MONDAY FUNDAY – Dec 26, 2016

It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date, and adapted by Kellee at Unleashing Readers and Jen at Teach Mentor Texts with a children’s/YA focus. The Sunday Post is hosted by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer. Musing Monday is hosted by The Purple Booker. These weekly roundups are a great way to discover new blogs and bloggers, share some of the titles you’ve been enjoying, and add to your ever-growing to-read list.

What have I been reading this week, you might ask? The truth is, not a heck of a lot. I’d like to think I have a pretty good excuse, though – I’m currently backpacking my way through Japan (quite literally – I feel like I’m on my way to Everest base camp…), and I just couldn’t fit a book in my bag! I know, I know, I’m a terrible bookworm – feel free to take away my book blogger license for this offense against reading. This is when I really wish I could get into ebooks – it certainly would be more efficient to pack dozens of books in one small case!

I have been taking plenty of pictures of books, though – does that count? As I mentioned in a previous post, Japan is a book-lover’s country – there are bookshops and libraries absolutely everywhere. One shopping street in Osaka had SIX different little bookshops alone! Books are absolutely everywhere, so in lieu of book reviews, I bring you – a random assortment of book photos from Japan! You lucky ducks, you.

Used bookshops abound in Japan – this shop in Osaka had tables groaning with books for 100 yen each, which works out to about a dollar per book. That’s my kind of price! I even saw other shops with books for 25 yen! These shops help keep reading accessible and affordable, and help keep books out of landfills (or in the case of Japan, incinerators). I generally only buy second-hand books, so these shops were very dear to my heart. Now if only I could read Japanese…

While the majority of the books available in Japanese bookstores are Japanese in origin, you can find translations of classic foreign children’s books, like The Very Hungry Caterpillar, which is a favorite in any language. It’s always fun to discover some of my favorite storytime books being loved and shared by families all around the world. I can see this one working well as a language-learning book, too, with all those food names!

There are some children’s books, though, that simply seem to defy translation…. Still, I must say that I can imagine this one being a hit with kids. Potty humour never seems to go out of style!

And one last shot, simply because I’m Canadian and grew up loving this independent, stubborn, wonderful redhead – konnichiwa, Anne-chan! I was feeling a bit homesick being so far from home at Christmas, and this familiar piece of Canadiana really helped perk me up. Anne of Green Gables is massively popular in Japan due to its adaptation into a bit anime.

I hope you’ll forgive the lack of book reviews this Monday, and bear with the sporadic content for the next few weeks while I cruise my way up and down The Land of the Rising Sun.

Have a great week, everybody!