A nice surprise :)

A nice surprise :)
Originally uploaded by nofrills
The other day a book arrived from Derry, Northern Ireland. It looks like the publisher is a small company, quite possibly a DIY-style one. Very nicely they put in the envelope a copy of Derry and Donegal Tourist Guide 2011, which is sweet, as I hope to visit the Walled City before I get too old. :)

Then, today, I'm hearing another news of "zombie" attack. Distressing.
chirpstory.com/li/3912

Derry is such a beautiful city. There's no place for bombs or IEDs. It goes without saying that bombs can't make things better. I'm hoping in my room in Tokyo that they would wise up.

"The Day of the Jackal" Japanese edition - body and the author's profile

"The Day of the Jackal" Japanese edition - body and the author's profile
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

Why I have this book, if you are interested.

This picture is a mosaic. View large to read.

Top right: Chapter One.
Bottom right: Chapter Three. （このルビ、しびれる～。）
Top left: Publication Data
Bottom left: The auther's profile, looks very 1970s!

Indeed, how he looked thirty years ago in an "official" PR photo was why I bought this. This makes me AHGRRRRGHA (LOL).

"The Day of the Jackal" Japanese edition - inside

"The Day of the Jackal" Japanese edition - inside
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

I wish I were a better photorapher ... A 1973 Frederick Forsyth book (printed in 1984), Japanese edition.

Why I have this book, if you are interested.

"The Day of the Jackal" Japanese edition - front cover

"The Day of the Jackal" Japanese edition - front cover
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

As I wrote the other day, I really can't quit second-hand bookstores. The famous Book-Off (ブックオフ) is not traditional kind of used bookstores, and I don't like all the noise there (J-POP thingy: I can't concentrate), but they have huge "100 yen" shelves. They put every old, dusty book in there. So, BO's 100-yen shelves are treasure islands.

Today, I'm just back from one of the BO stores in Tokyo. With four 100 yen books. Thus, my books keep growing.

Anyway one of the find was this: Frederic Forsyth's classic novel, "The Day of the Jackal". Hardcover. Published by 角川春樹 （笑）. 昭和59年 (1984!), 33rd print, first print being in 1973. And 100 yen.

Yes, I have "The Day of the Jackal" Japanese edition's bunko (paperback). I've read it four or five times. (If you don't like F. Forsyth's political point of view, this novel is exceptional, 別格! And "Dogs of War" too. So just try!)

I knew it's nonsense to buy a book which I already have, already read. But the hardcover looks SOOOOOO classic! Hard-boiled! ゴルゴ13! And it was only 100 yen.

Thus, my books keep growing.

Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

A few weeks back, I was looking at a bunko (paperbacks) shelf at a local, small, family-run bookstore. I often go to the store because they have a good selection of books - other bookstores in my area are too consumeristic to have Edward Said and other books that make me feel intellectual.

I was looking for a "The Secret of Google" sort of books needed in my work, when I found the "B・ジョンソン (B. Johnson)" book. I know one B. Johnson - Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, a British MP, a Tory, etc. The funny title, 「世界同時中継！　朝まで生テロリスト？」　caught my eyes too. I couldn't find the right kind of my book, so I bought this. 1,000 yen is rather costly for an entertainment book, but this is Boris Johnson. I didn't know how long the store keeps it or it might not be very long until it gets in the usual out-of-print status. (I don't think this sells so well, and I know how publishers make decisions.) It was "now or never".

「朝まで生 something？」 is sort of in the Japanese pop culture, after a TV debate program, 「朝まで生テレビ」. It literally translates as "Live TV til Dawn", in which guest members do some debates from 01.00 til 05.00 (or something). I seldom see the program, as I don't like the host. Anyway the phrase 「朝まで生 something？」 is catchy enough.

The book is rich in details. I have just read the first 100 pages, and am sort of bored of the story but some details make me LOL. There will be a big move in the story in the next 100 pages, I hope. If Robert Altman were still alive, he'd do a clever job on this novel.

