What are you currently reading?

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

I read that in Russian lit class freshman year in college—it was the second thing we read after Pushkin's Tales of Belkin—but I've forgotten most of it. I just picked up a copy at a used bookstore in Asheville, North Carolina and will try and read it again sometime. I do remember it being quite good, though I found the "superfluous man" main character a little annoying.

I've read some incredible books recently: Turgenev's Fathers & Sons, a couple of the Sherlock Holmes novels, and most recently a couple by Haruki Murakami that I really loved: Men Without Women, a short story collection, and Norwegian Wood, which I guess was his big breakthrough novel. I especially enjoyed the latter, which seemed to perfectly encapsulate so many of the feelings I experienced at age 18-21. I'm hooked, I'd love to read more Murakami now. He's written a ton of books. I love how he incorporates music into his novels; it's obvious that he's quite as obsessed with classical music as the best of us.

I'm curious if anyone here has read any of his work, and what they think of it. I certainly think he has his flaws: namely, he seems very much to be a male-perspective writer like a Hemingway, Vonnegut, or even Bukowski. I get the feeling that a woman reader might not get nearly as much out of the aforementioned books, which I see as a defect. But there is something about his writing that really resonates with me.

Murakami is popular in the West. It seems to Japanese hipsters Murakami is pop- he likes popular, well-known music/art rather than underground, hip things. Decades ago, his works were considered to be for average high school kids. Now, I don't know.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Jack Challoner - The Cell: A Visual Tour of the Building Block of Life.

Very interesting. Thank you for sharing.

[steve ridgway]

Very interesting. Thank you for sharing.

I'm finding it a very good introductory book, full of photos and diagrams which I find much more interesting and easier to recall than pages of dry text. Technology such as computer coloured electron microscope imaging produces beautiful, clear and detailed pictures.

[SimonNZ]

It seems to Japanese hipsters Murakami is pop- he likes popular, well-known music/art rather than underground, hip things. Decades ago, his works were considered to be for average high school kids. Now, I don't know.

I'd disagree strongly with both of those assessments.

and most recently a couple by Haruki Murakami that I really loved: Men Without Women, a short story collection, and Norwegian Wood, which I guess was his big breakthrough novel. I especially enjoyed the latter, which seemed to perfectly encapsulate so many of the feelings I experienced at age 18-21. I'm hooked, I'd love to read more Murakami now. He's written a ton of books. I love how he incorporates music into his novels; it's obvious that he's quite as obsessed with classical music as the best of us.

I'd recommend making The Wind Up Bird Chronicle one of the next ones. As well as being one of his best written and acclaimed it has all of his recurring  themes in their most undiluted form. For his deep knowledge of classical music be sure to read his book of conversations with Seiji Ozawa. I also love his book on running, which isn't really about running but is a jumping off point for talking about his philosophy of life more generally.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

I'd disagree strongly with both of those assessments.

I was not talking about the English translation.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

I'm finding it a very good introductory book, full of photos and diagrams which I find much more interesting and easier to recall than pages of dry text. Technology such as computer coloured electron microscope imaging produces beautiful, clear and detailed pictures.

Once I return to the USA next year, I will order the book. Yes I like illustrations for science. So I have many science books with bunch of illustrations for children.
I heard that all the human body cells are renewed every 12-15 years, still we maintain similar appearance, persomalities and even memories of decades ago.

[Judith]

Recently became fascinated with women's suffrage movement at the beginning of 20th century (e.g Emmeline Pankhurst). Studied a course about them so now reading a book called

Rise up Women
Diane Atkinson

which is their story

[Karl Henning]

Splendid, Judith!

[SimonNZ]

RIP John Le Carre.

I've got a couple of his recent ones near the top of the To Read pile: Agent Running In The Field and A Legacy Of Spies. Has anyone here read either? Also the slightly older An Honorable Schoolboy waiting.

[Jo498]

I read the "legacy" and it is decent but a fairly close late sequel to some of his 1970s books (actually one in particular, but I am not exactly sure which one, probably Spy who came from the cold?). Of which I mainly knew Soldier, Tailor etc. so I was a bit at a loss wrt details. I started Agent Running... but was not sufficiently enthralled to keep going.
Of the somewhat recent ones I read, I found "Absolute friends" the best, it also has the "legacy" theme but in a more poignant manner, turning from apparently light to very dark indeed. I'd highly recommend that one. But keep in mind, that I have only read a fraction of his books.

[SimonNZ]

I read the "legacy" and it is decent but a fairly close late sequel to some of his 1970s books (actually one in particular, but I am not exactly sure which one, probably Spy who came from the cold?). Of which I mainly knew Soldier, Tailor etc. so I was a bit at a loss wrt details. I started Agent Running... but was not sufficiently enthralled to keep going.
Of the somewhat recent ones I read, I found "Absolute friends" the best, it also has the "legacy" theme but in a more poignant manner, turning from apparently light to very dark indeed. I'd highly recommend that one. But keep in mind, that I have only read a fraction of his books.

