BookDragon Haruki Murakami Tag

Murakami T: The T-Shirts I Love by Haruki Murakami, translated by Philip Gabriel [in Shelf Awareness]

15 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Japanese, Memoir, Nonfiction, Repost, Translation

"Objects just seem to collect me, of their own volition," insists Haruki Murakami (First Person Singular): LPs, books, magazine clippings, pencil stubs, and, of course, T-shirts. Murakami T might detour from his global bestsellers, but it's a delightful glimpse into iconic Murakami through his casual...

First Person Singular: Stories by Haruki Murakami, translated by Philip Gabriel [in Christian Science Monitor]

07 Apr, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Japanese, Repost, Short Stories

Japanese writer Haruki Murakami offers a collection of imaginative short stories with skewed elements that his many fans are sure to applaud. The announcement of a new Haruki Murakami title inspires gleeful anticipation: Will there be music (classical, jazz, Beatles – yes), baseball (certainly), local watering...

Librarians Unite! 12 Tales of Librarian Badassery [in The Booklist Reader]

18 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, African, Arab, British, European, Fiction, Graphic Title/Manga/Manwha, Japanese, Korean, Memoir, Nonethnic-specific, Nonfiction, Repost, Short Stories, Translation

In just over a week, Seattle’s population will temporarily expand with tens of thousands of librarians (and other literary obsessives). Talk about a convergence of brains, guts, dedication, faith – and unconditional love of knowledge! Because that’s what it takes to be a librarian in...

Five More (Audiobooks) to Go: Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s The Labyrinth of the Spirits, read by Daniel Weyman [in The Booklist Reader]

13 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, British, European, Fiction, Japanese, Nonethnic-specific, Repost, Spanish, Translation, Young Adult Readers

The Labyrinth of the Spirits by Carlos Ruiz Zafón and read by Daniel Weyman Casting a male narrator for a novel featuring a female protagonist might initially seem like a bad idea, but actor Daniel Weyman (who also narrated Zafón's Marina) makes sure Alicia Gris, the...

Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami, translated by Philip Gabriel and Ted Goossen [in Christian Science Monitor]

09 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Japanese, Repost, Translation

'Killing Commendatore' is the latest evasive, magical, utterly unique novel by Murakami A famous painter succumbing to dementia living out his final days in a posh care facility. A wealthy, middle-aged white-haired man who lives alone in a mountainside white mansion. A motherless schoolgirl whose father...

Anglophoned Fiction Favorites [in Global Literature in Libraries Initiative’s “Japan in Translation” series]

22 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Japanese, Repost, Translation, Young Adult Readers

My two unfinished almost-ABD-PhDs still makes my mother cringe. I know, I know: even in middle age, my tiger mother looms, not to mention I still have occasional nightmares about missing seminar with my beloved, last advisor. His passing remains my excuse for academic desertion,...

Murakami in the Details: What to Read After Men Without Women [in The Booklist Reader]

18 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Japanese, Lists, Repost, Short Stories, Translation

The wait is over: Haruki Murakami's latest collection of short stories hit shelves last week and yes, indeed – Men Without Women is a definitive seven-part delight. But once you've finished, the waiting begins yet again, oh sigh, for Maestro Murakami's next book. In the meantime, we've prepared a...

Men Without Women: Stories by Haruki Murakami, translated by Philip Gabriel and Ted Goossen [in Christian Science Monitor]

08 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Japanese, Repost, Short Stories, Translation

'Men Without Women' is Murakami at his whimsical best For Haruki Murakami aficionados, reading Men Without Women, Murakami's 20th book to be translated into English, is a whimsical delight. The seven stories in his fourth story collection present another captivating treasure hunt of familiar Murakami motifs...

Wind / Pinball by Haruki Murakami, translated by Ted Goossen [in Library Journal]

06 Aug, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Japanese, Repost, Translation

*STARRED REVIEW Before A Wild Sheep Chase made Murakami an international sensation, he wrote these “kitchen-table novels,” so named for where his composition efforts took place after he wrapped up managing his Tokyo jazz bar for the day. Both Hear the Wind Sing and Pinball, 1973...