And 「世界同時中継！　朝まで生テロリスト？」　translates: Live on Air World-Wide! Live Terrorist til Dawn? ... Looks seriously stupid for a title of a book. (Originally, as on the cover, "Seventy-Two Virgins".)

a second hand book

a second hand book
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

One one the reasons why I can't quit second hand book stores is, I can find something that I didn't or couldn't buy ages ago. This is one of these books, the Japanese 1981 edition of "Moraity and Architecture" by David Watkin (1977, Oxford University).

It was 1,500 yen or something in the 1990s, or possibly deleted, and I didn't have the money. Now I found it, only at 300 yen in Jinbo-cho.

The underline (in Japan it becomes sideline) was already in there. This is another joy of a second hand book. I can see what another person thought. I really like the emotional sideline here.

---

See the difference in the font setting:




These two pictures are of a 70 year old book, "War Memorial" by Lloyd-George (British prime minister in the 1910s), which was published just before the WW II, in which Japan and UK fought as enemies.

book

book
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

[for my blog (in Japanese)]
nofrills.seesaa.net/article/28150579.html

book

book
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

[for my blog (in Japanese)]
nofrills.seesaa.net/article/28150579.html

book

book
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

[for my blog (in Japanese)]
nofrills.seesaa.net/article/28150579.html

BOOK INFO:
First published in Great Britain 1975
by Hamish Hamilton Ltd as A Terrible Beauty Is Born
This edition revised and with a new epilogue published in 1989
by Mandarin Paperbacks

ISBN 0749301775

The book Terrible Beauty Is Born is translated and published in Japan under the title, 『恐ろしい美が生まれている―アイルランド独立運動と殉教者たち』 （青土社、1997年）、ISBN 4791755154.

book

book
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

[for my blog (in Japanese)]
nofrills.seesaa.net/article/28150579.html

A while ago, a friend of mine gave this book to me after a big cleaning of her bookshelf.

First published in Great Britain 1975
by Hamish Hamilton Ltd as A Terrible Beauty Is Born
This edition revised and with a new epilogue published in 1989
by Mandarin Paperbacks

ISBN 0749301775

The book Terrible Beauty Is Born is translated and published in Japan under the title, 『恐ろしい美が生まれている―アイルランド独立運動と殉教者たち』 （青土社、1997年）、ISBN 4791755154.

the "tension" book inside - 500 x 500 clop

the "tension" book inside - 500 x 500 clop
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

Page 18 of "The Promise of World Tensions", edited by Harlan Cleveland (Macmillan, 1961); "Toward a 'Rule of Law' Community" by Louis Henkin.

Louis Henkin is Professor Emeritus at Columbia University. (Google search.)

Several pics are filed under "the_promise_of_world_tensions" tag.

the "tension" book inside 3

the "tension" book inside 3
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

Page 18 of "The Promise of World Tensions", edited by Harlan Cleveland (Macmillan, 1961); "Toward a 'Rule of Law' Community" by Louis Henkin.

Louis Henkin is Professor Emeritus at Columbia University. (Google search.)

Several pics are filed under "the_promise_of_world_tensions" tag.

the "tension" book inside 2

the "tension" book inside 2
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

Page 17 of "The Promise of World Tensions", edited by Harlan Cleveland (Macmillan, 1961); "Toward a 'Rule of Law' Community" by Louis Henkin.

Louis Henkin is Professor Emeritus at Columbia University. (Google search.)

Several pics are filed under "the_promise_of_world_tensions" tag.

the "tension" book inside 1 - Philip Noel-Baker

the "tension" book inside 1 - Philip Noel-Baker
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

Page 16 of "The Promise of World Tensions", edited by Harlan Cleveland (Macmillan, 1961).

Several pics are filed under "the_promise_of_world_tensions" tag.

