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I read somewhere that Shogun is Game of Thrones if Ned Stark was smarter and boy, yes it is.

Any fans out here?!

Well… what a long, arduous journey this has been. But like all difficult journeys there have been moments of great beauty, opportunities for philosophical insight, smiles, laughter, and discovery. Regardless of Shogun‘s myriad problems (from a 21st century stand point as well as from a writers) it has this ability to sweep you up and make you overlook its inadequacies like all the best epics do. Great story. Good characters. Just OK execution.

📚📚📚📚📚 January Classic of the Month. Worth it.

I can‘t come up with just one book of the year! I don‘t know how anyone can do it LOL they were all so good!

I read 417 books … here are 64 … I feel like such a failure … yes 64 of the best! I might be able to get it down to 50 … ugh 50? Oh well! These are all excellent books.

♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️

10 episodes coming your way next February! Proud to have been a tiny cog in a huge production engine for the show, so hope you don‘t mind the shout out😎🌟❣️

March 2023 wrap up!

33 books!

30 novels & 3 novellas.

31 books - 12,117 pages.
391 Average.

2 Audible stories - 5 hrs 6 mins.

Total Time
395 hours, 50 mins.

I own 12
2 Audible Plus
5 ARCs
19 were Libby/HOOPLA loans.

Great reading month!

10 books were 5⭐️‘s!
3 were lo mid 😩

9 new physical books
1 new April BOTM audio
14 new Audible books

What were your favorite books?

Here are 16 that I loved.

🎧📚 I loved this book. It took me 3 months to read.

There‘s a lot of suicides of honor & homicide galore. Evil ninja! Ruthless samurai. Conniving priests. The choice of killing your self or shaving your head and becoming a nun or monk! It was a dark time.

The 1600‘s was NOT a good time to be a female.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“This book has a lot of pages!”

This has been on my TBR for a while now, starting it today as I think it will be a good combo with the Olympics!

#LitsySpringBreak @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @TheKidUpstairs
Prompt: Se Asia

Leftover mashed potatoes means fritters for breakfast! I read more of SHŌGUN while I cooked to help me resist the impulse to flip ‘em too soon.

This‘ll be my last day with the book. Honestly, I dunno how Clavell‘s gonna wrap things up in forty pages. I have no clear memory of how the TV adaptation ended, so it‘ll be a total surprise!

Also, it hasn‘t happened yet but I think the back cover‘s about to fall off. 🤷‍♀️

I decided to be like @writerlibrarian and read during the hockey game.

Also, another chunk of SHŌGUN fell off right after I took this picture. It‘s now 201 pages. I‘ve got about 130 of them to go.

I recently remembered how much I like grilled cheese. Now I‘m doing the read-and-cook thing while I experiment with the controversial* mayonnaise-not-butter method.

Also, SHŌGUN lost another 100 pages last night. It‘s now 342 pages, and I think it‘s gonna stay that way. The binding seems solid from here to the end.

* I don‘t think it‘s actually controversial.

I didn‘t so much lose another chunk of SHŌGUN as willfully rip it off. It was detached at the top, and let‘s face it: nobody‘s ever gonna read this copy after me. I might as well ditch another section every time I hit one of those oh-so-annoying cracks.

I feel like Cheryl Strayed, burning the pages she read each night along the Pacific Crest Trail. Except without the burning. Or the hiking.

Anyways: I want to hit page 1000 next. Bring it on.

I lost another chunk of SHŌGUN last night. It‘s now a 598-page book.

I‘m hoping to pass page 800 tonight, then pause to read something else. I find I‘m super into the scenes where the characters navigate each other‘s cultures, but I‘m not so interested in Toranaga‘s political stuff. My attention wavers whenever Clavell focuses on that for a longer stretch, so I still need breaks even with the hand strain issue gone.

Then the book BROKE IN TWO. I feel like I‘m under a SHŌGUN-specific curse.

Maybe it‘ll be easier to hold without the first 462 pages?

Gonna try to sink back into SHŌGUN while I eat some fish curry.

Today‘s plan: hit page 500, then take another break from SHŌGUN. I‘m mostly enjoying the story, but the physical experience is crap. The ache in my hands stretches all the way up to my shoulders, even though I keep trying different ways to hold the book. It‘s a dammed good reminder of why I quit reading mega-chunksters in print. Too bad the library doesn‘t have an ebook copy. 😔

Back to SHŌGUN this morning. I sure hope it‘ll get less painful to hold as I creep towards the middle. Right now, the spread‘s hell on my hands.

It‘s back to coffee, too, thanks to yesterday‘s grocery order. I missed coffee SO MUCH.

