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3.5
I think some stories were better than others but Rampo's style and ideas were quite great! I was particularly thrilled reading The Human Chair !

I am a bit disappointed by the stories selected in this collection. I always find the ones based on Dazai's life the most entertaining, though, and so Alt Heidelberg was the one I liked the most; I just love his odd compulsions and struggles, getting to read more about them is quite fascinating.

Well, this is it when it comes to reading Dazai in English... next time I'll just jump to Japanese.

first time listening to an audiobook from this series! it was very interesting to "read" it this way.
I love how murderbot just keeps evolving and getting frustrated with the humans he just can't avoid.

well, this was entertaining and short, like all of these books seem to be, I'll continue with the series!

I am so happy I read this! I kept reading about Dazai's sense of humor and I hadn't experienced the reality of it until I read this... I finished it one day past the 桜桃忌, which was most fitting. I adored the way Dazai interrupted the story to explain some specific parts and to bring little facts to the reader's attention. I found the way he also spoke to us readers from his sad reality during the war, most entertaining and captivating.

I am once again wondering why I bought this book in English instead of just forcing myself to read the original but I will soon enough (I bought Blue Bamboo in English as well so that will have to wait...). Still, Dazai is just a pleasure to read in English so I'm pretty sure once I get my hands on the original texts, I'll be all the more captivated by his talented writing.

Can't recommend this fun book enough, especially for a reader that may not have a lot of knowledge about Japan's traditional tales.

3.5
i honestly came to this book hoping it'd be a lot more perverse so my hopes were sadly too high!
still, tanizaki's style does not disappoint, the book reads easily and at a good pace and the twisted relationship between naomi and joji is quite interesting. i just wished i hadn't expected this to take a darker, more perverse turn so that my illusions hadn't been shattered!

I still find murderbot awfully relatable and funny.
this series reads quickly and it’s entertaining enough even if it doesn't get deep and just skims over the surface of things.
good to pass the time and share murderbot's awkwardness due to being surrounded by the emotional beings called humans.

ich dachte dieses Buch geht um Sprachwissenschaft aber es geht tatsächlich um Politik. das ist okay aber ich war ein bisschen entäuscht.
das buch war okay aber ich habe nicht so viel gelernt und ich glaube es war vielleicht nicht so originell.

Dennoch, ein paar schöne Sätze:

"Jede neue Sprache ist ein weiterer Existenraum."

"Jede unserer Handlungen ist ein Kompromiss zwischen unseren Idealen und der Realität, in der wir uns befinden. Anders können wir nicht handeln."