Tokyo Stories Reading List

[rynling]

In the spring semester I'm teaching a literature class called "Tokyo Stories." I don't mean to be a grumpy old man, and I say this with nothing but sympathy: I think college-age students have trouble with reading. A lot of this is coming from the fact that reading requires quiet, focus, and attention, and these kids are extremely busy. I therefore want to assign books that are (a) short, (b) interesting, and (c) accessible, both in the sense of "easy to read" and in the sense of "easy to find summaries and reviews online" (also in the sense of "inexpensive" and "readily available in a digital edition").

This is what I have so far:

- In the Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami
- Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto
- After Dark by Haruki Murakami
- Tokyo Ueno Station by Miri Yu
- Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
- The Last Children of Tokyo by Yoko Tawada
- Himawari House by Harmony Becker

I'm considering assigning one of the Fuminori Nakamura crime novellas - maybe the one about the taxi driver? - but I don't remember them being that good in translation. I guess I should probably read a few of the translations again over the break. I'm also considering the first volume of the Durarara!! light novel series, but I need to read the translation first to see if it's any good.