1Q84 is pretty mainstream, so I'm sure you guys have a lot of opinions about it, be it good or bad, but I liked it. I liked how incredibly slow paced and relaxed it was, despite the fact that the premise could have gone in a very different direction. I read his other combination novel Wind/Pinball + The Colorless Tzukuru and they had the same feeling. I'd call it an air of mystery, he doesn't fill in all the details but just enough to give a picture so it feels like I'm following the protagonist through a dreamier, hazier version of Japan.
Anyway, my library has no other Murakami books so it's time to start picking out books to buy and I'd like to take lit's advice on good Jap lit. If it happens to capture the same feeling you think I've described, then that is a plus.
If they put cute anime pictures in their books they would sell more and people would discuss it more.
Jacob Allen
Where to start with Mishima? Currently reading Kokoro and enjoying it a lot.
Justin Bailey
Confessions of a Mask and the Temple of the Golden Pavilion are generally recommended as where to start.
I began with Confessions of a Mask and it has remained as one of my favourite books but if you don't like dicks then it may not impact you the same way.
Dylan Cruz
Kafka on the shore is similar, and you get a nice look at Japan through out.
Jaxson Cook
hardboiled wonderland by murakami was better than 1Q84 imo. don't want to read anything else by him after reading those two - i get it.
Nathan Mitchell
bump
Luke Jackson
Sun and Steel.
Jayden Hill
lol
Matthew Morales
Read Kawabata, Tanizaki, Abe, Oe, Murasaki desu
Brandon Bennett
Minae Mizumura's A True Novel is pretty slow-paced and relaxed, if you liked 1Q84 you'll probably enjoy it, takes place mostly in the countryside of Japan with parts in the US. The 'town of cats' referenced in 1Q84 is drawn from Hagiwara Sakutaro's (pic) short story Cat Town, which is worth checking out. He doesn't necessarily qualify as J lit but Kazuo Ishiguro's A Village After Dark echoes a similary eeriness (also a short story); A Pale View of the Hills is a subdued novella that takes place in a semi-rural Japanese town. Ryu Murakami's first novel Almost Transparent Blue is one of my favorites and, like Haruki's works, concerns a young male protagonist who's emotionally timid and often disaffected, indulging in sex and drug-use- think Less Than Zero meets After Dark (my favorite Murakami if you haven't read it yet, takes place in Tokyo at night). Ryunosuke Akutagawa's Rashomon is pretty comfy collection too. Lot's of interesting and varied technique in delaying suspense and staggering information.
Anyone who keeps up with contemporary J fiction? The little I've read has been genre fiction, something more literary would be interesting.
Henry Gonzalez
Tfw my autism about book covers has prevented me from buying The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea like five times because the edition that I like the cover of isn't sold widely anymore
Owen Murphy
You're missing out on a lot by not at least reading Kafka on the Shore, and in my opinion The Wind Up Bird Chronicle as well
Adam Scott
Start with fudge packing then end with seppuku.
Leo Lopez
A Personal Matter from Oe was a great, short read. I'd recommend that, and Nip the buds from the same guy.
William Edwards
How would you compare Almost Transparent Blue to Coin Locker babies?
Henry Evans
He looks like japanese Rembauld.
Grayson Long
Is this chart good?
Julian Rogers
>Several books by the same authors in the last sections
That usually implies that the creator is a hack doesn't really know that many works/authors and had to clumsily bloat the chart to try and hide it.
Christian Richardson
>You could include only one Mishima book Bullshit
Ethan Anderson
some user posted a long time ago a nice mega.nz link containing many japanese books, can you please repost the link?
I generally see the point of these charts to be to express the very essentials, and then once someone is introduced to a particular author, they're free to get further into their bibliography. I think only the very best of the best generally deserve to have two of their books on a chart that has limited space to begin with.
Charles Ortiz
thanks
Tyler Martinez
Most distinctive is the timespan the two take place across. Where ATP covers events that could've taken place within the same week, CLB spans events from the character's birth to young adulthood. It's hard to compare the two since they're such different stories, but ATB is more autobiographical, whereas CLB (though similar in emphasis on sexuality, grit, and deviance) can feel more fictional due to the eccentric characters, plot devices, and occasional melodrama.
