I got home from my book club meeting a few hours ago. We discussed Thirst for Love by the Japanese writer Yukio Mishima. Sadly, I barely started it, as my schedule has been packed for the last three weeks. And I certainly plan on finishing it. But from what I read and heard at our meetup, I got the vibe that the book was very violent.

Being exposed to violence is nothing new in our book club. I mean, we started it reading several dystopian novels. But this one was too cruel for my taste. We follow a woman who wants to die for no apparent reason and wants the people close to her to suffer too. And with that title, Thirst for Love, I expected some kind of a love story. Talk about subverting expectations!

It's the second book from a Japanese author we've read. The first one was Hear the Wind Sing by Haruki Murakami. I think it had some violent episodes too, and it was also kind of weird. The title also doesn't reflect in any way what the book is actually about. I understand that there might be some cultural differences. We're mostly exposed to Western culture. But I feel like we can get a warped perception of Japanese literature as a whole just because the only two books we've read are like that.

I have a request for my fellow Journalers: do you have any Japanese fiction book recommendations for us? We limit ourselves to books that have been written in the last one hundred years and we're looking for something critically acclaimed. And most importantly, this time I'd like to read a good, heartwarming story. There's enough violence already — both in our reading materials and in our lives.