Category: BOOKOFF Column

What genre of books do you usually read?

If you continue reading for a while, you will find the tendency of the genre of what you read. However, if you stick to the specific genre too much, there would be a less chance for encountering new books.

 

Therefore, I would like to recommend this time, omnibus book (anthology book).

I was helped by anthology books in order to expand the scope of my reading. I would like to introduce the advantages of the antholoy book while also including my experience.

The advantages of anthology books

An anthology book is a book that collects sentences (works) from various authors under a specific theme.

Some people may be avoiding it somehow, but anthology books have a lot of advantages.

◆ You can touch various styles

One of the causes that people struggle for trying to read works by new writer is “having hard time on the style”.

However, getting used to various styles is a great weapon in your reading life.

Knowing different styles means having different thinking circuits.

In everyday life, when listening to and discussing other people’s stories, it helps to understand if you know the appropriate styles of various expressions and situations.
People with intellectual depth can use a wide range of styles, from hard styles to humorous soft styles.

 

◆ My world spreads

The main reason to recommend reading anthology books is that “the breadth of interest expands.”

Knowing one’s unknown world through anthology books is an opportunity to be humble and also leads to gaining new perspectives.

In these days in this diverse society, don’t you think it may be very important to know different perspectives in different fields?

◆ We can read easily in a short time

Even if you don’t have time to sit down at the desk, you can easily finish reading one story and that’s a good point of the anthology. The ease of finish reading in such a short time like during one train ride can be uniqueness of an anthology book.

 

◆ It is hard to be discouraged

The work included in the anthology book is the highlight of a long story, or it is a short, cool story. In other words, there are many works that can be read at once.

So, you don’t have to remember complicated relationships like when you read a long novel, or you don’t have to experience like “the discouragement of stop reading after 120 pages”.

Anthology book is a gateway to the unknown

An anthology book is a guide that can meet unexpected masterpieces.

If you don’t know what to read, or if you are getting tired of reading books recently, I recommend that you take a look at the anthology book.

If you feel resistance to the anthology book, why don’t you try one book at a second hand bookstore for the time being?

This content is originally created by BOOKOFF ONLINE in Japan.

Can you absolutely say “I like this writer!”?

To whom reads a lot of books but doesn’t have a favorite writer in particular, or starts reading books from now, find your favorite artist and enjoy your reading life one step further?

 

Good things if you have a favorite writer

◆ From self-introduction, to friends …… Or to love?

When the new season comes, not only the goodbye but there are also many encounters.
And when encountering to new people, most likely we introduce ourselves each other, but how do you answer to the usual question “What is your hobby?”

If you answer “Hobby is reading”, you may often receive questions such as “What kind of book do you read?”
In this case, it is probably safe to talk about the genre (category of books), but if the other person is a considerable reader, it tends to easily connect to talk about “who do you like?”

In other words, in such a scene if you can give the name of your favorite writer in addition to the genre, you can not only give the impression of this person is surely a person who reads a lot of books, but also can dig in that topic deeper and leave your own impression on the other, which can be said that it is full of good effects.

Also, the name given as a favorite writer coincidentally matches! Then, friendship will eventually develop into love from a common hobby ……?
We can expect such a happy funny situation! You can’t expect more!

 

◆ No trouble in choosing a book

Although some stores have books organized by genre, most bookstores organize their shelves by publisher and author.
You may be able to find the book you want to buy by reading the synopsis of the book, but there are so many volumes!

It is hard to find the book that you want to read now by going through all of those synopses.

You came to find and buy a book with great enthusiasm, but you could wander which one to buy and could end up going home without buying any….

That’s so sad.
In such a case, if there is a favorite writer, the range of the target to be selected becomes narrow and easy to select.
In addition, there is no failure because it is your favorite writer, so the winning rate of getting your satisfaction will go up many times more than just challenging with no single clue.

 

◆ Easier to step into new genres

There are many people who know your favorite genre.
I love romance, I like mystery, I like historical things … and so on.

Just as your taste of the genre is dozens of colors, each writer’s world is also different, such as dozens of colors, or more, one hundred people one hundred colors, and so on.
This writer’s world is too sad, or that writer’s is cheesy….

If you start getting the idea of “I like the story of this writer, but don’t like much that writer’s”, it makes easier to meet a writer that suits your taste even when you step into other genres, or to be able to discover your hidden flavors by comparing those writers. And you can improve the quality of your reading experience.

 

How do I know a writer?

If you go to a bookstore, you will find many books and names, but in order to meet your favorite writer, you must first know what kind of writers are out there.
Let’s find the name you care about.

 

◆ Find out from  award winning works (Like :Akutagawa Prize and Naoki Prize)

The Akutagawa Prize and Naoki Prize, which became a big topic especially when the comedian Mr. Matayoshi from PIECE won the Akutagawa Prize, are very prestigious awards in Japan.

The Akutagawa Prize is an award given to anonymous and new artists in pure literature, and the Naoki Award is an award for popular novels by mid-level artists in addition to anonymous and new artists, and such awards will give a good starting point to become prominent writers.
We can check the winners of each award from the Japanese literature magazine “Bungei-Shunjuu”’s website, so we recommend that you look through it once.

 

◆ Find out from Bookstore Grand Prix award winning works

The Bookstore Grand Prix is ​​an award chosen by bookstores nationwide. There is no exaggeration to say that among the other awards this award reflects the reader’s opinion the most.
People who work for selling books are the ones who choose the book for this award, so you can often meet writers such as “I didn’t know this!”
This can also be confirmed by the award-winning writers and entry level writers from the official site.