Philip Noel-Baker (1889 - 1982) was one of the people behind the League of Nations and the United Nations. For more information, wikipedia, nobelprize.org and LSE would be helpful.

Another search for Noel-Baker somehow took me to a Konni Zilliacus's bio, which is a very interesting read for me. For example, Zilliacus disapproved of British intervention in the Russian Revolution and when Winston Churchill lied in the House of Commons about what was going on in Siberia, he leaked information to C. P. Scott at the Manchester Guardian and Leonard Woolf of the Daily Herald. (Leonard Woolf is, of course, Virginia's husband.)

BTW, Zilliacus's father was once living in exile in Japan, about which I didn't know; 日本語でも少し言及が。

... The power of the Internet.

the "tension" book description

the "tension" book description
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

The back cover of "The Promise of World Tensions", edited by Harlan Cleveland (Macmillan, 1961).

Several pics are filed under "the_promise_of_world_tensions" tag.

the "tension" book - credit

the "tension" book - credit
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

The back cover of "The Promise of World Tensions", edited by Harlan Cleveland (Macmillan, 1961).

I knew nothing about this book when I bought it for 33.33333... JPN, and it was Gilbert Etheredge's front cover design that made me choose this one out of the "3 for 100 yen" boxes - and I didn't know the designer's name, either. A sheer accidental find.

Several pics are filed under "the_promise_of_world_tensions" tag.

"tensions" from the cold war era

"tensions" from the cold war era
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

The front cover of "The Promise of World Tensions", edited by Harlan Cleveland (Macmillan, 1961).

*another view, and several pics are filed under "the_promise_of_world_tensions" tag.

The other day, I was fishing through a "3 for 100 yen" box at a used book store.

There was only one book that I actually wanted, and I kept looking through the other two "3 for 100 yen" boxes, and found this.

And this is why I love the "3 for 100 yen" boxes.

*100 yen is about 50 pence in the UK, 75 cents in EU, 1 dollar in the US, ...

"tensions" from the cold war era

"tensions" from the cold war era
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

The front cover of "The Promise of World Tensions", edited by Harlan Cleveland (Macmillan, 1961).

*another view, and several pics are filed under "the_promise_of_world_tensions" tag.

The other day, I was fishing through a "3 for 100 yen" box at a used book store.

There was only one book that I actually wanted, and I kept looking through the other two "3 for 100 yen" boxes, and found this.

And this is why I love the "3 for 100 yen" boxes.

*100 yen is about 50 pence in the UK, 75 cents in EU, 1 dollar in the US, ...

look what I'm reading

look what I'm reading
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

A few days ago, Terry Bain commented on my dog picture with links.

I read two pages at amazon.com, and went straight to amazon.co.jp because I live in Japan, and voila! It's here today.

Thank you, Terry, for telling me that my dog was trying to protect me from the evil vacuum! I thought he just hated my mother's lovely vacuum cleaner.

-- Amazon.co.jp link here, if you are in Japan.

-- The author's flickr site and blog.

The stories on Terry's blog make me somewhat emotional, because our dog used to be a miserable stray dog before he came to our house. After almost 18 years at our home, he died peacefully, hearing all the family say "thank you".

I know someone in Tokyo who adopted a nearly-stray female dog. She had been kept by a homeless old man, and when he died, she had nowhere to go but a dog rescue team. She was a crossbred of Shiba and Siberian Huskie, and quite large, so had a long wait until she found a new family. I met the dog only once, but I can say she's a gentle, thoughtful soul.

something victorian

something victorian
Originally uploaded by nofrills.

The other day, knautia reminded me of a book I bought but haven't read through yet. I have just discovered the book from the pile of the books, and here it is. (Two images are combined.)

Full of fine graphics from the Victorian magazines and newspapers, it is written by two Japanese academics (in Japanese, of course). Clearly written, it helps you a lot to get the picture of the Victorian "respected" society.