Reddit reviews The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches (Penguin Classics)
We found 3 Reddit comments about The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches (Penguin Classics). Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
A Personal Matter by Kenzaburo Oe.
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The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches by Matsuo Basho
Hi, throwing in my two cents that the best way to improve your reading/grammar and literary knowledge is to dive deep into anthologies and collections. Think of it as a sampling of the 'best of the best' and you are getting a taste of what is considered to be great. Also don't be afraid to pick up a piece of classic literature and think, "Good god, this was considered awesome?" That's ok. Some people don't like premodern literature. Some people LOVE it. Some people HATE it. Some people are all about cyberpunk angsty lit that's a product of our super modern society. Some love poetry...well, you get the picture. The beauty of an anthology is you can survey the goods -- and if you love something you read, odds are it's only a small selection taken from a much bigger book OR the writer is pretty prolific and if you like his style of writing, odds are you are going to LOVE the rest of his work.
Don't know where to begin? I recommend checking out some classics from overseas (which I use as a required book in my courses):
This will take you from the world origin myth right up to Tokugawa period (from 794 to 1868) I'm partial to world origin myths and the Kamakura period. It's not easy to read but it's a good way to develop critical thinking skills and will broaden your world view!
http://www.amazon.com/Anthology-Japanese-Literature-Mid-Nineteenth-Representative/dp/0802150586/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1397829264&sr=8-1&keywords=Anthology+of+Japanese+Literature
http://www.amazon.com/Narrow-Travel-Sketches-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140441859/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1397829577&sr=8-2&keywords=Matsuo+Basho
Ok, so I don't like premodern literature? ^Then ^check ^out ^the ^modern ^stuff!
http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Japanese-Literature-From-Present/dp/0802150950/ref=pd_sim_b_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=04S84RFJ5BQ76B3N06QT
Also, to make yourself super cultured, start reading opera summaries and plays. That's right. Read them. Then go see them.
Here's a link: http://www.amazon.com/Great-Operas-Their-Stories-Act-/dp/0385054483/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397830047&sr=1-1&keywords=Operas
TL;DR: Start reading! Collections and Anthologies are a great place to start.
Red Sorghum by Mo Yan - brutal Marquez-esque magical realism during WWII-era China.
Captains of the Sands by Jorge Amado - a gang of children and adolescents run rampant on the streets of Bahia, Brazil.
Paprika by Yasutaka Tsutsui - a really odd novel involving machines that can invade people's dreams. Very weird and fun.
Tombstone by Yeng Jisheng - the most thorough and brutal account you'll ever read of the Chinese Famine of 1958-62. Much talk of cannibalism and insect-nutrition charts.
The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Matsuo Basho - it's both a collection of haiku by one of the medium's acknowledged masters and an idiosyncratic travel narrative of 1600s Japan.
Memories of My Melancholy Whores by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - a great first Marquez to recommend to people who don't yet want to take the One Hundred Years of Solitude plunge.
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami - one of the few books I've read more than twice.
The Notebook, The Proof, and The Third Lie by Agota Kristof - a trilogy of short novels about distance and isolation in Europe during and after World War II. The three books form a narrative that contradicts itself, doubles back and retells events, and generally messes with your head until you're not sure what to believe.
Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino - my favorite of Calvino's works. This is a collection of short stories about and narrated by heavenly bodies, mathematical formulae, supreme beings. They're basically cosmic fairy tales.