Book Traveling Thursdays: Travel Bucket List

This is the first week of BTT that I’m participating in with Lauren as the host. In case you don’t know, Book Traveling Thursdays is a weekly meme, created by Danielle at Danielle’s Book Blog and Catia at The Girl Who Read Too Much to compare covers from around the world. It’s now hosted by Lauren at Comma Hangover. Based on the theme of the week, you pick a book and post the original cover, the cover from your country, your favorite cover, and your least favorite cover. If you would like to participate or find out more, check out the Goodreads page!

Lauren’s theme this week says, “Plan your next vacation. Feature a book is set in a location on your travel bucket list.” I would like to go to Tokyo some day, so I’m going with In the Miso Soup by Ryū Murakami. I don’t know how to explain it, so I’m going to leave the synopsis here:

It is just before New Year’s. Frank, an overweight American tourist, has hired Kenji to take him on a guided tour of Tokyo’s sleazy nightlife on three successive evenings. But Frank’s behavior is so strange that Kenji begins to entertain a horrible suspicion: that his new client is in fact the serial killer currently terrorizing the city. It isn’t until later, however, that Kenji learns exactly how much he has to fear and how irrevocably his encounter with this great white whale of an American will change his life.

Original Cover

This is the original cover that Goodreads lists for the original Japanese cover. I’m feeling proud of myself that I can pronounce the Katakana on the cover.

U.S. Covers

As far as a novel about a serial killer in “seedy” Tokyo, the Penguin cover, on the left, fits for the genre. It pulls me in. I don’t care for the Kodansha cover on the right. The cover does not match what I gather the story is, based the synopsis.

Favorite Covers

I couldn’t pick one this time. Both covers fit the thriller genre. I like the Bloomsbury cover, on the left, for showing the location and the item that could be in the miso soup. I also like that it’s a cartoon head. The Danish cover, on the right, is amazing for the red-wash photo and that eye. It reminds me of Death Note and psychotic behavior of a serial killer. I love how creepy the covers are.

Least Favorite Cover

This is supposed to be a thriller. Instead, this cover looks like a magazine ad for a mattress or foot cream.

>^..^<

I didn’t show all of the available covers out there, but they are very interesting from the perspective of someone who hasn’t read the book yet.

Tokyo is one of the many places on my travel bucket list. What is one place on your travel bucket list? Have you found any books that are set in that place?