I have just finished reading the first of the ten-volume (Japanese version) of the comic called "Barefoot Gen," which I borrowed from the Japan Foundation Library a week ago. I started reading it to practice my Japanese reading skill. Even though I still don't have a high Japanese language proficiency to understand all of the content, I could grasp the main idea and information which the writer was trying to convey. The more I read, the more interesting it becomes. Eventually, I couldn't even put it down. It's addictive and educational.

Barefoot Gen is written and illustrated by Keiji Nakazawa in 1973. He retold his memories of the Second World War and the destruction of Hiroshima through this comic book. The story is set in Hiroshima, Japan where the writer used to reside at the time of the War. The comic told a story of a seven-year-old boy named Gen who experienced and survived the atomic bomb explosion that led to the end of the War. In this first volume, we saw the live and hardship of Japanese people prior to the bombing. The story ended when the bomb was dropped on 6 August 1945 and Gen suffered the lost of almost all of his family members. We will see the aftermath bombing later in the next volume. I am looking forward to read it soon.

P.S. There are 4 volumes of the English translated version of this comic series released in the States. You can check them out here.

As I went to the BOOK EXPO Thailand 2005 last week, I met the author of the book at Matichon publisher's booth and I didn't let a chance of getting his autograph for the book pass by. Beside from his signature, he also wrote for me "We met each other because of the book." and yes, indeed, it's true.

I've intended to write about this since last week but didn't do so until now that I finally finished reading this book. "Chao Ngin" is a short story collection written by Binlar Sankalakiri (the pen-name of a journalist named Wuthichart Choomsanit.) The book is selected as this year's winner of S.E.A. Write Awards for Thailand. Just look at the title of the book "Chao Ngin (เจ้าหงิญ)," you may wonder what it is all about. Why do the letters "ญ" and "ง" in Thai word "เจ้าหญิง" (which literally translated as "Princess" in English) switch places? In English, it is like you jumble the word as "Princses." I myself also wonder about the reason behind this weird and eye-rising title. However, once I finished reading the first chapter of the book, I started to realize what the writer is trying to say. At the end of the last page of book, I felt mesmerized. It is no wonder why the book got the awards. There are eight short stories of modern day fairy-tale in the book and each story (chapter) could be considered as an individual tale or all stories could be viewed together as a collection of stories within a big story. Reading each chapter Independently or altogether, you would definitely enjoy the book. The story is unpredictable and full of surprises. Just like all fairy-tales, in the end, even though it is not stated explicitly, you would always learn the moral of the story. The book reminds us all that there is always a bright side of life, which makes this bitter world of reality tolerable and beautiful.

It's hard to say which one of these eight fantastic stories is my favorite, as I like them all. However, If I have to pick one, I would say that my favorite story is "the eighth color of the rainbow."