The Diary of Lady Murasaki, translated by Maurice Bowring (Penguin, £6.99 in UK)

Lady Murasaki is remembered for The Tale of Genji, one of the great novels of the world, and this diary is a slight thing in comparison with that masterpiece. However, the glimpses at first hand Murasaki was a lady in waiting to the Japanese Empress of Heian Kyoto near the end of the 10th century are fascinating in their own right, apart from the background they supply for the setting of her novel. The translation reads smoothly.