Hey friends I’ve been reading quite a few interesting things online and wanted to share. All bookish goodness that I think you might enjoy.

• 10 Quotes on Anne Frank’s birthday. Anne Frank was born on June 12, 1929. Here is one: “For someone like me, it is a very strange habit to write in a diary. Not only that I have never written before, but it strikes me that later neither I, nor anyone else, will care for the outpouring of a thirteen year old schoolgirl.”
• 25 Reasons to read. All of us book bloggers could probably come up with 25 more easily enough but I thought these were great. I especially like #25. Ha.
• 10 of the Greatest Debut Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels. I’ve not read a single one of these how about you?
• The Crime Writers of Canada have announced the 2013 Arthur Ellis Awards. Haven’t read any of these either.

A quick post tonight because I’m quite behind on my reading for my book group next week.

So I went back and forth on whether to join the Japanese Literature Challenge, which Bellezza is hosting, and in the end I couldn’t resist. I mean, you can read however many books you want but least one and that’s during a nine month period. Surely I can do this.

Oh and the other great part is that for this challenge you can read works from children’s books, short stories, mystery, biography, sci-fi/fantasy, manga and poetry.

I looked through my stacks for books that I could consider and I found these titles:

• Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima
• A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami
• On Parole by Akira Yoshimura
• Grotesque by Natsuo Kirino

I’ve read all of these authors except for Yukio Mishima. All of these books sound very interesting and that’s why I have them in my stacks but you know who I wish wasn’t missing from my stacks? Banana Yoshimoto. I could have sworn I had another book of hers waiting to be read.

Anyway, I’m excited to join in the challenge, which is now in its seventh year – wow! How about you, are you joining?