# book title help

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-title-help/343342>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [February 7, 2006, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-title-help/343342 "2006-02-07T03:58:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![adhemar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@adhemar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhemar)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-title-help/343342/1 "2006-02-07T03:58:22Z")

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I am looking for the name of a book I saw at my local library. It is a fiction book written in medieval times in Japan. The title was something like “Tales of Gin-ji” (or at least I think it was). It was definately in English and about a woman in Japan. I beleive it said it was written in the 1500’s. I realize this is vague but I am hoping it will ring a bell with someone here. Thanks for reading.

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**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-title-help/343342/2 "2006-02-07T04:02:03Z")

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Tales of Genji.

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**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-title-help/343342/3 "2006-02-07T04:10:06Z")

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Said to have been written by Murasaki Shikibu and sometimes spoken of as the “first novel”. More info [here.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_Genji)

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**Author:** ![adhemar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@adhemar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhemar)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-title-help/343342/4 "2006-02-07T23:02:06Z")

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Wow, thanks y’all. I guess the search engines got confused by the dash. Have either of you read the book?

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**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2006, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-title-help/343342/5 "2006-02-08T01:18:29Z")

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The search engines were more likely confused because you spelled it with an “i” instead of an “e”.