Haruki Murakami is among the most renowned writers of the century. A Japanese writer who has won numerous prestigious awards, including his Franz Kafka Prize and awards like the World Fantasy Award, Gunzou Prize for New Writers, etc. His work is centered around genres like realism, surrealism, postmodernism, bildungsroman, and many more. Some of his most notable works include Kafka on the Shore, Norwegian Wood, 1Q84, and many more. This post will go through ***20*** ***books that Haruki Murakami recommends.***
1. The Brothers Karamazov – Fyodor Dostoevsky:
The most well-known work of Dostoevsky was Crime and Punishment. However, The Brothers Karamazov is certainly an essential read and is loved by readers due to its focus on topics like murder, mystery, and courtroom drama. It also contains an erotic conflict involving the love triangle of the romantic and violent Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov and his three sons – jovial Dmitri and a rational, unfeeling Ivan, the energetic red-cheeked young scholar Alyosha. Through this novel, Dostoevsky covers Russian culture and the golden age.
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2. The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald:
The Great Gatsby is Scott Fitzgerald’s 3rd book and the most popular of his works. It also made him renowned as an author. The book is an excellent illustration reflecting writing in the Jazz Age and is considered a classic of the 20th century. The story centers around the wealthy and famous Jay Gatsby, who found his new love in a gorgeous woman known as Daisy Buchanan. It focuses on the fashion of 1920 America, in which gin was seen as the drink of the nation, and the latest obsession for Americans was sexual sex, as reported by New York Times.
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3. The Castle – Franz Kafka:
The Castle by Franz Kafka was left unfinished in 1922. It was not released until 1926, two years after the author’s death. The story is one of the most memorable of Kafka’s unwavering, inexplicably arduous battle against his difficult-to-define influence to gain admission to the Castle. Following the fluidity and awe-inspiring humor of the punctuated manuscript, the latest translation by Mark Harman reveals levels of physical power, energy, and humor that were previously unknown to English readers.
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4. The Catcher in the Rye – J. D. Salinger:
It’s time of year for Christmas which means Holden Caulfield has been barred from another school. After leaving Pencey Prep, he is a resident of New York City. He seeks refuge in the company of strangers, hotels wandering about in Central Park, getting wounded by pimps, and being slashed by former girlfriends. The city is charming due to its gorgeous hollowness, sour glamor, and a fusion of possibility and emptiness. Holden is a ghost, forever thinking about his little twin sister Phoebe whom he considers to be the sole one who truly understands his struggle to get away from the falsehoods and find the meaning behind existence.
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5. The Long Goodbye – Raymond Chandler:
The novel written by Chandler is about a down-and-out drunk character called Terry Lennox. Lennox is struggling with issues in his personal life after losing his wife. All he desires to get from Los Angeles as soon as feasible. In search of assistance and guidance, Lennox turns to his closest friend Philip Marlowe, a private detective by profession. Marlowe is willing to help Lennox; however, things worsen and are filthy when Lennox takes his life in Mexico. To discover the truth Marlowe was in the middle of the crowd of rich people, drunks, and adulterers as he was sure Lennox didn’t kill his wife. What is the distance Marlowe is willing to go to discover the truth?
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6. The Elephant Vanishes:
In these stories, a character is an ordinary man who witnesses a beloved animal disappear from the sky. Newlyweds suffer episodes of hunger that lead them to go to the bowels of a McDonald’s late into the midnight, and one woman is drawn to a green animal digging into her garden. Amid adversity and comedy, during “The Elephant Vanishes,” Murakami blurs the lines between two realities and resurfaces with many treasures during ” The Elephant Vanishes.
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7. Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage:
“Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage” is the amazing tale of a boy haunted by a devastating loss, of hopes and nightmares that can have unexpected effects on our world, and a historical trip essential for repairing the present.
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8. South of the Border, West of the Sun:
Hajime is now middle-aged with a happy family and a successful job, but he feels unsatisfied. Suppose a friend from the past who has become a beautiful woman comes to Hajime with a dark mystery. The boundaries of Hajime’s daily life begin to unravel. Amazingly and mysterious yet fascinating, in South of the Border, West of the Sun. The basic tale of a man’s existence transforms into the stunning literary landscape created by Murakami’s dazzling imagination.
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9. Dance Dance Dance:
While searching for Murakami’s elusive protagonist, who is missing from the world for his mysterious girlfriend, he is thrown into a tense, sexual and metaphysical maze. The pulsating novel that features an unpredictable yet charming Sheep Man, one of the most extraordinary writers of the present, combines hard boiled thriller, science fiction, and black-hot comedy.
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10. A Wild Sheep Chase:
An executive in advertising receives an email from a friend and decides to use the picture to create an advertisement. What he isn’t aware of is that the subject there is an animal that has been transformed, sporting the star on its back. In addition, using the image unintentionally snatched a person’s attention, making a threatening request to track down the sheep or suffer the consequences. The story starts with a baffling and complicated trip that takes the reader through Tokyo up to the mountains of northern Japan. The main character isn’t named and has shocking encounters with his adversaries.
