Just like that, the first year of 2026 has drawn its curtains. Woah. How time flies! I hope January has been kind to everyone. As time takes its natural course, I hope you were able to kick the ground running even though, I am pretty sure, everyone suffered from post-holiday hangovers. I hope you get to generate momentum as the year moves forward. But before I could wave goodbye to the first month of the year, let me share the book titles I acquired during the month. After having a sort of book haul lockdown by acquiring less and reading more, I reversed it in January by having a book haul binge-buying fest. I guess I am making up for lost time. Since I have acquired more than usual, I will be dividing this book haul update into two. The second part features translated novels. Without ado, here is the second set of books I acquired in January.

Title: The Life of an Amorous Man
Author: Ihara Saikaku
Translator (from Japanese): Chris Drake
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
Publishing Date: 2025 (1682)
No. of Pages: 380

Synopsis: 

Life of an Amorous Man is a groundbreaking work by Ihara Saikaku, Japan’s first popular novelist. This new unabridged English translation includes 54 charming illustrations drawn by the author that appeared in the original 1682 Japanese edition.

The story follows Yonosuke, a passionate man whose never-ending quest for pleasure leads him from the decadent brothels of Edo (modern-day Tokyo) and elegant boudirs of Kyoto to moonlit trysts along quiet lanes in the Japanese countryside. Along the way he leaves a trail of fleeting romances and broken hearts.

Brimming with scandalous encounters and anecdotes, Yonosuke’s tale provides a candid look at the hedonistic world of Edo-period Japan (1680-1770), where courtesans, gamblers and pleasure-seekers mingle in a whirlwind of indulgence. Life of an Amorous Man was a huge success in its day and remains a celebration of life and a fascinating glimpse of a vibrant, bygone era.

Title: Clean
Author: Alia Trabucco Zerán
Translator (from Spanish): Sophie Hughes
Publisher: Riverhead Books
Publishing Date: 2024 (2022)
No. of Pages: 264

Synopsis: 

Estela came from the countryside to work for the señor and señora when their daughter was born. For seven years, she cleaned their laundry, wiped their floors, made their meals, kept their secrets. She witnessed the señora’s coldness, the señor’s distance, the family’s fights and frictions. She heard the rats scrabbling in the ceiling, knew about the poison in the cabinet, and the gun. Now the daughter is dead and the maid is being interrogated. But is Estela’s testimony a confession or an act of revenge? Class warfare or cautionary tale?

Title: Dear Dickhead
Author: Virginie Despentes
Translator (from French): Frank Wynne
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publishing Date: 2024 (2022)
No. of Pages: 292

Synopsis: 

Dear Dickhead,

I read your post on Insta. You’re like a pigeon shitting on my shoulder as you flap past. It’s shitty and unpleasant. Waah, waah, waah, I’m a pissy little pantywaist, no one loves me so I whimper like a Chihuahua in the hope someone will notice me. Congratulations: you’ve got your fifteen minutes of fame! You want proof? I’m writing to you.

Oscar is a B-list novelist in his forties. He used to be an alcoholic and a cokehead, but now he keeps himself busy by ranting on social media. When Rebecca, an actress whose looks he insulted, sends him an angry email, they strike up a combative correspondence-at the very moment when Oscar is accused of sexual harassment by his former publicist. What ensues is a battle royale between the sexes, and a romp through Paris during the aftershocks of a cultural earthquake.

Virginie Despentes, the celebrated author of King Kong Theory, has written her most daring book yet: a Dangerous Liaisons for our time. Dear Dickhead is a flame-throwing novel about a culture that makes men and women sick, and about how the search for feeling leaves us addicted to what makes us feel. The result is a provocative and unmissable look from the author hailed by The Guardian as France’s “rock’n’roll Zola.”

Title: Gargantua and Pantagruel
Author: François Rabelais
Translator (from French): J.M. Cohen
Publisher: Penguin Books
Publishing Date: 1955 (1532-1564)
No. of Pages: 712

Synopsis: 

Robust parody, conceived and executed on an epic scale.

François Rabelais (c. 1494-1553), a Franciscan monk who also qualified as a Bachelor of Medicine, was at the centre of the humanist movement and had absorbed a vast amount of learning. Gargantua and Pantagruel parodies everyone from eminent classical authors and schoolmen to Rabelais’ own acquaintances. But the brilliance of the book lies not merely in these learned references, but in the seamless story into which they are woven, and in the passion and swiftness of language of an acknowledged master of satire.

When Gargantua and Pantagruel was first published, Rabelais was persecuted by his targets, the churchmen, lawyers, lecturers and savants of his time. And no wonder: the caricatures and the episodes are piled up, figure by far-fetched figure, situation by extravagant situation, to give us an extraordinary picture of the intellectual and moral life of an era.