Friday, April 15, 2011

M is for Murakami


Well, it's 2011. Finally.

I've been waiting 4 years for one of my favorite authors to release his next book in English. Which is a long time, considering that the last book, After Dark, which was released in the states in 2007, was only 191 pages. 191 pages is nothing when you wait years for a book to be released.

Haruki Murakami came into my life in 2005 while I was sitting on a beach. Someone lent me the book, A Wild Sheep Chase, and I became completely obsessed. In the next year, I read everything that Murakami ever wrote and then had to wait impatiently for each one of his subsequent books to be released.

I can't be all that eloquent when it comes to Murakami. I try to figure out what it is I love about his books and I just can't express it. All I know is that I devour them. I will follow his characters anywhere. It's as simple as that. When I read a Murakami book, I become so involved in a world that feels like ours but is all kinds of crazy. And the level of detail in his writing which, under normal circumstances, I would find monotonous, is incredible. I feel like Murakami could write a minute by minute account of his life for the next 30 years and I would eat it up.


Come October 25, 2011 (I have the date on my calendar) IQ84 will be released. I have no idea what it is about because I relish in the surprise. When it comes to his books I read no reviews. I look at no plot summaries. I can't even bear to look at the flap copy.

I just wait to become totally immersed.

Do you have an author you feel that way about?

8 comments:

  1. I agree Murakami is a great writer. Michel Houellebecq is French and his books take time to get translated. He's the opposite of Murakami, dark and disturbing. It would be a lot simpler if everyone just wrote in english. Is that so much to ask?

    -mood
    Moody Writing

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  2. I've heard of him, Melissa, but I *gasp* haven't read any of his books. I will now though. I wonder if I can find his earlier ones at the bookstore. I bet I can get them to get one if they don't have any in stock.

    I tend to read the authors of yesteryear. Dickens, Poe, Hemingway, and the like. :-) I do like Kurt Vonnegut. :-) Excellent post.

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  3. I've never read any of Murakami's books, so thanks for bringing his work to my attention.

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  4. I'm a cozy mystery slut, so they crank out faster. ;)

    Another crazy A-Z Challenge Fool

    Blog Book Tours

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  5. I haven't read Murakami before, but your enthusiasm and devotion makes me ever so curious.

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  6. I have not read him either but I think I might, based on how well you enjoy him. I am a very eclectic reader and switch back and forth. I have been reading some classics that I have not read for years and looking at them now as an author, instead of just a reader.
    I have many more to read though.

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  7. I finished The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle recently, so this is exciting news! Look forward to it.

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  8. I haven't read anything by Murakami, except a short story, 'The Second Bakery Attack'. I really enjoyed it and want to read more by him. What novel of his do you recommend I read first?

    Here's the link to my short story review, it includes a link to the story, which you can read for free online: http://teddyrose.blogspot.com/2010/05/second-bakery-attack-by-haruki-murakami.html

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