May Books

This is "May Book" (2025) by translator and author Ken Nishizaki.

The theme that connects these literary works, which are from completely different times and places, is the 12 months.

This anthology brings together novels, poems, and essays from all over the world and throughout history, centered around the theme of May. It's a book that allows you to enjoy the four seasons and find joy in living in the same seasons as those works. The series consists of 12 volumes.

May (Ogata Kamenosuke)
Memories of Asparagus (Atsuko Suga)
Teramachi (Sohaku Iwamoto)
Love Story (Tatsuo Hori)
Graces (Yukio Mishima)
Materialism in May (Torahiko Terada)
Young Leaves (Kiyokata Kaburagi)
Woman in the Sun: A Bourgeois Walk (by Massimo Bontempelli, translated by Junko Iwasaki)
Landscape Inside the Wall (Koyama Itoko)
May Crowds (by Shuntaro Tanikawa)
Dream (Mitsuhashi Kazuo)
Bonito in May (Kenichi Yoshida)
The beginning of the rainy season (Yoko Kusaka)
May rain (Yoshie Takamatsu)
Psalms (Sakutaro Hagiwara)
Skylark Cuisine, Seeds in the Palm, Dried Crime, May's Nobleman, May's Dead Goldfish (by Suzuki Miekichi)
Horses and Me (Yoshiya Nobuko)
Diary (Edogawa Ranpo)
Chestnut Flowers (Kidou Okamoto)
Psalms (Kaita Murayama)
May Short Story: Otomi's Chastity Stained in Blood (by Ryunosuke Akutagawa)
May Garden (Nogami Yaeko)
The Laughing Fatso (Sławomir Mrozek, translated by Mitsuyoshi Numano)
May Illusion (Kawabata Yasunari)
This Road (Ishigaki Rin)
One and Dance (Koji Uno)
The First Ball (Leonora Carrington/Translated by Tatsuhiko Shibusawa)
Miss Cricket (Midori Ozaki)
Postscript: Empty May (Nishizaki Ken)

The table of contents is long and long, but it's a spectacular selection of Japanese literature. May's birth color is green, so this is a perfect gift. ...But who assigned colors to the months of the calendar? (Ammel)