february 2026 reads
I'm not actually sure it's worth writing a full reading log this month since I haven't really been doing much reading, but I haven't written one since November and my blog seems a little lonely without a post, so I want to just get something out of I can. Skipping January also means that I never shared any of my specific, if vague, goals for the year. So I guess in that sense too, perhaps this post is worth writing.
My goals for the year are actually... kind of non-existent. I have some defaults that I always keep to in order to make sure that my reading stays varied and consist, so I want to read 52 books total and I'd like for 12 of them to be in Japanese. I should really increase the percentage of books I read in Japanese to keep up with what's going on in the Japanese publishing space, but time is limited and if I get to 12, I'm always happy. Beyond that, I'm always working to minimize the number of books I own that I haven't read. I mostly do this so that I don't spend every single yen I earn on books that collect dust for a few years before being sent to the secondhand store. Great for the authors, but not great for my tiny apartment or wallet.
I also normally do the translated lit challenge, but I don't think I'm going to go for it this year. I like having some kind of guide to get me to read outside of my comfort zone, but so far this year, I'm not even having time to casually read, so I don't think my current life situation allows for it. I might try to read all the International Booker Longlist this year, but that's something I was interested in doing last year and very much so Did Not Do, so we'll see.
Now that all that housekeeping is out of the way, let's talk (very few) books!
Novels, Collections, & Nonfiction
Mistress Koharu by Noboru Tsujijhara (tr. Kalau Almony)
I met Kalau Almony a few months ago at a literary event here in Tokyo and he talked about this book, which made me want to read it. I wanted for it for months at the library and finally read it a few weeks ago and... didn't really care for it. It was fine, but I found the love doll aspect a little too creepy and the glosses needed for the book to still make sense to readers who don't know Japanese was a bit to heavy for me (someone who reads Japanese well). Definitely more of a this isn't the kind of book I usually read thing than a there's an inherent problem with it thing.
お砂糖とスパイスと爆発的な何か by 北村紗衣 (Sae Kitamura)
This is a very casual collection of short feminist essays mostly about movies. Some of it was pretty interesting, but I found the first have dragged a lot and the essays just didn't really pique my interest. I also really disliked how much the author glossed over JKR's destructive transphobia. I realize that the essays were published elsewhere before first being put compiled into a book, so timing is probably a factor, but it just really left a bad taste in my mouth. I think people who have read less feminist texts would probably get more out of it and enjoy it more than I did. It was fine, just uninteresting to me.
Manga & Other Comics
I read some stuff for work, but otherwise this hasn't been happening at all. Maybe this month. I had several volumes that got returned to the library unread because I simply didn't have the time. Disappointing.
So as you can see, February was an extremely lackluster month for reading for me. I only got through two whole books! And only three in January! The world practically feels like it's ending because of how little I'm reading, but sometimes the brain just needs a break to vegetate and chew on different things. If that's what my brain needs while I'm doing heavy duty translation work, then that's what it needs. The books will be there for me when I'm done.
As always, happy reading (and I hope you're getting more reading done than me)!
Updated 1 month, 1 week ago