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/lit/ - Literature

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4152260 No.4152260[DELETED]  [Reply] [Original]

I've read the following books by Haruki Murakami:

Norwegian Wood
Kafka on the Shore
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Are there any other of his books that you would recommend? Seems like these four got the highest praise, so that's what I've read so far.

Also, any other authors that you guys would recommend? Some with a more surreal style, like his.

>> No.4152274

On a recent trip to Britain, best-selling author Haruki Murakami was asked who his favourite Japanese author was. He replied that it was his namesake, Ryu Murakami.

>> No.4152282

1Q84 is pretty good.

>> No.4152284

If you like some of his books, you'll probably like them all. I know that sounds really vague but I haven't found a writer who is so easy to just pick up and enjoy like Murakami. It's pretty easy to tell what his major and minor works are but even his slight books are worth a read.

>> No.4152308

>>4152260
I found the last one in a box of free shit on the street, I haven't touched it though
should I read it?

>> No.4152316

>>4152260
The short stories and After Dark

>> No.4152379

>>4152260
Sputnik Sweetheart

>> No.4152450

>>4152379
Seems like too many female characters, I like books with a male perspective.

>> No.4152470

>>4152308
It's one of his best works, definitely worth a read.

>> No.4152769
File: 361 KB, 200x200, 1369422897537.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4152769

>>4152450
>being this patriarchy

>> No.4152805

>>4152260
repeating the wood:
often people discuss lit
but not here

>> No.4152991

>>4152769
I'm currently wearing a top hat and pretending women still don't have the right to vote.

That's me.

>> No.4153021

>>4152282
I read 1Q84 and was completely disappointed by it. He's mediocre in all his devices. Then they told me "but that's his worst book, read The wind-up bird!". So I went ahead and I realize it's only a bit better, still extremely mediocre. Why the fuck I spent time in that guy? fuck Murakami

>> No.4153027

>>4152470
thank god you're saying that. now I know I didn't like one of "his best works". don't need to dig anymmore into that pile of shit

>> No.4153029

>>4153021
You obviously have zero taste, do you hate The Sopranos and love The Big Bang Theory?

>> No.4153036

>>4153029
I don't enjoy the big bang theory. The sopranos was superb for a tv serial
If you believe Murakami is good taste you surely haven't read better literature. Did paradise lost made you sleepy? Did the humor on The Canterbury tales flew over your head? Do you think Bolaño is too literary?

>> No.4153041

>>4153029
Lol Murakami is The Big Bang Theory of the literature world. You must be new here.

>> No.4153040
File: 6 KB, 308x174, i-cant-go-for-that-no-can-do-daryl-hall-308x174.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4153040

>tfw reading Murakami with all the songs in the book on a playlist, and turning them on when they're mentioned.

>> No.4153046

>>4153040
I did this for 1Q84 and the experience is actually a bit better (the book is still shit though)

>> No.4153055

>>4153041
You don't really believe this, do you? Sure, Murakami isn't on the level of a lot of better authors, I prefer the classics, personally, but it's not shit-tier.

I consider a lot of his books to be mid-tier, Kafka on the Shore is upper mid-tier to me.

>> No.4153061

What's a good one to read after Norwegian Wood? I just read it and loved it, but I've heard it's a bit of an outlier in his work.

>> No.4153062

>>4153041
I wouldn't go so far as to say Murakami is the Big Bang Theory of literature, but he's definitely the bottom of the barrel.

>> No.4153067

>>4153062
nah. far from the bottom he's in the bottom of the really famous ones. he's just mediocre.

>> No.4153081

I'm pretty new to reading for pleasure, just actually finished reading Kafka on the Shore yesterday and I thought it was great, I felt like it had a profound effect on me.

Do some of you really consider him to be mediocre, or bottom of the barrel? I really enjoyed the book, but like I said, I'm new to the reading for pleasure thing.

What kind of authors would you suggest then? I really liked the surreal aspects of the book.

>> No.4153106

>>4153081
>Do some of you really consider him to be mediocre, or bottom of the barrel?
mediocre for me. even when reading him for pleasure. too much filler for it to be really pleasureable. Marquez' short stories were very pleasurable for me. Magic realism, brief format, much more virtous than Murakami

>> No.4153110

>>4153081

If you enjoy him, keep reading him. You should also try Kafka himself, Kobo Abe, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Borges, and Italiano Calvino.

>> No.4153112

>>4153081
oh and also: The Canterbury Tales. I know it's very old and thus doesn't sound like something you would want to read for pleasure but it's excellent in its lewd humor, very entertaining

>> No.4153118

>>4153110

Maybe strike Borges if you're a new reader, as he's kind of a big reader's writer. But give him a try later. As for particular suggestions

Kafka
>The Metamorphosis
>The Penal Colony
>Novels (any)
Kobo Abe
>The Woman in the Dunes
>The Box Man
Marquez
>Short Stories
>One Hundred Years of Solitude
Calvino
>Invisible Cities
>If on a Winter's Night a Traveler

>> No.4153154

>>4153118
These are some good suggestions, thanks.

>> No.4153162

>>4153110
>Italiano Calvino.
>Italiano

>> No.4153719

>>4153118
>Marquez
>>Short Stories
I've got a collection here of three novellas: Leaf Storm, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, and No One Writes to the Colonel. I've only read the first, but it was superb and I highly recommend it.

