Great long article, thanks. Murakami is definitely a modern classic genius. So bummed he didn't get the Nobel this year. Cannot wait for the new book to arrive.
I think people are calling it his magnum opus simply because of its length. I don't think I'd consider it his greatest work ever -- but it certainly an ambitious, fascinating, perplexing, puzzling book. It deals with the nature of reality and what "self" really means. And, unlike other really long novels, it has a very small cast of characters. It deals with a parallel reality that is very similar to the "real" world and a fantasy world in a story that might be real, too. It also has a religious cult with mysterious intentions and most of the religious underpinnings are Christian rather than Buddhist, which is a bit of a surprise. And at the core it is about two characters who met only once when they were very young but whose fates seem inextricably intertwined, especially in the world of 1Q84.
Got the book today. Love the design but the dust jacket is vey loose and too big for the book. Maybe it was just damaged in transit from Amazon, but it's pretty.
A quote that might pique your interest: "It's like the Tibetan Wheel of the Passions. As the wheel turns, the values and feelings on the outer rim rise and fall, shining or sinking into darkness. But true love stays fastened to the axle and doesn't move."
A lot of people here said they really enjoyed The Wind Up Bird Chronicle. I was wondering if you could elaborate for me, tell me what it is you liked, because I've really struggled with it and I'm a fan of Murakami. I particularly liked his short story collection called After The Quake. I thought the beginning of Wind Up Bird was fantastic, it gets you hooked and then about half way through I just felt like the story was dragging on for too long.
I think I will go for Norwegian Wood next, because I want to watch the film.
'He bowed low, right down to the ground, in front of the man sitting there motionless, whose smile reminded him of everything that he had ever loved in his life, of everything that had ever been of value and holy in his life.' Herman Hesse
Just picked up a nice first edition of Murakami's South of the Border, West of the Sun - been looking for an affordable copy for a while. Now my Murakami hardcover collection is nearly complete.
Have the first US hardcover editions of: 1Q84, After Dark, Kafka on the Shore, Sputnik Sweetheart, Dance Dance Dance, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, A Wild Sheep Chase, Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, After the Quake, The Elephant Vanishes, and What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. Have the first UK hardcover edition of Underground and the limited anniversary UK hardcover edition of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.
Plus the small Japanese English paperbacks of Hear the Wind Sing and Pinball, 1973 - the only editions of them.
The only book missing is Norwegian Wood, which I though was never published in English in hardcover, but just now I happened to find this: http://www.waterstones.com/waterston...usive/8039706/ And, just my luck, it's out of print...
Sweet! Just picked up a copy of the Waterstones exclusive hardcover of Norwegian Wood (and not much more than the cover price! - whereas secondary market prices seem to be around $100) and thus completing my Murakami collection, now all in hardcover
Congrats, Pablo! I've only read one book from him but it was very good.
Since this sort of became the Haruki Murakami thread: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/book...new-book-about
Much excitement for Haruki Murakami fans today after his Japanese publisher announced that he'd be publishing a new novel this April. It's been three years since the original edition of the last volume of Murakami's 1Q84 was published in Japanese – a little over a year since it was published in English translation - so readers are understandably hungry for more, but no details other than the publication date, not even the title, were given away by Bungeishunju.
It's "the worst form of teasing possible", concludes the Japan Daily Press, mournfully. Fans are in a frenzy of excitement , and in the absence of any more information, are speculating about what the book will cover.
"I bet it will contain ear porn, a lonely man, a teenage/under-age girl, the war in Manchuria [and] some cooking," opines one reader, probably fairly accurately. The NY Daily News, meanwhile, predicts that it's "safe to bet that there will be cats (that may or may not talk) and probably some awkward sex, too", while there's also talk that it could be a fourth part to 1Q84.
What we need, I feel, is a Haruki Murakami plot generator to keep us going until the mystery book is translated into English. It's that, or learn Japanese. Can anybody help out? It must start with a disappearing cat, surely...
