Argh! decision city population: Me!

[Matt Deckard]

hi. I got a decision to make regarding books. I can get Shogun by James Clavell OR Journey to the West Volume 1 by Anthony C. Yu. Can anyone help me decide which to get first?

[Popeye]

Journey to the West sounds more historical. Shogun was kinda sorta based on history, but great liberties were taken.

Me, I'd say read Journey to the West and get the movie miniseries Shogun and leave it at that.

[Demon of Light]

I disagree. James Clavell is one of my favorite authors. While Shogun was good, the book I would really recommend is King Rat. Clavell did an excellent job introducing a host of complex issues in that book.

Between the two that you mentioned, get Shogun. If you can though, get King Rat.

[Popeye]

I'm not criticising Clavell as an author. I've read Shogun, Tai-Pan, Noble House, King Rat, and I think there was another but anyway....

He's a great author, but he is NOT history. If the other is History, then base the choice on whether you want history or entertainment.

It's like....do I want an orange soda or a cheeseburger? I dunno, are you hungry, or are you thirsty?

[Demon of Light]

Actually more a matter of what you hunger and thirst for. History is great but Samurai-ninja_fusion_of_doom is in high school. Plenty of time (and teachers) left for history. Literature is a harder bug to catch though simply for the amount of abstract thought involved. There will be more literature teachers in his future but starting in on quality literature early in life goes a long way. Not necessarily longer than reading quality history books but I daresay more thought provoking.

[Matt Deckard]

Ok, thanks for your help. im going to get shogun first and journey to the west later.

[bhutavarna]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Journey to the West a story about the mythical Monkey God Son Goku travelling to India accompanying his teacher to retrieve the Buddhist scriptures. It was originally written by a Taoist monk during the Ming dynasty, based on an actual event that happened around 7-800 AD, and since then has become classic Chinese reading.

If so, I highly recommend that you read it, but after Shogun.

[Matt Deckard]

Yeh it is, it had a popular tv series made from it (monkey/ monkey magic), but son gokou is from the dragonball series. and i still plan to get JTTW anyway.

[bhutavarna]

try reading Taiko by Eiji Yoshikawa you like to read more Japanese historically based novels. It's a loosely written story of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's rise to power; a good and fun book to read.

by the way, Eiji Yoshikawa is also the author of Musashi.

[Matt Deckard]

Ok, ive added that book to my the list of books that must be read. Thanks. Any other suggestions?

[HindSight2020]

Of the two, I've only read Shogun. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Read it 3-4 times. Probably read it again some day.

Highly recommend Taiko and Musashi. There are usually used hardback copies for sale on eBay. Eiji Yoshikawa is the best.

Re. Clavell: I like most of Clavell's novels. He takes historical facts and places them inside of historical novels -- kind of like the Shaaras or John Jakes or any number of other authors.
King Rat was his first. It is about a POW camp run by the Japanese.
Taipan was next. It was better. It's about the establishment of the non-Chinese community at Hong Kong.
Shogun was next. It was even better. It is based on the historical events in the early Shogunate period of a European ship (non-Catholic) which makes it through the Straits of Magellan and sails up to the Japans.
After that he kind of tails off in quality.
Noble House is a novel of the modern descendants of those that were in Taipan.
Whirlwind is a novel about Iran in the late 1970s.
Gai-Jin is a novel of Japan. It was very strange. I read it, but I sold it as soon as I could.

[bhutavarna]

On the subject of Eiji Yoshikawa, he also wrote a book about Heike(or Taira) no Kiyomori who was the leader of the Taira clan during Taira-Minamoto conlict. Unfortunately this book wasn't finished, but it was still a very good book. I read it long time ago when I was in college so I dont' remember the title, but it's probably the Story of Heike or something like that.