I've just finished Sputnik Sweetheart, the first Murakami I've ever read. It somehow managed to be a bit baffling without being remotely unsatisfying and I thought this strange, sweet story was very lovely indeed. Have just ordered Norwegian Wood but wondered what other recommendations people had? He seems pretty prolific!

Norwegian Wood is a great read but then maybe I'm a little biased as it almost reads like a story of my life in many places.

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is a great read as are pretty much all of his books, though I didn't like Kafka on the Shore so much. I think that aside from Norwegian Wood and Sputnik Sweetheart his stuff is pretty surreal so it might not be to your liking but by all means give it a go.

By the way if you're going to read A Wild Sheep Chase or Dance, Dance, Dance then it's useful to know that Dance, Dance, Dance comes after a Wild Sheep Chase.

Thanks for that Geoff. Hmm...I thought Sputnik Sweetheart was pretty surreal, so maybe some of the others might be a little hardcore for my tastes! Have you read his one about the Tokyo gas attack?

I was given a copy of his short story collection, Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, as a present a few days ago. I've only read two of the stories so far, but they're both great. A bit like Raymond Carver with a surreal edge.

I've also read Hard-boiled Wonderland & the End of the World (I think that's what it's called...), which I was a bit lukewarm about. Definitely Kafka-inspired, readable & highly imaginative, but I felt he was making it up as he went along & got a bit frustrated with it.

I have such admiration for the translators as they seem to convey the beautiful 'stillness' of the prose which is very dreamlike.

Having *loved* The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, I was slightly disappointed (like RJH) by Hard-Boiled Wonderland. He's certainly a popular and intriguing writer, though...

His account of the Tokyo Gas Attack is just that, a factual work consisting of many interviews with the survivors. If you're interested in Japanese culture give it a bash but I think you can easily miss it off your list if that's not your thing.

Barns and Sleep are two of the most haunting stories I've ever read.

My favourite is The Wind Up Bird Chronicle - one of m most exciting reads. I couldn't believe it!

Thanks for all these thoughts, folks. I'm not a fan of short stories, so I'm thinking that Norwegion Wood and the Wind-up Bird Chronicle are where I'll go next.
Thanks again.

The best for me (though I read everything of his I can get my hands on!) are "South of the Border, West of the Sun" and "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle". Fab.

A
xxx

Hey
I really loved A Wild Sheep Chase for the sheer weirdness of it. Thought it very absorbing - found myself not surprised by the strangest incidents. Classy writing.
J

I just love everything he writes - haunting and surreal but also able to touch the reader and transport them into another world. His short stories really are worth reading too.

S

Hi,

I am a big fan of Murakami. I've read most of his novels but am currently enjoying his short stories.

Short stories -

I can recommend 'after the quake' as well as the last five, in particular, from his recent collection 'Blind Willow, sleeping woman' ( most of whcih can be found on the Internet).


Novels - I think he has been getting better with each novel but his most recent 'After Dark' is a bit empty for me compared with fuller works like 'The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle' and 'Kafka on the shore'.


The man's work is very readable and puts to shame many writers who rely on verbosity to impress. Genius!

Cheers

Finished reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle last week & thoroughly enjoyed it - much better than Hard-Boiled Wonderland & the End of the World. His prose is very readable & strikes a balance between real, almost mundane rootedness & surreal flights of fancy which, however, seem to nudge the reader gently towards achieving certain insights and connections - without ever leading us by the nose.

My only crit is that occasionally it feels like he's just making it up as he goes along... mostly the strands he begins connect up in the end, but sometimes they don't - or only do so slightly artificially (for instance, what happens to the mysterious dirty-talking woman who phones the narrator a few times at the beginning of the novel?) - but on the whole a great, mind-altering work.