Looking for somewhat easy Japanese novels.

5 comments

1. Could you give some more details? What sorts of books do you like? Genres? Are you fine with children’s books? Are you able to buy physical copies, or only things released digitally?

2. Murakami Haruki — his style in Japanese is very beginner friendly. While what he’s writing about gets weird, he uses short, punchy sentences and straightforward prose and his writing overall feels as western as it does Japanese. There’s a reason he’s commonly compared to American writers like Raymond Chandler and Kurt Vonnegut more than other Japanese writers. Plus he’s written a lot of good short stories if you want to dip your toes in. Personally I think he’s a better short story guy than a novelist anyway.

3. Not sure about easy but I’ve been going through the Harry Potter novels in Japanese. Fun to see what they change. I haven’t found an actual Japanese author who I’ve enjoyed reading enough to finish their book. Recommend me. I love Clive Barker… Is there an author like that? Or a comedy author, maybe a book like John Dies at the End?

4. My number one recommendation would be basically anything by Hoshi Shinichi (星新一). Most of what he has written are short stories, making it very easy to follow and you don’t become burned out from reading a long novel. It’s all considered sci-fi, but you don’t have to worry about special lingo being used in his stories. Thematically his stories are considered sci-fi, but some of them don’t really feel like that, however they can be really strange. He does have novels, but most of the time his books are just a compilation of short stories he has written.

   My next suggestion would be to read Murakami Haruki (村上春樹). I’d suggest picking up one of his anthologies of short stories or diary entries, for they aren’t too hard to read, and read like a stream of consciousness/shower thoughts. His novels may be a bit harder for beginners, but I think his short stories/essays/diaries are a good challenge. Again, the shorts aren’t too long (given by the name), so it makes reading quite easy.

   Novel wise, I’d suggest 『雨の日も、晴れ男』 by Mizuno Keiya (水野敬也). It’s a very easy read, a very silly book and not very long. If you enjoy reading that, you may enjoy other works by Mizuno Keiya.

5. 「ハサミ男」is amazing. A mystery with an insane twist and that doesn’t have the kind of ending you’d at all expect. Don’t look it up on Wikipedia or anything or you’ll get spoiled, and don’t bother with the movie.

   Also 「人間失格」 is very good, but although it’s short, it has a lot of extremely complicated sentences, so maybe not so beginner friendly.