Wednesday, October 2, 2013

On My Nightstand

Reading one of Haruki Murakami's books has been on my to-do list for a while now.    Haruki is a famous Japanese author who has won numerous awards.  In fact, there has been talk that he's the favorite for this years Nobel Prize in Literature.  I wanted to read a book that reflected what he is best known for, surrealism. So after a little research, I chose Hard-Boiled Wonderland and The End of The World.

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and The End of The World is written as two parallel narratives (Hard-Boiled Wonderland) and (The End of the World).  Hard-Boiled Wonderland is narrated by a split brained data processor who faces the end of the world.  The End of The World is narrated by an outsider who is adapting to a new town that is surrounded by a large wall.  In this new town he's given the job of "dream reader".

I'm about two-thirds through this book and have been really enjoying it.

Have any of you read this book?  Did you like it?

I'm always on the lookout for unique reads for my children (you know, something other than Diary of a Wimpy Kid). I was familiar with the Moomin comics but I didn't realize there was also a novel series. So when I stumbled upon the Moomin series by Tove Jansson at the book store, I decided to give it a try.

Comet in Moominland introduces you to the Moomin family.  In this book you follow the adventures of Moomintroll and his friend Sniff.  I just started reading this to my children (ages 7 & 10) and they both seem to like it. 

So that's what I'm reading.  How about you?  Any recommendations for me or the kids?

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7 comments:

  1. RosaOctober 3, 2013 at 6:55 AM

    Hard-Boiled Wonderland is the first Murakami book I ever read and still my absolute favorite of all of his novels. I adore the ending.

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  2. zakkalifeOctober 3, 2013 at 8:23 AM

    Rosa,

    Thanks for sharing :) I'm really curious to see how Murakami ties everything up. Only 80 pages to go to find out.

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  3. JoyOctober 3, 2013 at 12:59 PM

    I wonder if this is available via audio? I'll have to check it out at my library. Thanks, Jessica!

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  4. zakkalifeOctober 3, 2013 at 2:32 PM

    Joy,

    I'm not sure which book you're referring too but I did get the Murakami book from the library. They didn't have it at my library but thanks to the Link+ system I was able to have it transferred from the SF library to my library. You might want to see if your library offers that if you can't find the audio version at your library.

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  5. AnonymousOctober 4, 2013 at 8:36 PM

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  6. kaseyOctober 11, 2013 at 1:20 AM

    I love love love both Haruki Murakami and the Moomin books! :) Excellent reads all around. I don't think I can pick a favorite out of Murakami's books.

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  7. tamdollOctober 13, 2013 at 7:07 PM

    That book sounds interesting! I read his 1Q84 about a year ago and was a little overwhelmed at the time (1000+ pages) but will definitely try more of his work in the future - probably this one! ( I just went to my Goodreads list to add it & found that I already had it on my to-read list, ha.)

    I've never read Moomin books, or even seen the comics although recently been hearing about them on the web. My kids are late teens now, but one set of books we found charming & I still remember was the series of My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett - have you read those?
    I also love Chris Van Allsburg's The Mysteries of Harris Burdick - we could look at the pictures over and over again and come up with our own stories.

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