Book project 2010: update #15

Konichiwa! Having spent most of the last fortnight in Japan for work, I am grateful to have anything to add to this list at all. Fourteen hour days and a highly scheduled itinerary barely allowed time for me to brush my hair, let alone read...

On the other hand I got to take a sushi-making class in Sapporo, stay in a  ryokan with my own personal onsen (hot spring bath) at Lake Shikotsu, and dress up in a kimono and take a rickshaw ride through Tokyo (below, I'm on the left), so who's complaining?

The Passage by Justin Cronin

This book delivered so much more than I expected, while being completely different to what I expected. After reading the pack of the book I got the impression it was a thriller but in fact it falls into the horror/supernatural genre. Perhaps the recommendation from Stephen King should have tipped me off... Not that it mattered – I loved it anyway.

Update: Oooh, oooh, I've just read this is the first in a trilogy - bring it on!
The Apothecary’s House by Adrian Mathews

Set in Amsterdam, this book about the repatriation of artworks stolen during World War II and the provenance of one painting by an obscure, second-rate artist in particular is more of a page turner than I imagined it would be.