In 2002, while walking from a parking lot to the theatre for the US premiere of Spirited Away, my friends and I almost got run over by the limo bus that was transporting Hayao Miyazaki and his Studio Ghibli posse ( Read more... )

strictly speaking: Haruki Murakami

THIS WILL BE AWESOME: Y/Y?

...and I'm finally done with Keeping Busy with Murakami. Now that I've finished reading After Dark, it's over ( Read more... )

...one more to go in Keeping Busy with Murakami. It's almost over!

I finished Kafka on the Shore sometime during the past weekend. Murakami stated that this novel could be understood better after multiple readings. I could believe that. ( Some spoilery details I didn't get during my first run through the book... )

...two more to go in Keeping Busy with Murakami.

I finished reading Sputnik Sweetheart about an hour ago. This novel is probably second to Norwegian Wood in terms of being the Murakami book most likely to make you feel/ponder/think of loneliness and isolation. It could probably be summed up in this passage from page 117:
"And it came to me ( Read more... )

...three more to go in Keeping Busy with Murakami.

I finished reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle last night. This took the longest to re-read, what with going out of town and Comic-Con going on, but whatever ( Read more... )

...four more to go in Keeping Busy with Murakami.

I finished reading South of the Border, West of the Sun last night. I want to run a jazz bar now, but unfortunately I know nothing of running a bar, aside from the fact that it involves serving booze.

I would, however, like to learn more about jazz. I looked through all the Duke Ellington ( Read more... )

...five more to go in Keeping Busy with Murakami.

I've finished reading Dance Dance Dance through what has currently evolved to a low-level fever haze. Dance Dance Dance features Murakami poking fun at himself through a character named Hiraku Makimura (an anagram of Haruki Murakami), as well as an imagined Egyptian epic swimming instruction- ( Read more... )

...six more to go in Keeping Busy with Murakami.

I've finished rereading Norwegian Wood. It was the first Murakami novel I ever read, and still my favourite. Unfortunately it leaves me feeling isolated, if not more than a little fatalistic. I never really related to any of the characters before, at least not until some of the contents of ( Read more... )

...seven more to go in Keeping Busy with Murakami.

I've finished reading Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. I purchased this book based on the promising description on the back of the book, which didn't mention anything about how the chapters alternate between two different (but connected) narratives: Hard-Boiled Wonderland vs End ( Read more... )