{"id":358,"date":"2009-01-30T15:21:58","date_gmt":"2009-01-30T06:21:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fugutabetai.com\/blog\/2009\/01\/30\/books-david-gemmels-the-first-chronicles-of-druss-the-legend-and-natsumi-hikarus-the-doctrine-of-sex\/"},"modified":"2009-01-30T15:21:58","modified_gmt":"2009-01-30T06:21:58","slug":"books-david-gemmels-the-first-chronicles-of-druss-the-legend-and-natsumi-hikarus-the-doctrine-of-sex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fugutabetai.com\/blog\/2009\/01\/30\/books-david-gemmels-the-first-chronicles-of-druss-the-legend-and-natsumi-hikarus-the-doctrine-of-sex\/","title":{"rendered":"Books: David Gemmel&#8217;s The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend and Natsumi Hikaru&#8217;s &#8220;The Doctrine of Sex&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"floatleft\">\n<p><iframe src=\"http:\/\/rcm.amazon.com\/e\/cm?t=daveva-20&#038;o=1&#038;p=8&#038;l=as1&#038;asins=0345407997&#038;md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&#038;fc1=000000&#038;IS2=1&#038;lt1=_blank&#038;m=amazon&#038;lc1=0000FF&#038;bc1=000000&#038;bg1=FFFFFF&#038;f=ifr\" style=\"width:120px;height:240px;\" scrolling=\"no\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><iframe src=\"http:\/\/rcm-jp.amazon.co.jp\/e\/cm?t=fugutabetai-22&#038;o=9&#038;p=8&#038;l=as1&#038;asins=4043635028&#038;md=1X69VDGQCMF7Z30FM082&#038;fc1=000000&#038;IS2=1&#038;lt1=_blank&#038;m=amazon&#038;lc1=0000FF&#038;bc1=000000&#038;bg1=FFFFFF&#038;f=ifr\" style=\"width:120px;height:240px;\" scrolling=\"no\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h3>David Gemmell&#8217;s Druss the Legend<\/h3>\n<p>This past week has been a busy one, but sometime over the past week or two I picked up the second book about <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0345379063?ie=UTF8&#038;tag=daveva-20&#038;linkCode=as2&#038;camp=1789&#038;creative=390957&#038;creativeASIN=0345379063\">Druss the Legend<\/a><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=daveva-20&#038;l=as2&#038;o=1&#038;a=0345379063\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" style=\"border:none !important; margin:0px !important;\" \/><br \/>\n in David Gemmel&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Drenai_Series>Drenai Series<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><P><\/p>\n<p>I enjoyed <a href=\"http:\/\/fugutabetai.com\/?postid=349\">the first book<\/a>, and was even more impressed on reflection because that was David Gemmell&#8217;s first book.  It takes on the fantasy genre in a way that is interesting, going from the point of view of a hero on the way out.  I&#8217;ve read lots of fantasy novels, and enjoy the straight on group of heroes against evil approach, but also enjoy fresh looks at the genre.  (Most recently <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/series\/4?ie=UTF8&#038;edition=hardcover\">George R. R. Martin&#8217;s Song of Ice and Fire<\/a>&#8216;s take on Fantasy as historically influenced political novels with a dash of magic.<\/p>\n<p><P><\/p>\n<p>What really surprises me is that David Gemmell&#8217;s first book (Legend) was so good and so refreshing.  The second novel in the Druss series, but not the second by publication date by a long shot, is a more traditional hero story, but still lots of fun.  It is a great light reading fantasy novel that doesn&#8217;t engage any of the meta-criticism centers of the brain that Legend challenges, and also comes off as a unique story on its own.  Another book on the recommended pile.  I do have the second book (by publication date) in his series on the pile to read, but next up will be something science fiction (Did you notice the Sci-Fi \/ Fantasy alternation I&#8217;ve been doing?  I don&#8217;t remember if I&#8217;ve actually done the write-ups in order, but I&#8217;ve been doing that for a while now.)<\/p>\n<h3>Natsumi Hikaru&#8217;s &#8220;The Doctrine of Sex&#8221;<\/h3>\n<p>This is another one that I&#8217;ve been slowly reading.  It is a Japanese book, and a bit of a random shot in the dark for me.  A few months back <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ai_Iijima\">Iijima Ai<\/a> was found dead in her apartment.  She is an interesting character, and was a regular on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tbs.co.jp\/program\/sundayjapon.html\">Sunday Japon<\/a>, a weekend talk show that came on in the mornings.  (Also famous as one of the shows that <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dave_Spector\">Dave Spector<\/a> shows up on frequently, but I&#8217;m not going to write about him right now.  Another interesting character.)  She started out as a porn star, and ended up a pretty interesting commentator &#8211; a cut above the women that are on the shows to just look pretty &#8211; who had a bit of a feminist agenda, and definitely had interesting things to say.  <\/p>\n<p><P><\/p>\n<p>So when I heard that she had been found dead, I decided that I should order her book <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.co.jp\/gp\/product\/4094023968?ie=UTF8&#038;tag=fugutabetai-22&#038;linkCode=as2&#038;camp=247&#038;creative=7399&#038;creativeASIN=4094023968\">PLATONIC SEX (\u5c0f\u5b66\u9928\u6587\u5eab)<\/a><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.jp\/e\/ir?t=fugutabetai-22&#038;l=as2&#038;o=9&#038;a=4094023968\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" style=\"border:none !important; margin:0px !important;\" \/> and try to read that.  At the same time, Amazon decided to recommend this other book, &#8220;The Doctrine of Sex&#8221;, to me, so I thought &#8220;why not?&#8221; and picked it up too.  It came first, so I slowly worked my way through it.<\/p>\n<p><P><\/p>\n<p>I wasn&#8217;t too serious about reading the book &#8211; just a chapter here or there when I had time (short chapters, about 1.5 to 2 pages) so you aren&#8217;t going to get anything about Japanese literature analysis or pedagogical theory out of this from me.  (Better hope <a href=\"http:\/\/victorymanual.com\/\">Alex<\/a> doesn&#8217;t see this entry.)  It was a fun read, Hikaru had some funny stories, and filled in the background of what it is like to work in the &#8220;water business&#8221; trade in Japan.  It is really pretty light-hearted, she doesn&#8217;t regret her job, and enjoyed the lifestyle while she was doing it.  I did come away with an overall impression of a sadness, or rather a kind of process that jades people.  One of the striking things she says is that she started to view men as belonging to one of two categories: men that should love her (and she loves) or men that should pay her.  There is something about stripping people down to a sheer monetary value that is sad and depressing: over-application of capitalistic values seeping into the joy of life.  <\/p>\n<p><P><\/p>\n<p>I came away from the book a bit depressed about it all, even though it really is fairly light-hearted.  There are even lots of little one to four panel manga illustrating various funny things.  It is an adult-oriented book though, so maybe I shouldn&#8217;t admit that I read the thing here&#8230;  <\/p>\n<p><P><\/p>\n<p>One interesting thing from the book is just how much money those women make.  She commented once that if she saw something for $1000 or $2000 that she wanted, she could make that just by working hard for a day or two.  Wow.  Even more crazy is how much money people in those jobs can spend.  A really interesting documentary <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thegreathappinessspace.com\/\">The Great Happiness Space<\/a> (or on Amazon: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B000P4Y6CE?ie=UTF8&#038;tag=daveva-20&#038;linkCode=as2&#038;camp=1789&#038;creative=390957&#038;creativeASIN=B000P4Y6CE\">The Great Happiness Space (Original Japanese Version with English Subtitles)<\/a><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=daveva-20&#038;l=as2&#038;o=1&#038;a=B000P4Y6CE\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" style=\"border:none !important; margin:0px !important;\" \/>) is about the host clubs where a lot of these women spend their money.  And boy do they spend it.  I&#8217;m in the wrong line of business.  (Actually I don&#8217;t think I can drink enough to survive in those clubs, and I definitely don&#8217;t have the people skills to cut it.)  Anyway, an interesting movie.  Check it out.  Also kind of depressing.<\/p>\n<p><P><\/p>\n<p>For people that might be interested in reading it in Japanese: the level of Japanese was pretty high.  I read it without dictionaries, but had to use my phone a few times to look things up, and sometimes just said &#8220;screw it, I&#8217;ve got a clear enough idea about things from context&#8221;.  It isn&#8217;t as tough as some of Haruki Murakami&#8217;s stuff, but it is harder than most of the manga that I translate.  (Not that that is a very high bar, but&#8230;)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>David Gemmell&#8217;s Druss the Legend This past week has been a busy one, but sometime over the past week or two I picked up the second book about Druss the Legend in David Gemmel&#8217;s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fugutabetai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fugutabetai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fugutabetai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fugutabetai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fugutabetai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fugutabetai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fugutabetai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fugutabetai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fugutabetai.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}