If I had a nickel for every Japanese novel I've read that has a bookshop, a cat, and a reference to The Little Prince, I'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.

Meme format aside, the last Japanese novel I read, The Cat Who Saved Books, also referenced The Little Prince. This might not seem significant to most, but it's one of my all time favourite stories, so it makes me very happy.

And the included Spotify playlist?? Plus the whole list written out?? Incredible.

Based on the prologue alone, I have a feeling I'm gonna be in for an emotional ride. Especially with this playlist playing softly in the background.

BRING ON THE EMOTIONS.

So I had this idea for us all to play a little bookish game if you’re into it 😁 This is inspired by the “cadavre exquis” game, or “Exquisite Corpse” if you know it. The original point is to create a grammatically correct phrase, but with an unexpected meaning. Here, I’m proposing that we all create some short stories together (which will hopefully be funny) based on our reading.

If you want to participate, rules are :

• Pick the book you’re reading (or a book within your reach)
• Pick the sentence you’re currently at, or a random sentence from a random page in the book, you can do as you please for this tbh, but you shouldn’t think too much about it
• Then reply that sentence to this post to create a new story and/or a comment underneath this post to further a story You can respond to multiple threads if there are multiple ones, just pick a new sentence to miw it up. And you can participate multiple times on the same thread, just try to not respond to your own sentences, so we have a chance to mix it up ^^

I’m sorry if it sounds like i’m policing you (it kind of sounds like that to me), but that is not the intention at all, I’m just trying to offer some ground rules in the hopes this will help make the experience better, and I don’t know how to phrase this differently and still get my point across 😅

Also, if this goes well, I’ll make a compilation of all the stories created and post them on a new post in club, so don’t worry if it gets a little messy ^^

I’m hoping you all, and I, will enjoy this, and I’ll start us off with :

It’s at once a relief and a tragedy, realising that nothing which mattered to you as a child really matters.

“It is easier to be in love in a room with closed doors. To have a whole world in one room. In one person. The universe condensed and intensified and burning, bright and alive and electric. But doors cannot stay closed forever.”

the writing in this book is INSANE

This opinion is about the response to this book by many reviewers, not the book itself. It is spoiler free and directed to future readers and past reviewers. My comment is split into sections: •Main point •Explanation •Cherry on the cake of irony •Solution (I’m going to get this off my chest here. I’m not sure if this is the place for it, correct me if there is a better place for this kind of opinion.)

Main point: Orientalism is the study of patronizing Western attitudes towards Middle, Eastern, Asian and North-African countries. The characters in this book are not difficult to follow. There is maximum 40 names in the book. Someone else compared this lack of ability to appreciate the diversity of the cast to how people generally praise Greek mythology retellings because readers can recognise the deities easier. If you struggled with this book because of this or are afraid you will struggle if you read it, all you need to do is pay due respect to the language and learn the names first. I don’t think this is a ridiculous suggestion and I do think that the lack of trying I’ve seen from a lot of the reviewers shows an orientalist attitude towards this book.

Explanation: Said explains that implicit in Orientalism is the idea that Western society is developed, rational, flexible, and superior. This allows 'Western imagination' to see 'Eastern' cultures and people as both alluring and a threat to Western civilization.

In the reviews of this book I see people wanting to enjoy the allure of reading a book about a river goddess but criticising the narration as inflexible and confusing solely because they cannot navigate 40 names.

Cherry on the cake of irony: Often this is also paired with critique that the book focuses too much on the war and conquest of the human characters. This is hypocritical because it’s asking the book to make itself and its culture simpler for your enjoyment as a Westerner is a cultural form of conquest.

Solution: If you want to enjoy this book, approach it as a guest in another culture. Show respect to your host by learning the names properly, maybe connecting their literal meanings from Sanskrit with the words on page. For example, reminding yourself each time you read the name Bhishma that it means “terrible oath” is very useful. Or that Gangaputra means “child of Ganga” makes the many nicknames seamless.

Hey I have a general questions to those who finished this book; I saw posts suggesting some extra reading/listening about the Mahabharata. Generally I go into books blind, and I was gonna do this with Goddess of the river too, but now I'm wondering:

Would you suggest looking up more on the Mahabharata before or after reading this book?

I am wondering how people go about choosing books. Do you pick something up based on an intriguing cover, or do you follow authors or genres? I’m sure this has been discussed before, but personally when I get the chance to wander in the library or the bookshop I am judging books by their cover, and find myself drawn to modern, minimalist covers with intriguing titles. I’d love to hear your thoughts!