I’ll start, so as a teen I stumbled across a book called," Someone comes to town, someone leaves town." The synopsis caught me as it’s about a man with a mountain as a fathera washing machine as a mother and one brother that is dead and trying to harm him. I’ll admit some of the technical terms were too much for my developing mind but it has stuck with me all these years.
What is the wackiest / craziest book you’ve read and did you enjoy the ride?
This was my introduction to Murakami. I’ve read almost all his books by now, save for some of his earlier, less developed works. As you get through them, you see that he’s sort of making the same soup with slightly different ingredients. I really enjoyed Killing Commemdatore and 1Q84. My least favorite was probably Colorless Tzukuru. His short story books, particularly The Elephant Vanishes, is really good, as are his two nonfiction books about running and Writing as a Vocation.
Good to know. Just checked out the so called short story about the elephant, 336 pages 😂
The book is 336 pages, not the story.
the elephant vanishes is probably my favorite of his books - either that or like a six-way tie but that is definitely the best short story collection
Lovedddd Killing Commendatore. That was my introduction to Murakami. Have never finished a 800+ page book faster in my life.
Could you recommend which of his books one should read next if they really enjoyed Kafka on the shore? I’ve also read Norwegian Wood and Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World.
Hard to say. After Kafka I would’ve said Norwegian Wood. And after NW I would’ve said Hard-Boiled. After hard boiled, I would say Wind Up Bird.
I do think Killing Commendatore breaks the mold a little bit. I do want to stress his short story collections. They really are fantastic.