I'll have to admit I'm sort of trying to find new good books by asking ya'll for your favourites. Here's my favourite:

Liam Hearns Otori Trilogy (Across the nightingale floor, Grass for his pillow and Brilliance of the moon) is set in an imagined country very much like medieval Japan. In my personal opinion the biggest difference is in names and that the author didn't want to follow history to its full extent. Definitely worth reading.

lol martial arts novels?? as in like --- " Hanyo wasabi threw a triple decker roundhouse kick at goju's head, but he countered with a right dragon wing punch and put him into a sleeper hold! -- ahem, thrilling lol.

For novels that I have personally enjoyed in any relation to amrtial arts to date are the five rings by Miyamoto Musashi, the way the book is written and translated for some readers may take some time to get into it but it's more of one persons ideas on how to properly train the mind and body in a martial art. Miyamoto was considered one of the most skilled samurai due to the creation of his style niken itchi ryu i believe its called. The book also revolves around his style and the true way of the sword. It's a good read and depending on how you take the translation and how you interpret it you can take some of it to heart and use it to advance your dedication to your art as well as your everyday life. Another interesting read is the Hagakure by Yamamoto Tsunetomo. This novel is a biography of sorts on a samurai and his outlook on life. The book is written via what is more like antidotes which range from the tea ceremony to more useful insights on how to prepare ones mind for death, training. Once again depending how you read into the translation and take it to heart you can take ideas on how to adapt these ideas to your life and training to better yourself...it's all in how you regard the words of the text. Hopefully that gives you a start.

Would do I automatically sense that a martial arts novel is just a bad idea?


Why do I also think that they would perhaps be even cheesier than the majority of martial arts movies (of which 99% are perhaps are cheesier than much of what appears on even the LIFETIME network, and that's saying something)?

-John

The two books I spoke of arent fictious novels, they one is written and is a record of how to train by a master of a kendo style the other is just an outlook of life of a samurai by a samurai. The on written by Mushashi is about his style of kendo as well as a guide of what he believed to be a proper mind frame to train in and other material of that nature. Both are classic text which is a good read for anyone especially those more interested in the mental aspect of martial arts, the way of bettering oneself through continuous practice.

I believe a book called 'Angry White Pyjamas' is rather good, also I can't fault Shogun, but its not really a martial arts novel as such

For MA books, I prefer non-fiction (or I should say 'least-fiction' lol), but here are some resources that may be of interest:

http://www.yellowbridge.com/literature/wuxia.html

http://www.fightingarts.com/reading/get_articles.php?cat=Martial%20Arts%20Novels%20and%20Stories

http://www.amazon.com/Book-Sword-Martial-Novels-Louis/dp/0195907272

modern:
http://www.amazon.com/Top-10-Martial-Arts-Novels/lm/R2UXP6LL2NWOA8

Well, i cant quite figure out what angry white pajamas means, if anything. But thats the funniest damn thing ive ever heard

Well perhaps martial arts novel wasn't an accurate way of describing what I'm looking for. What I'm really looking for is something of .. err.. Novels set in the feodal japan .. or something. There doesn't really need to be any fighting in it.

I'm more intrested in the culture. I've got heaps of history books though, and I want something more novel-like for evening reading. =)

For fiction, Eric Van Lustbader was great. I was introduced to his stuff when I was 13, starting with The Ninja. His portrayal of Nicholas Linnear as a ninja was a little deeper than the old punch punch kick chop routine.