Thanks for that. I'll make Absolute Friends one of the next one of his I read.

[vers la flamme]

Murakami is popular in the West. It seems to Japanese hipsters Murakami is pop- he likes popular, well-known music/art rather than underground, hip things. Decades ago, his works were considered to be for average high school kids. Now, I don't know.

Oddly, perhaps, I could see Murakami's works not going over quite as well in Japan as they do in the West. He has such a Western style; if he wasn't writing about Japan and Japanese people, he could totally pass for an American writer.

@SimonNZ, I have Wind Up Bird on my bookshelf, so that might be next. It's lengthy, so I was considering trying another shorter one first, but it does look really good.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Oddly, perhaps, I could see Murakami's works not going over quite as well in Japan as they do in the West. He has such a Western style; if he wasn't writing about Japan and Japanese people, he could totally pass for an American writer.

@SimonNZ, I have Wind Up Bird on my bookshelf, so that might be next. It's lengthy, so I was considering trying another shorter one first, but it does look really good.

Divided, if not totally rejected, figure. His books are in tadem with Hello Kitty, anime, etc., things for export. He often appears to be a celebrity, rather than a serious writer. I don't mean to reject his works, but I am just describing how his works are treated. Westerners may know the quality of his works better than Japanese do as Simon NZ presumes.  He likes Elvis, the Beatles' Sargent P., Zeppelin 4, plus famous albums in Jazz and classics. He was influenced by Burroughs (my fav), Kerouac, etc.

My pesonal view is that his works don't have ambiguity and nuances, which many Japanese readers tend to value. But quite possibly he has something many people like. Thank you for bringing up this interesting writer.

[Florestan]

Divided, if not totally rejected, figure. His books are in tadem with Hello Kitty, anime, etc., things for export. He often appears to be a celebrity, rather than a serious writer. I don't mean to reject his works, but I am just describing how his works are treated. Westerners may know the quality of his works better than Japanese do as Simon NZ presumes.  He likes Elvis, the Beatles' Sargent P., Zeppelin 4, plus famous albums in Jazz and classics. He was influenced by Burroughs (my fav), Kerouac, etc.

My pesonal view is that his works don't have ambiguity and nuances, which many Japanese readers tend to value. But quite possibly he has something many people like. Thank you for bringing up this interesting writer.

I certainly read two or three books of Murakami but can't even remember the titles, let alone any character or plot. 

[Artem]

People either love him or hate him. I like Haruki Murakami earlier books the most. The Sheep trilogy may be his best. However, I think he's been repeating himself with the few latest novels, but I'm still curious to read whatever new is translated into English.

[SimonNZ]

A few are largely forgettable variations on his familiar themes, but others are very good indeed. It would be a pity if someone started with the former then have up. Only one I've felt was actually bad: After Dark.

His nonfiction writings on Jazz haven't been translated into English yet, but I strongly suspect that like his conversations with Ozawa they will show more diversity and insight than the occasional mention in his novels.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Yukio Mishima. The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea.

[vers la flamme]

Yukio Mishima. The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea.

The guy who committed Seppuku after a failed coup. What a fascinating story. I've been meaning to check out his work.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

The guy who committed Seppuku after a failed coup. What a fascinating story. I've been meaning to check out his work.

I like this novel, and the movie based on the novel, while his Confession of a Mask is more popular. The both are good introductions to his literary works.  I am not sure if you will like them. But I am certain you and most members here will accept that these are great literay works.

Before the literary debut, he was an elite bureaucrat in the Ministry of Finance- the most esteemed admn dept in Japanese gvt.

[vers la flamme]

I like this novel, and the movie based on the novel, while his Confession of a Mask is more popular. The both are good introductions to his literary works.  I am not sure if you will like them. But I am certain you and most members here will accept that these are great literay works.

Before the literary debut, he was an elite bureaucrat in the Ministry of Finance- the most esteemed admn dept in Japanese gvt.

Have you read any of the Sea of Fertility series? I just read the first few pages of the first book, Spring Snow, on Amazon and I liked what I was reading. Ultimately I think it will be some time before I get around to really checking out Mishima, and I'm not sure whether his quasi-fascistic purism and austerity will be my thing, but it's obvious that he is a major artist in Japanese literature. Are you Japanese, DBK? Just curious as you seem to have some insider knowledge of Japan's culture and have alluded to having a primary language that is not English.

I'm fond of the Beats myself, it was through Kerouac and Burroughs (as well as Kurt Vonnegut) that I first really got into reading "serious" literature back in high school. I did pick up on a little bit of that influence in Murakami.

Currently I'm rereading The Great Gatsby. I haven't read this since high school and I seem to be getting somewhat more out of it this time. I was inspired to revisit it after I read references to it in two books I've read and enjoyed recently: the narrator of Murakami's Norwegian Wood cited it as his favorite book, and in Hemingway's A Moveable Feast, the author-narrator describes his view that whatever flaws Fitzgerald has as a person (which are enumerated in humorous detail in that book), they are to be tolerated on account of his ability to write this genius book.