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Once again, we begin with the Most-Read Author Award, and heading the list this year are a couple of rather familiar names:
I have to say that this award hasn't been completely finalised yet as the Koreans have put in a steward's enquiry. While the Japanese pair take it 4-3 according to the stats on my list, O's three include various novellas and stories which could easily have been counted differently...
Nope, the verdict's in. Haruki takes the prize, regaining the award he won back in 2009, and the Grand Master of J-Lit joins him thanks to a couple of December reads - well done, sirs :)
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After that close tussle, let's move onto a more clear-cut race, the struggle for the Most-Read Country award:
1) South Korea (30)
2) Japan (20)
3) Germany (11)
4) France (7)
5) Italy (5)
Boom! After one book in six years (and one that was worst in class at that), the Koreans romped home in 2014, with only a late Japanese surge making the race look even a little bit competitive. My new-found interest in K-Lit has been the story of the blog this year, and I suspect that things will look fairly similar in 2015 as well. The ten books I read and reviewed from the Dalkey Archive Press Library of Korean Literature beat out every other country, aside from Japan and Germany, on their own ;)
If we look at the annual statistics for English-language books versus the rest of the world, you'll see that my focus on literature in translation continues to sharpen. Of the 130 books I read, only 8 were originally published in English, meaning that an astounding 122 (of which I read 15 in the original language) were originally written in a language other than English. Even last year's 90% hit-rate has been surpassed - those are big numbers, no matter which way you look at it...
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While it's all well and good to reward the enjoyable books of the year, New Year's Eve is also a time to reflect on the complete stinkers, which is why I always look forward to the Golden Turkey Award. This year, once again, there were four contenders for the drumsticks:
And the winner is...
One Spoon on This Earth! Another award for the Koreans, then, although it's not one they would have wanted. However, it's only right that I give an honourable mention to the person who made it all possible, translator Jennifer M. Lee. Believe me when I say that this award really belongs to her...
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Having dished out the minor awards, it's time to get down the real focus of the night, the Book of the Year Award. As has been the case for a few years now, each of my monthly wrap-ups has seen one book singled out as the pick of the month, and only these titles have been found worthy of contending for the ultimate honour (links are to my reviews). Many wonderful books have missed out because of this system, to which I can say only one thing - tough luck.
January - A True Novel by Minae Mizumura (Japan)
February - Anatomy of a Night by Anna Kim (Austria)
September - Journey by Moonlight by Antal Szerb (Hungary)
November - The Old Masters by Thomas Bernhard (Austria)
December - Zone by Mathias Énard (France)
Twelve of the best, I'm sure you'll agree :) There are three nods each to France and Hungary, and two books from Austria, with works from Japan, Netherlands, Spain and South Korea rounding out the dozen. Unsurprisingly, there's no room for an Anglophone book on the list this year...
Of course, where there's a longlist, there's also a shortlist, and here's mine:
A True Novel
Where Tigers Are At Home
Seiobo There Below
The Old Masters
Zone
At which point, after a few stiff drinks, I had a good, long think before making my final decision - and here it is. The Tony's Reading List Book of the Year for 2014 is (highlight the blank area below with your cursor to see the winner):
A True Novel by Minae Mizumura
(translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter, published by Other Press)
Much more than an updated Japanese version of Wuthering Heights, A True Novel explores how much you can trust other people's versions of a story - and the wonderful product Other Press have developed makes the book even better. Well done to everyone involved :)
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That's all for this year - it's time to look ahead now to the seventh year of the blog, a year that's going to get off to a quick start as January in Japan is about to begin! Here's hoping it's a good one for all of you, and I do hope you'll join me again occasionally in 2015 :)
