Shelf Control is a weekly celebration of the unread books on our shelves created and hosted by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies. Pick a book you own but haven’t read, write a post about it (suggestions: include what it’s about, why you want to read it, and when you got it), and link up! For more info on what Shelf Control is all about, check out Lisa’s introductory post, here.

Battle Royale
by Koushun Takami; translated by Yuji Oniki

Koushun Takami’s notorious high-octane thriller is based on an irresistible premise: a class of 42 junior high school students are taken to a deserted island where, as part of a ruthless authoritarian program, they are provided with weapons and forced to kill one another until only one survivor is left standing.

Criticized as violent exploitation when first published in Japan – where it then proceeded to become a runaway bestseller – Battle Royale is Lord of the Flies for the 21st century, a potent allegory of what it means to be young and (barely) alive in a dog-eat-dog world. Made into a controversial hit movie of the same name, Battle Royale is already a contemporary Japanese pulp classic, now available for the first time in the UK.

I’ve owned my copy of Battle Royale for around six years and still haven’t read it. I bought a copy when dystopian fiction was everywhere and I saw a few people mention how this book may have influenced The Hunger Games, but it’s a beast of a novel with a huge cast so I’ve always hesitated when I’ve reached for it. I’d really like to read more translated fiction, though, and I think I’ve had enough of a break from dystopian fiction to give this book a try.

If I have time, I’m actually hoping to fit this one into Round 3 of Tome Infinity and Beyond!

What’s your favourite translated book?

Tome Infinity and Beyond Round 3 is underway, and I haven’t read quite as much as I’d hoped to by now! This readathon’s come at a bit of an awkward time, as last weekend I was visiting my parents to celebrate my mum’s birthday and this weekend I’m off to Denmark for five days, so I don’t have as much time as I’d usually have to read.

That aside, I’m really excited to visit Denmark for the first time and I’m hoping to get a lot of reading done during my journey there and back!

Before

I’m aiming to make my way through a lot of the ARCs I’ve received through NetGalley this autumn and I finally got to Sea Witch this month, which I liked a lot! I didn’t love it, but I really enjoyed Sarah Henning’s writing and I’ll be reading more from her in future.

Now

Devils Unto Dust is the book I’m reading to save North America during Tome Infinity and Beyond, and it’s the one book on my TBR I’m most excited for because I have a weakness for post-apocalyptic westerns. I’m loving it so far, but I feel like I haven’t had enough time with it yet to be completely taken in by it, so I’m hoping I might get a fair chunk of it read tonight – as long as I get my packing done!

Next

I was originally going to read Doomsday Book to save Europe, but then I remembered I’ve had a copy of Longbow Girl on my kindle for a while now and still haven’t read it. It’s a time travel novel in which a young archer finds herself in Tudor Wales, and considering I love the Tudors and I’m always looking for books set in Wales, it’s crazy I haven’t read this one yet.

What are you reading right now?