The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami, translated by Ted Goossen [in Library Journal]

15 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Japanese, Repost, Translation

*STARRED REVIEW Debuting mere months after his latest instant bestseller, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, this fable is a surprise addition to Murakami’s addictive oeuvre. After returning his library books, a boy is sent to Room 107 in search of other titles. There...

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami, translated by Philip Gabriel [in Library Journal]

16 Jun, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Japanese, Repost, Translation

*STARRED REVIEW In high school, Tsukuru Tazaki was part of a "perfect community" of five best friends. Each had a color attached to their family names – red, blue, white, black –except for Tsukuru, rendering him "colorless." After Tsukuru begins college in Tokyo, he's brutally excised...

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman: 24 Stories by Haruki Murakami, translated by Jay Rubin and Philip Gabriel

24 May, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Japanese, Short Stories, Translation

Another confession: While recently listening to Rupert Degas narrate parts of Hari Kunzru's Gods without Men, I got such a nostalgic pang to hear Degas read Haruki Murakami (after experiencing A Wild Sheep Chase, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, and select stories from The Elephant Vanishes thus far in Degas'...

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami, translated by Alfred Birnbaum

08 Jan, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Japanese, Translation

Chapter 1: an ultra high-tech building with an especially remarkable elevator (although without the usual, mundane details like floor buttons), loose change that suddenly doesn't add up, a beautiful (chubby) young woman in everything pink who might have said "Proust" (or maybe "Truest? ...

Pinball, 1973 by Haruki Murakami, translated by Alfred Birnbaum

01 Dec, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Japanese, Translation

Haruki Murakami’s lesser-known-in-the-West "Trilogy of the Rat" continues with the second prequel to his breakout international bestseller, A Wild Sheep Chase. Both Hear the Wind Sing and Pinball, 1973, were nominated for the prestigious Akutagawa Prize, considered by many to be Japan's top literary honor, and...

Hear the Wind Sing by Haruki Murakami, translated by Alfred Birnbaum

30 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Japanese, Translation

In spite of my decades-long obsession with Haruki Murakami, some part of my literary brain was clearly disconnected because not until I read his popular running memoir, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, did I learn about his “Trilogy of the Rat,” which includes two...

Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami, translated by Alfred Birnbaum

16 Nov, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Japanese, Translation

Life just seems better with a Haruki Murakami story stuck in my ears ...

A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami, translated by Alfred Birnbaum

21 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Japanese, Translation

As most Haruki Murakami fans as well aware, the countdown to the pub date of his latest 1Q84 ends after this weekend ...

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami, translated by Jay Rubin

18 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Japanese, Translation

In less than a week, you can be holding 1Q84, Haruki Murakami's long-awaited spectacular title finally available in English, which hits shelves on October 25. You might choose to hold out until November 8 when the audible version is scheduled for release. All 944 pages (on paper...

The Elephant Vanishes: Stories by Haruki Murakami, translated by Alfred Birnbaum and Jay Rubin

10 Oct, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Audio, Fiction, Japanese, Short Stories, Translation

No one has such an unpredictable, quirky, downright wacky imagination as Haruki Murakami. And even though your brain knows he's created an impossible universe, everything on the page seems so convincing, you'll go along for the ride – any ride with Murakami at the helm. Even almost...

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami, translated by Jay Rubin and Philip Gabriel [in Library Journal]

15 Sep, by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Absolute Favorites, Adult Readers, Fiction, Japanese, Repost, Translation

*STARRED REVIEW At the core of 1Q84 is a spectacular love story about a girl and boy who briefly held hands when they were both 10. That said, with the fiercely imaginative Murakami as author, the story’s exposition is gloriously labyrinthine: Welcome “into this enigma-filled world...