Read Pachinko

Four sisters in Osaka before the war and the search for a husband for the third; Tanizaki's masterpiece.

Visit Osaka, Japan's vibrant second city. Explore Osaka Castle (a reconstructed 16th-century fortress with museum exhibits and panoramic city views), sample street food like takoyaki (octopus balls) and okonomiyaki (savory pancakes) in Dotonbori (a bustling entertainment district with iconic neon signs), and experience the thrill of Universal Studios Japan (home to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Super Nintendo World).

Two New York cops escort a yakuza home to Osaka and lose him on the tarmac.

Jean Valjean, a loaf of bread and nineteen years; Hugo's Paris from the sewers to the barricades.

Two retired Texas Rangers drive cattle to Montana; the western as great American novel.

Jacob Frank, an 18th-century Jewish messiah, across Poland and Turkey in 900 pages numbered backwards.

Warlords, strategists and the fall of the Han; the Chinese epic every game borrows.

Four generations of the Trueba family and a coup; Allende's debut.