Tag Archives: Murakami

Japan Society Book Club: 1Q84 Volumes 2 and 3 by Haruki Murakami

Monday 9 January at 7.00pm

5th View
Waterstones, Piccadilly
203-206 Piccadilly
London
W1J 9LE

Free for Japan Society Members

Having read volume 1 of this trilogy for the December book club and following positive feedback from members it has been decided that the January book club will discuss volumes 2 and 3.

IQ84 follows the paths of four central characters: Aomame, Tengo, Komatsu and Fukaeri in 1984 Tokyo. The book has two distinct story lines. One follows Aomame and starts with assassinating a guest at a plush hotel. The other involves Fukaeri a young 17 year old girl and begins with her manuscript for a literary contest being re-written by up-coming novelist Tengo and his mentor Komatsu. As the book progresses these two unrelated plot lines and parallel worlds converge. IQ84 has many themes including murder, history, cult religion, violence, family ties and love which makes it an intriguing read.

Haruki Murakami is a Japanese author and translator. He has won numerous awards including the Franz Kafka Prize and the Jerusalem Prize. Murakami writes both fiction and non-fiction.

The book club is held on the second Monday of the month. There is no restriction on the nationality of the authors read, but books should be available in translation in both Japanese and English. The discussion is conducted mainly in English, but you can choose the language in which you read the book. The intention is simple: to explore the themes of the book, express personal opinions on the style and content, discuss how the book has changed (or not) in translation and to have a relaxed discussion with others who have similar interests.

Please email the office if you would like to attend.

Norwegian Wood

Piu’ volte, in questo Blog, ho parlato del libro scritto da Haruki Murakami ‘Norwegian Wood’ ed il film tratto dal libro cosi oggi ho deciso di pubblicare la canzone dei Beatles che ne ha ispirato il titolo.

I mentioned several times, in this Blog, the book written by Haruki Murakami ‘Norwegian Wood’ and the film recently made from the bestseller. Today I’ve decided to publish the famous song ‘Norwegian Wood’ by the Beatles which inspired the title of the book.

Norwegian Wood – Murakami

Settimana abbastanza difficile quella appena conclusa. Al lavoro siamo stati molto occupati ed in aggiunta ci sarebbero brutte notizie in arrivo, scopriremo presto. Per quanto mi riguarda la settimana e’ stata rovinata dall’influenza, forte mal di testa e mal di gola, cosa che comunque non mi ha permesso di stare a casa a riposare ma ha semplicemente rallentato tutti i miei programmi.

Dopo aver finito il libro Yakuza Moon ho deciso di leggere (re-leggere) uno dei mie libri favoriti, Norwegian Wood scritto da Haruki Murakami. Devo ammettere che a differenza di molti appassionati del Giappone io non sono un grandissimo appassionato di Murakami in quanto trovo molti suoi libri piuttosto noiosi ma Norwegian Wood e’ veramente bello e semplice da leggere e sicuramente il migliore di quelli scritti dal famoso scrittore Giapponese, obbligatorio da leggere se non si conosce l’autore. Un’altro libro di Murakami che consiglio e’ The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle in Italiano L’ucello che Girava le Viti del Mondo, libro molto lungo da leggere, 832 pagine, ma mai noioso.

Per finire questo post vi voglio ricordare/informare che dal libro Norwegian Wood e’ stato fatto un film che prossimamente sara’ disponibile in Europa.

I’ve been trough a difficult week. At work we had been particularly busy and we were informed that things (mainly financially) are not going well and drastic solutions are needed while on a personal level I had a cold, strong headaches and sore throat, which made difficult to achieve all the things I had planed for this week.

After having finished to read Yakuza Moon I decided to read (re-read) one of my favourite books, Norwegian Wood, written by Haruki Murakami. I’ve to admit, I’m not the greatest fan of Murakami as I often found his books boring (nonsense, you might think) but Norwegian Wood is a very well written book and if you have never read it you should consider to put it at the top of your list with The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, the other book written by Murakami I like, long (832 pages) but enjoyable.

To finish this post I would like to inform/remind that from the book a film was recently made and soon available in Europe.