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11. After Dark:
19-year-old Mari is at the center of an unknown Denny’s as she’s met by a shy male who claims she is her sister and sends her to explore the quiet city. Many Tokyo inhabitants meet in a tight space between reality and fantasy one night. Incredibly engaging and infused with surrealism, “After Dark” is an amazing account of the captivating night that is a blur between dawn and midnight.
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12. Sputnik Sweetheart:
K is attracted to his closest girlfriend, Sumire, but her commitment to a writing career is a barrier to any commitments to anyone else. At least she meets an older lady to whom she’s attracted. If Sumire is missing from an island near Greece, K is requested to join the search team, attracted back to her world, and confronted by terrifying visions. Instinctive and disturbing “Sputnik Sweetheart” is a deeply contemplative piece on human desire.
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13. Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World:
Murakami introduces readers to an unsettling world of distinct tales. Lauren Bacall, Bob Dylan, a split-brained processor, a mad scientist, his extremely un-demure daughter, a variety of thugs, librarians, and subterranean creatures combine to produce a spectacular impact. The result is a simultaneously humorous novel and a profound reflection of the nature and functions that the brain can perform.
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14. 1Q84:
A young woman called Aomame is captivated by the suggestion of a taxi driver and starts to catch mystifying differences within the world surrounding her. She lives in a parallel universe she calls 1Q84. “The Q is for “question mark. It’s a world with a question mark.” In the meantime, an aspiring writer known as Tengo is assigned a shady ghostwriting assignment. Tengo becomes so absorbed in the project and its mysterious author that his once tranquil life unravels in time.
An intimate love tale, an intriguing mystery, the book of self-discovery, and a dystopia to reach George Orwell’s “1Q84” is Haruki Murakami’s most ambitious task. It is a cult bestseller in his home country of Japan and an amazing fiction achievement from one of the most revered trendy writers.
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15. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle:
On a quiet night below Tokyo’s surface, Toru Okada searches for his missing cat. As the two searches collide, he is confronted with a strange assortment of antagonists and his allies. It is inspiring, prophetic, and full of humor and apocalypse. This detective story tells the story about a broken marriage and an investigation into the secrets of Japan’s forgotten war in Manchuria during World War II.
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16. Norwegian Wood:
Toru is a calm, serious student at Tokyo’s college. He falls in love with Naoko, an elegant, contemplative young woman. Their love for one another is intensified by the tragic death of their close friend a few years ago. Toru discovers that Naoko has disappeared into her world, and Toru is drawn to a strong, independent young woman.
This is a stunning combination of music, atmosphere, and the spirit of 1960s pop culture. The story of a college student’s romance journey to maturity. “Norwegian Wood,” a brilliant depiction of a young man’s first hopeful, if not heroic, relationship, is a wonderful tale.
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17. Kafka on the Shore:
In this story, we meet a younger boy named Kafka, who’s being hunted, and Nakata, a simple older woman attracted to Kafka due to reasons Kafka cannot comprehend. As their paths intersect, the celebrated novelist Haruki Murakami enfolds readers in the world of cats talking and fish slithering out of the sky. Spirits escape from their bodies to create love or commit murder and take on an incredible adventure.
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18. Underground:
While still exploring the notions of alienation in our highly intelligent society, the book diverts us from the typical writing style of Murakami’s surrealists. Instead, we are presented with interviews with people who commute and those who were the victims of Tokyo’s terrorist attacks on the subway in 1995. In the end, we have an essay written by a private person that Murakami directs us to question the indifference of Japanese society towards the occurrence. Some critics believe Underground is one-sided work. Underground is nonetheless an engaging and thorough work that showcases Murakami’s capacity to probe into issues that can be uncomfortable to consider.
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19. Men Without Women:
Whether or not the collection was named in honor of Hemingway’s work is unknown. However, there are some common themes. In the event of separation or the passing of a loved one, all the men featured in seven of the stories in this collection are the victims of someone else’s loss. Combined with Murakami’s amazing ability with a pen and the description of men’s mental battles and battles with issues typically related to females in the news (such as anorexia), it creates an enthralling book.
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20. Pinball (1973 ):
It’s difficult to talk about Hear the Wind Sing without the sequel, which follows an uninterested person trying to find himself again by discovering the pinball machine he played. Although it is clear his progress in the plot and subject matter, Pinball still lacks the impact of his previous works. It’s as if his work is experiencing puberty and isn’t completely sure of its own story. There’s still a melancholy and atypical plot waiting for readers within this book.
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Conclusion:
We easily determine why Haruki Murakami recommended these books to us by reading these books. These books give us inspiration, fun, and information in the form of useful knowledge. Haruki Murakami recommends these amazing 20 books because We have not read these books to get the motive of living and knowledge, which is very useful information according to writers.
