What's your favourite Murakami book? I'm reading Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman at the moment but my ultimate favourite is the first one I read: The Wind-up Bird Chronicle. It is just so quirky but not quite so off the wall as some of his others. And how come every Murakami book contains: something to do with ears (not always, but usually, beautiful ones), cooking spaghetti and eating it with a bit of salad, a jazz club, a cat (sometimes missing), drinking whisky, and references to being a student in the 1960s?

you forgot wells

I do like his male characters it must be said

his book about running is v good too.

I guess he follows the Write What You Know rule. I think my favourite is still Norwegian Wood, I got it in the cute two books in a box format. I found Underground very absorbing too.

Wells! How could I forget wells. I've got the running book and am saving it for when I'm next in a Murakami mood. I have to space him out: there's no way I could read lots of Murakamis in a row.

I liked the wind up bird chronicle best

even the very very violent bits

loved the historical stuff and loved the main character

although also loved the girl in Norwegian Wood

they do all blur into one slightly for me

but maybe my fave is also 'wind up bird chronicle'

Also, chain-smoking to add to your list!

I went the wrong way on a train because of the wind up bird chronicle (the bit with the ship with the refugees in it).

love the wells.

i think wells are very japanese

My favourite is Wild Sheep Chase- I love all his books though.
The one about the aftermath of the tokyo underground sarin attacks was very moving (non-fiction - interviews with survivors)

I am still reading Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman and there is a story all about cooking spaghetti. I like how he can take the mickey out of himself!

I got stuck half way through the Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Should I persevere with it?

That's hard to answer: everyone has different tastes. My DH had the same problem and he tried to read it again a couple of years after giving up and liked it the second time.

Hated Norwegian Wood. I thought the narrator was a prick and the female characters were ciphers.

was deeply deeply disappointed with Norweigan Wood too.

But love windup bird.

didn't like norwegian wood

loved sheep chase, but loved the sequel even more and have loads of bits copied from it in my notebook... remember all the sheep man's speech about how you have to just dance?

kafka on the shore is incredible, deeply moving.

have temporarily forgotten the name though of the first one i read which made me cry... east of the sun west of the moon?? (all my books in cardboard boxes awaiting new bookshelves so can't check) about the jazz cafe owner who has affair with mysterious childhood friend... LOVED LOVED LOVED it

umm yes- south of the border, west of the sun- yes, very moving, loved it.

I loved Wind-Up Bird as well. It was so strange and intriguing, I found myself devouring it late at night whilst thinking repeatedly, "I have work tomorrow, I really really need to go to bed..."

I enjoyed it so much I didn't mind the slightly inconclusive ending. Although I've read everything else Murakami's produced, nothing has been quite the same as that first trawl through Wind-Up Bird.

(The scene where the small boy who turns out to be Cinnamon loses his voice epitomises the otherworldly strangeness of the book for me.)

my favourite is Hard-Boiled Wonderland... so dreamy and strange.

BBL, you forgot the knowing, sassy teenage girl

The Wind up Bird Chronicle but I also love Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche, which is non-fiction. He interviews the victims and perpetrators of the Toyko subway sarin gas attacks.

I like Dance Dance Dance. My dh's favourite, and he has read almost all, is The Wind Up Bird Chronicle.

I havent read Murakami for ages.

What was the name of the one with the mackerel?

Kafka on the Shore had the rain of mackerel.

Definitive list of Murakami 'must-have' elements:
something to do with ears (not always, but usually, beautiful ones)
cooking spaghetti and eating it with a bit of salad
a jazz club
a cat (sometimes missing)
drinking whisky
references to being a student in the 1960s
a well
chain smoking
a sassy teenage girl
dark corridors
someone who works in advertising / the media

Wind Up Bird Chronicles is the only one I have read over and over again-the others just blur as BeckyBB has shown-they're pretty similar. Did 'enjoy' his book on the arrack on the Tokyo underground.