New short story: http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/fea...urrentPage=all
Out August 12: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0385352107/
By the way, since this turned into a general Murakami thread, could we get a thread title change, please?
I have an eGalley of his network e. Can't wait to read it.
Author of The Road to the Dark Tower, Stephen King: A Complete Exploration of His Work, Life, and Influences and The Dark Tower Companion. Co-editor with Stephen King of the anthology Flight or Fright.
And a new short story in The New Yorker: http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/fea...urrentPage=all
http://www.theguardian.com/books/201...trange-library
Soon after he drew crowds, some of whom had queued for 18 hours, to a London book signing for his latest novel, Haruki Murakami’s publisher has announced a new short book in English that will be out in time for Christmas.
The Strange Library, which was published in Japanese in 2008, will feature specially designed text and illustrations when it is released in English for the first time on 2 December 2014, translated from the Japanese by Ted Goossen.
The tale recounts a schoolboy’s visit to the library which takes a number of very unexpected turns. On his way home from school, the young narrator finds himself wondering how taxes were collected in the Ottoman Empire. He pops into the local library to see if it has a book on the subject.
He is then led by an old man to a special “reading room” in a maze under the library, where he finds himself imprisoned with only a “sheep man”, who makes excellent doughnuts, and a girl who can talk with her hands. His mother will be worrying why he hasn’t returned in time for dinner and the old man seems to have an appetite for eating small boys’ brains.
Liz Foley, publishing director at Harvill Secker, said: “We are very excited to be publishing a special illustrated edition of The Strange Library as an unusual gift book for Christmas. Murakami’s imagination is unique and this is a wonderfully creepy tale that is sure to delight his fans”.
The publication of The Strange Library follows Murakami’s first visit to the UK in 10 years for the launch of Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage in August. Bookshops across the country held midnight openings and special events to mark the occasion and the book’s front cover was projected on London landmarks including the Tate Modern in a countdown to publication day.
Murakami appeared at two sell-out events at the Edinburgh international book festival, and in London on Saturday hundreds queued overnight to attend a public signing at Waterstones Piccadilly.
The announcement resolves a small mystery for readers who attended the London event. At the signing, pastiche library cards were distributed featuring the words #strangelibrary, and what now transpires as the book’s publication date. That solved, they can now begin to interpret the doughnut and sheep symbolism.
New short story: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...urrentPage=all
I just downloaded an eGalley of Wind/Pinball, which combines two early novellas by Haruki Murakami
Author of The Road to the Dark Tower, Stephen King: A Complete Exploration of His Work, Life, and Influences and The Dark Tower Companion. Co-editor with Stephen King of the anthology Flight or Fright.
Are they being finally officially released in English?
Checking Amazon: by gosh yes! August 4th.
In the spring of 1978, a young Haruki Murakami sat down at his kitchen table and began to write. The result: two remarkable short novels—Hear the Wind Sing and Pinball, 1973—that launched the career of one of the most acclaimed authors of our time.
These powerful, at times surreal, works about two young men coming of age—the unnamed narrator and his friend the Rat—are stories of loneliness, obsession, and eroticism. They bear all the hallmarks of Murakami’s later books, and form the first two-thirds, with A Wild Sheep Chase, of the trilogy of the Rat.
Widely available in English for the first time ever, newly translated, and featuring a new introduction by Murakami himself, Wind/Pinball gives us a fascinating insight into a great writer’s beginnings.
Yep -- they're quite short. Together, about 150 pages.
Author of The Road to the Dark Tower, Stephen King: A Complete Exploration of His Work, Life, and Influences and The Dark Tower Companion. Co-editor with Stephen King of the anthology Flight or Fright.
Interestingly, he started writing Wind in English, which helped him find his style via his limited English vocabulary and straightforward sentence structure. He then transformed the English sections into Japanese.
Author of The Road to the Dark Tower, Stephen King: A Complete Exploration of His Work, Life, and Influences and The Dark Tower Companion. Co-editor with Stephen King of the anthology Flight or Fright.