 

◆ Find out from visual works

You can also get to know the writer from a movie or drama based on a novel.
If you see something in a movie or drama and you think you like this atmosphere, please check the name of the writer who wrote the original novel.

 

◆ From a modern literary writer

The names of Soseki Natsume and other artists who were very active and popular in the modern era are frequently up and learned in school and probably many people still remember in their heads.
Aren’t there any writers who have left an impression to you as a tool of using those names to memorize some important sentences by making puns for school?
If you try to dig up your old memories, you might come up with many writers who you  have known unexpectedly.

 

Let’s read the work

If you find a writer you care about, let’s find his/her work right away.

 

◆ Read the first work

Have you ever heard of the word that his/her first work has all of that writer?
If you read the first work/debut work and find something you really like, I recommend you to continue reading the same writer’s book.

 

◆ Read the work which can say “This is the one if you read this writer!”

Recently, when I visit a bookstore, I often find such pop card signs or flyers saying,
“If you read ○ ○ (writer), start from this work!”. For example, if you read Soseki Natsume, then start from “Bo-chan”.
It should be interesting if the message is from a bookstore clerk or a publisher. If you find such a card or flyer placed on the writer you care about, you might follow these instructions.

 

Find your favorite writer!

What did you think?

If the books which you used to choose without any attention have become your favorite artist’s work, then don’t you think you become more attached to it and look forward to the new issue coming out?
When you find your favorite artist, you can see the color of your favorite artist, and it will be easier for you to open up your taste and go a little further from there.

By all means, meet your favorite artist and have a richer reading life!

 

This content is originally created by BOOKOFF ONLINE in Japan.

Even if you are the person who really like to read novels, I think there are novels that fit your taste and don’t.

However, probably everyone wants to read a novel that suits them, if possible?

Here are some ways to find a novel that suits you.

If you are thinking of reading a book from now, or if you are wondering what to read next, please refer to this column.

 

Basic method to do first

“Writer Reading” to Meet by a Writer

The first way to meet a novel that suits you is to read another work of the author who wrote your favorite work. This is called “writer reading”.

If you are fascinated by the writer’s atmosphere and world view, you can meet your favorite works this way. However, this is not the case if you are interested in the work alone rather than the writer.

For example, if your favorite work is a mystery novel and you are attracted to the trick for that work. In such a case, it is unlikely that the same trick will appear in other works, so even if you read a same writer’s work, you may not always find the trick you like.

So before starting to do the “writer reading”, it might be a good idea to understand what you are attracted to by that work of that writer.

 

“Genre Reading” to meet by the genre

Next is how to search by genre. The story is simple.

First of all, pick the work that you liked among the works you read in the past. Then next you see the genre of the work.
And you will look for the work to read next from that genre. If the genre of your favorite work is mystery, then look for the book from mystery genre, and SF then SF, and this is the way to look for the book, “Genre Reading”.

■ If you are attracted to the style and atmosphere of the work, or the author’s philosophy, etc., better be doing “Writer Reading”.
■ “Genre reading” if you are attracted to the composition and settings of the story.

When I look for a work to read, I think that the probability of encountering a favorite work will increase greatly by just being aware of this.

These methods may be a way that many people are doing without ever being told, but as the basics to find a work that suits you, these are the first ones to keep in your mind.

 

Method to which apply “Writer Reading”

Let’s meet by the writer by whom your favorite writer was affected

There is a limit to the number of works that an author writes. So, if you continue reading, you will soon have no work to read from that author. Therefore, the next method to take is the work of the writer who influenced your favorite writer.

Many writers have proclaimed “the writer who influenced me”. Therefore, let’s refer to that and select the work of “the writer by whom your favorite writer has been influenced”. There is an increase in the probability of encountering a better work than just searching for a writer or a work at random.

And if you find more favorite writers, then do the same thing again. Next time you can look for another writers’ works who influenced those favorite writers ….

It goes on and on like that. It will expand your area of your interest on reading and the probability of meeting with your favorite books is increased.

 

Let’s meet by a literary award won by a favorite writer

Novelists are often the winners of some literary awards. The reason is that there are many cases in which many writers acquire newcomer award for their debut.

If you find a favorite writer, let’s find out what kind of newcomer award the writer is from and what kind of literature award he/she has won.

These can be found by searching on the internet, but in many cases it may be better to open the book to see the list of award in the author introduction page.

If you know the award won by your favorite writer, let’s check that award next time. And let’s choose a work from the past award winning works.

The winning works of the same literary award tend to be similar in genre, which makes it easier to meet works that suit you.

 

Here are two points.

■ Read the writer by whom your favorite writer was affected.
■ Look at the literary awards. Find your favorite literary award if you can.

If you do these two, you will be more likely to meet with the work that suits you.

 

A little special way “Label Reading”

Finally, I will introduce something special method. It’s a way of finding works which suits you by the publisher label.

Recently, publisher labels are increasing, so finding works by labels is one way.

Taking “Kodansha” (Publisher) as an example, Kodansha has labels such as Kodansha Novels, Kodansha Taiga, Kodansha Ranobe Bunko, and Kodansha Bunko.

There are characteristics of each label. “Kodansha Taiga” is a light literary art, “Kodansha Ranobe” is a light novel, and “Kodansha Novels” has a strong tendency of publishing a mystery.

“Label Reading” is a way to see such a tendency and find a novel that suits you by the labels. If you find a publisher label that suits you, you will have a lot more opportunities to meet your favorite works.

 

Summary

If you find your favorite writer, literary award, or label, you will have more opportunities to meet your favorite work.

You will be able to meet efficiently if you find and analyze some of the products by the methods described above.

If you have trouble choosing a novel, please try these.

 

This content is originally created by BOOKOFF ONLINE in Japan.