I‘ve read 150 pages but my bookmark‘s all, “HA HA HA AS IF.” #chunksterlife

Breakfast with a 70s chunkster. My dad was a huge James Clavell fan, so this book‘s been on my radar my whole life. I bought my copy from the Book Market‘s $0.40 table more than a decade ago, and 2021‘s the year I finally give it a try.

TBH, Current Me is leery of Asian-set books by Westerners, but I did see the TV miniseries (on tape, from Blockbuster) long ago and I THINK I remember it came down against xenophobia? We‘ll see.

This one was an epic read, the writing is admirable; it's hard work though as the plot is very complex and over-long.

The story contains ruthless samurai, scheming priests, impenetrable fortresses, dishonourable ninja and everything else about feudal Japan which captures the imagination.

Although not for the faint-hearted as there's so many decapitations, a diabolical execution and overall violence within these pages.

4/5 💫

Mr. Crumble, my reading companion for today 🥰

I made good progress on Shogun (Page 386 of 1152)

Yea, it's a long read but it's a high rated book that I've been meaning to read for a long time and I'm impressed so far! 🇯🇵⚔

Anyone read this? What was your thoughts on it?

@Pets.Staring.At.Us 🐀

#RememberNovember @Klou
Day 30: The Last Samurai

Little charity shop find and a book I'll get to at some point due to it's ratings, positive reviews and the fact it's always in the must read books lists! ✅ ⚔

#ThankfulThursday @Cosmos_Moon

1.) Yes, I met a band called The Coral backstage and had a drink with them a few times as I know someone who knows the lead singer and always gets me a AAA pass. I've also met Amy MacDonald and Maxi Jazz. 🎶

2.) I'm looking forward to travelling to Japan with my girlfriend, our upcoming goal thingy. 🇯🇵

Thanks for the tag @Sace 💫

I tag everyone.

Let‘s the sweeping saga begin.

This big book set in Japan, which I read as a college freshman, is the first book that comes to mind for #BigInJapan. #WanderingJune

One of my lifetime favorite books! John Blackthorne and Mariko come from very different worlds but somehow find common ground and become close friends before falling in love.

#lovehate @ErinSueG @WhiskeyMistress

Beginning this mammoth #audiobook.

Inside the Japanese mentality vi a historical novel. Simply wonderful.

Stumbled upon a book sale this morning! ☀️📚
See anything that you recommend??

Isn't this new edition of Clavell's series gorgeous?
Shogun is one of the first adult book l read back when l moved from children to adult books when l was 12. I remember loving it. It's been a long time ago. But this my be the reason for my love of historical novels.

Always remember... that to think bad thoughts is really the easiest thing in the world. If you leave your mind to itself it will spiral you down into ever-increasing unhappiness. To think good thoughts, however, requires effort.

Saturday morning vibes. My reading list these days is very 70s/80s tv miniseries. Shogun, The Winds of War and Clan of the Cave Bear are at the top of my to read and re-read lists.

An oldie but a Goldie. Who has been around long enough to remember this? I read it last summer and it was great.

Day 6 of #febinbooks18 is #oldestbook on your shelves. I have books that were published far earlier than Shogun but this is one of the books I've owned the longest without having read it. I'm hoping to get to it this year.

Has anyone read this one?

Great book

Today‘s ThriftBooks #bookhaul! Some of these have been on my wishlist more than 10 years. I loved the Shogun miniseries when I watched it in the ‘80s. My mom had a well-worn paperback back then, but I never got to read it. I bought a hardback in the ‘90s-turned our to be only vol.2. Finally I have my own hardback edition, 1975, complete with cool bookplate from original owner. Saving this #chunkster for next year.

#LitsyQuestions @gipsykat
1. Holiday to sleep and read.
2. I love winter
3. Used to be 2 WWar but I'm really a little fed up at the moment
4. I don't know
5. Right now, I'm enjoying reading about Japan, and nordic countries
6. Work and being sleepy😴
7. More than 30 😣

Love these tags!

Always interesting finds at Half Price Books.

Forty pages left I have!

(Yoda reports on my Shogun progress.)

Only 245 pages to go...

From my library's Facebook page 😊.

And Shogun... Only 280 pages to go. This book is the reason they invented trilogies, y'all.

I deserve a medal.

After 3 weeks of intermittent reading I have finally broken the back of this beast of a book.

I'm enjoying it but I thought I would never escape from Osaka.

An extraordinary historical fiction set in Japan, the novel is just an amazing feat of the written word. If you like beautifully detailed, intricately woven cultural fiction, you should definitely check out Shogun.

#shogun #jamesclavell #asiansaga #historicalfiction #japan