>>4153027
>>4153021
He's got a very particular style. If it works for you, good. If it doesn't, no great loss. I think of him as being sort of a niche writer to be honest.

>> No.4153728

>>4153162
hahahah

>> No.4153754

>>4153021
My girlfriend had complained to me after reading it it's very sexually indulgent towards his type, supposing a character "had a lesbian encounter that was very significant to her and still considered herself straight, and only lusted for middle age men." Is there any weight to this claim?

>> No.4153815

I consider Dance dance dance to be his best, but you should really pick up a different author. I find Marquez to have a similar style and he has very nice novels and short stories, albeit I personally like Cortázar's short stories more.

>> No.4153836
File: 54 KB, 305x475, The_blind_owl.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4153836

Why not read from French surrealist authors then?

Pic isn't french but it is surreal

>> No.4153857

>>4153754
Don't worry about her opinion

>> No.4153870
File: 121 KB, 770x1181, 9780340747971.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4153870

If you enjoy Haruki Murakami you're gonna like David Mitchell's number9drem.

>> No.4153888

>>4153870
Also, the second chapter of Ghostwritten feels almost like a Murakami ripoff. All it's lacking is cats.

>> No.4154575

I had a friend who was an English major who told me to check out some 17th century Spanish authors, that their style was often mystical and surreal.

Anyone have any suggestions?

>> No.4155203

>>4153036
Pretentious faggot. This is why /lit is so laughable. I bet you like authors that the vast majority of /lit tells you to and dislike the authors that they dislike.

>> No.4155204

Work through other modern Japanese authors if you like his prose.

>> No.4155227

>>4155203
pretend to like*

>> No.4155258

>>4152316
>After Dark

Wish the story had a bit more meat to it, but otherwise, I actually really enjoyed it.

>> No.4155410

>>4153029
>Being disappointed by Murakami = "having zero taste"

Naw.

>> No.4157308

>>4152450
You are literally retarded.

Don't read it. It's his best book but you clearly wouldn't be able to appreciate it.

>> No.4157315

Official Murakami ranking:

Sputnik Sweetheart > Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World > After Dark > The Elephant Vanishes = Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman > The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle > Norwegian Wood >>> Kafka on the Shore >>>>> A Wild Sheep Chase > South of the Border, West of the Sun > Pinball 1973 >>>>>>>>>> Dance Dance Dance ? IQ84 (haven't finished it yet)

Commence arguing, nerds.

>> No.4157803
File: 92 KB, 600x800, the_sheep_man_by_bettyguo-d3dtegh.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4157803

Dance Dance Dance
A Wild Sheep-chase

>> No.4158126

>>4157315
Dance Dance Dance seems as good as the other full-length novels to me. Of those, definitely Wind-Up is the one that stands out. Totally agree on Sputnik as best, After Dark close. I feel like the thing he does where an aspect of the main metaphor remains mysterious works best in the short stuff. After the Quake is good for that - it's kind of got a meta-defence of what Murakami does.

Upthread is ridiculous posing.

>> No.4160018

http://blogs.wsj.com/scene/2013/10/04/haruki-murakami-favored-to-win-nobel-prize/

>> No.4160081

Anyone knows where I can download something by this guy in jap?

>> No.4161175

Bumpan because I really enjoy Murakami's stuff, and am going through the recommendations of other authors.

>> No.4161210

>>4161175
>I really enjoy Murakami's stuff

Haha, kill yourself.

>> No.4161219

>>4161210
Nah, I think I'll continue to live and read some more Murakami books.

>> No.4161293

>>4161210
>H-hey guys, d-do I fit in yet?

>> No.4161303

>>4161293
Who cares about fitting in. Murakami is really low-level "artistry", and I'd see that regardless of what any twats on /lit/ said or did.

It surprises the hell out of me how Murakami is actually somehow tolerated whereas Coelho is roundly panned. Coelho is even better than Murakami, in just about every way: character development, plot line, dialogue...even Coelho's prose is better than Murakami's, and I think Coelho isn't even fit for swine.

>> No.4161306

>>4155203
Not that guy, but I got trolled into reading 1Q84 by some people on /lit/ claiming it was good, so I went into it expecting to like it and thinking it was /lit/-approved and all, and I disliked it anyways.

>> No.4161307

>>4161303
>Murakami is really low-level "artistry"

Well then recommend some "better" writers. There are a few suggestions already, but more is always welcome.

>> No.4161309

>>4161306
>I got trolled into reading 1Q84

Same here, along with a few other Murakami books.

>> No.4161310
File: 486 KB, 238x155, eyeroll.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4161310

>>4161303
>Go to bed, Nobel Prize committee.

>> No.4161319

>>4161307
>recommend some "better" writers

Did you not read my thread? Coelho is better than Murakami. Coelho. You could probably take an entire section at any bookstore or library at random and 60% of the books will exhibit more acumen and talent than Murakami's entire oeuvre.

Joseph Conrad and Sinclair Lewis are among my favorite novelists, if that helps you out a bit.

>> No.4161324

South of the Border, West of the Sun. It's very much like Norwegian Wood, only the characters are older, and there are some surreal elements at play.

>> No.4161375
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4161375

>>4161319
>Coelho is better than Murakami.
oh u