I am currently obsessed with Haruki Murakami's Kafka on the Shore . It's one of those books I think I could probably ready several times before I die (possibly even once a year). The characters are all off-beat, longing for something, a little bit broken, misfits but each with certain gifts of insight that is refreshing. I'm only 50% of the way through, and if this book doesn't end the way I'd like it to, I don't care--I've enjoyed the journey so far immensely. It's one of the best books I've read in a long ass time, and the real funny thing is that I'm not even 100% sure what the damned thing is about yet


A few weeks ago I interviewed a young man who told me about a book he was reading by a Chinese author (he was Chinese and the book itself was in Chinese, though English versions for it exist). Anyways, it got me thinking. Why is it that all I've read have been books written by English speaking authors, with the exception of Herman Hess's brilliant Sidhartha and of course, Alexander Dumas's The Count of Monte Cristo..

I've never bothered to read a single literary work by an Asian author. So while browsing the Asian Author section of one of the bookstores in Bangkok, I came across "After Dark" by Haruki Murakami, and picked it up.

After Dark is a completely different book from Kafka on the Shore and I would imagine after reading Kafka, one may feel a bit disappointed, but I read them in reverse order (After Dark coming first). It's as if two separate authors penned these books and the only similarity between them is that this ultra modern vibe that runs through the books. Murakami doesn't bombard you with adjective porn--rather, his books give only as much information as is needed to burn scenes and images into your mind. The first two pages of After Dark alone paint just how brilliant he is at doing this.

But anyways, I'm now going to go out and basically purchase all of his books .



I'm obsessed with reading lately :nerd:


Kafka is part coming of age story, part hipster chic 'noir' , part philosophical pondering, and all around human in ways so many modern books fall short of.




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[Edited 2/27/10 11:59am]

I´ve heard nothing but good things about Haruki Murakami and I will definitely start reading Kafka On The Shore real soon...after I´ve finished this here:



And I also haven´t read this one yet even though I own it:


[Edited 2/27/10 11:56am]

KoolEaze said:

The first book looks interesting just based on the title.




Murakami has me wondering if anything gets lost in translation from Japanese to English--though I seriously doubt I could learn enough Japanese in YEARS to figure it out on my own.


I'm hoping to one day fluently read Hess's Sidhartha in Deutsch [/i] and fully absorb it that way.

KoolEaze said:

I am not reading anything exciting. My attention span is way too short at the moment.
I am still trying to get through this bloody Immigration test book thingy.
I have to take the test soon.


I just wanted to reply to this because I saw your sig.
I need to think of a funny sig line.

MrsMdiver said:

So, do you know where those quotes are from?

Nothing

KoolEaze said:

Org threads no doubt.

MrsMdiver said:

No.

KoolEaze said:

Alej said:

Cuz you never?

Or just not currently in the mood?

for a class we just finished this


really good book

Some Taoist stuff by Liu I Ming translated by Thomas Cleary.

HamsterHuey said:

Because they closed the only book store there was where I live

Alej said:

same here. the library is my only destination. well not true, i go to second hand stores in berkeley. you should try to find some used book stores. i never buy books that cost more than ten dollars except for school.

baroque said:

There aren't any here.
Believe me, if I had a way of getting books (other than the internet, and I can't even do that) I'd be all up in its George Foreman.

Alej said:

Not that it means anything but the young man (15 years old) who is the main protagonist of Kafka on the Shore listens to Prince on his Sony Walkman. It's mentioned several times in the book, and at the end of one chapter it says he listens to "Little Red Corvette" before the battery dies.



I mean, I know it's kind of fammish of me, but isn't that kind of cool? Yay Japanese authors!

baroque said:

I have this. It's been forEVer since I read it, but I remember I liked it. At least, I never sold it.

I am currently (re)reading the entire Sandman series and I'm on volume 2:



I read a handful of them in the mid 90's and never got through them all (I borrowed them from my very first roommate when I was 19-20 ) and I recently ordered the whole thing.

TheVoid said:

I love how Murakami works in the pop culture references.

I've been a fan since Wild Sheep Chase. He can be surreal without pandering to the surrealism, that's one of the things I love about him. I would recommend ALL of his books, but Norwegian Wood, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, & Kafka on the Shore are my faves.

Also, the (tiny) book of short stories, After The Quake, is worthwhile.

Fauxie said:

Neverending Story. It was the first book I've ever read (I was just 6 years old!). It took me nearly month, now when I'm 20, it took me just 3 days

i've been on a bit of a reading binge since the start of the new year.

here's what i've read since jan 1st:

fiction:

vernon god little - dbc pierre
rico's wings - rascha peper [dutch author]
attaque! - miguel bulnes [dutch author]
extremely loud & incredibly close - jonathan safran foer
twitterature - alexander aciman & emmet rensin
the plague - albert camus

non fiction:

eating animals - jonathan safran foer
the ancestor's tale - richard dawkins
the bloodless revolution: radical vegetarianism & the discovery of india - tristram stuart

right now i'm halfway through: the book thief - markus zusak

twitterature is a very funny little book. it retells the plots
of 60 literary classics through the media of twitter. it's hilarious
in some places. here's an example of MacBeth retold through twitter
language:

Alej said:

if you don't mind reading online, here's an extremely big source
of classics that are no longer under copyright law. they've also
got audiobooks for a lot of the stuff.

it's a very nice resource site and you can find millions of good
books on there, all completely free of charge.

http://www.gutenberg.org/...scores/top

IstenSzek said:

OMG, I'm trying to find this book:




I figured if anybody's read this book, it would be you.
I saw it in a bookstore many months ago, and browsed through it.
Apparently it's from the author of "Fight Club" and it tells the story
of Chinese spies who come to America and report their findings
back to their leaders. It's all written in broken English, and
the spies absolutely loathe Americans. Their descriptions of our
behaviors and customs cracked me the hell up.

It's not a spy novel obviously, and not really a hateful novel.
It's one of those stories that is part sarcasm, part introspective
reflection, and overall comedy to boot. I found myself cracking
up at the few pages I managed to read before leaving the bookstore.

I need to find it again.

TheVoid said:

i do indeed have that book, but i haven't read it yet. for every
book i read i usually buy like 5 more that just go on the shelve.
some of the stuff i buy, i read immediately and others just stay
on the shelve for months or in some cases even years before i'll
check them out again.

it's because i go nuts in bookstores and want to buy everything
that seems interesting. i've put a ban on non fiction for now,
since i won't have any money left for food, lol.

my biggest nemesis are the online bookstores. oh, they mock me

IstenSzek said:

Chile, you need a kindle.