Haruki Murakami

[Ciccone Madonna 1,362]

So, i wanted to start a topic about my current favourite author.

Haruki Murakami s a contemporary Japanese writer. His books and stories have been bestsellers in Japan as well as internationally, with his work being translated into 50 languages and selling millions of copies outside his native country.

His works of fiction and non-fiction have garnered critical acclaim and numerous awards, both in Japan and internationally, including the World Fantasy Award (2006) and the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award(2006), while his oeuvre received among others the Franz Kafka Prize (2006) and the Jerusalem Prize (2009). Murakami's most notable works include A Wild Sheep Chase (1982), Norwegian Wood (1987), The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (1994–95), Kafka on the Shore (2002), and 1Q84 (2009–10). He has also translated English works into Japanese, ranging from Raymond Carver to J. D. Salinger.

Murakami's fiction, still criticized by Japan's literary establishment as un-Japanese, was influenced by Western writers from Chandler to Vonnegut by way of Brautigan. It is frequently surrealistic and melancholic or fatalistic, marked by aKafkaesque rendition of the "recurrent themes of alienation and loneliness" he weaves into his narratives. He is also considered an important figure in postmodern literature. Steven Poole of The Guardian praised Murakami as "among the world's greatest living novelists" for his works and achievements.

My favorite is Norwegian Wood and Kafka on the shore.

[TiphEret 1,320]

Really interesting man! He had a jazz bar in the past and his writing process is mind blowing! Such discipline!

[Juvi 1,639]

Love his books but espeacially his short stories are what keep me coming back to his work!