15 Jan 2011

TBR Thoughts: Kafka on the Shore


My to-be-read list is long... as in really long. And it is really difficult for me to prioritise what to read next. I usually just go with whatever feels right, not really having any system. However, now I want to improve my selection process - I will write my thoughts down on some of the books on my TBR and then hopefully you wonderful people out there will comment and help me prioritise my list!

"Kafka on the Shore" by Haruki Murakami has been living the quiet life on my shelf for about a year now and I can feel that it is about time that I get around to reading it.
This is what it says on www.amazon.com:
"Joining the rich literature of runaways, Kafka On The Shore follows the solitary, self-disciplined schoolboy Kafka Tamura as he hops a bus from Tokyo to the randomly chosen town of Takamatsu, reminding himself at each step that he has to be "the world¹s toughest fifteen-year-old." He finds a secluded private library in which to spend his days--continuing his impressive self-education--and is befriended by a clerk and the mysteriously remote head librarian, Miss Saeki, whom he fantasizes may be his long-lost mother. Meanwhile, in a second, wilder narrative spiral, an elderly Tokyo man named Nakata veers from his calm routine by murdering a stranger. An unforgettable character, beautifully delineated by Murakami, Nakata can speak with cats but cannot read or write, nor explain the forces drawing him toward Takamatsu and the other characters."

I like the sound of it! So I think this is one book that I will read sooner rather than later - have you read it? And what are your thoughts on it?

6 comments:

  1. I have read it, and you definitely should! I wrote about it here; http://wandering-the-dream-space.blogspot.com/2010/09/kafka-on-shore-haruki-murakami.html

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  2. I hope to read this one in 2011 as I enjoyed (2) other books by this author in 2010

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  3. I haven't read that one, but I read The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, and it was quite good.

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  4. Thanks for haring the link Frangipan, I appreaciate it :-) And thanks Diane and Dorothy for your comments.

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  5. I like this TBR idea! Unfortunately, I've not yet read Murakami, though he's on my TBR list and I plan on listening to one of his books soon. If you do decide to read Kafka on the Shore soon, I'll look forward to your thoughts on it.

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  6. I absolutely ADORE Haruki Murakami and I loved this book. I read it almost immediately after it was published and I couldn't put it down.

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