a home thread and do some proselytising in the next few days :grin:

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#19

Here it is, get votin’ :grin:

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#20

I knew I shouldn’t buy 授乳 until the book club starts.
They have a point back sale now on Amazon.jp, they give back 30%. Not as good as the 50% a few months ago, but still.
Books in the sale: 消滅世界, 殺人出産 (if someone hasn’t bought it yet), 授乳, 星が吸う水, マウス.
Apparently it started a week ago, and it’s until 7/22.

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#21

Thanks! I bought the lot. Guess I know which books I’ll be voting for the next time round :stuck_out_tongue:

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