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Raging Biblio-holism

The overwhelming urge to collect, consume, and consider books

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Tag: Murakami 2014

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2014 – The RB Lit Review

December 31, 2014 by Drew

And so, friends, we come to the end of another year.  So many books read, so much to recap – so let’s dive in. VITAL STATS, YEAR FOUR: Books Read: 137 Pages Read: 48,900 (an exact round number – weiiiird) Average Rating: 3.89 (a definite drop from the last two years, although this may reflect a somewhat broader scope of reading? or sharper critical thinking? who knows.) Highest Rating(s): – 6 out of 5 Jeff VanderMeer’s The Southern Reach Trilogy (Annihilation, Authority, Acceptance) was maybe the […]

Categories: Features • Tags: A Visit From The Goon Squad, Acceptance, Annihilation, Authority, Bad Books, Broken Monsters, China Miéville, Dani Lencioni, David Mitchell, DC Pierson, Edgar Cantero, Embassytown, Eric Setiawan, FSG Originals Series, good Books, Harper Perennial, Haruki Murakami, How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, Jeff Vandermeer, Jeffrey Eugenides, Jennifer Egan, Junot Diaz, Kafka on the Shore, Karen Russell, Katherine Faw Morris, Lauren Beukes, Lena Dunham, Meg Wolitzer, Murakami 2014, Nick Harkaway, Not That Kind of Girl, Of Bees and Mist, Olive Editions, Parties, Shirley Jackson, So Many Damn Books, St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves, The Bone Clocks, The Boy Who Couldn't Sleep and Never had to, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, The City and the City, The Interestings, The Marriage Plot, The Morning News, The People in the Trees, The Southern Reach Trilogy, The Supernatural Enhancements, The Tournament of Books 2014, Tigerman, Vonnegut 201x, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Woolf 2015, year in review, You Should Have Known, Young God

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The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

December 15, 2014 by Drew

The Short Version: Toru Okada’s cat has disappeared. He’s out of work so he goes to look for it, unsuccessfully.  But when his wife disappears as well, he’s drawn into a strange low-key conspiracy involving a well, a ‘psychic prostitute’, a mysterious bruise, family, cats, and World War II… The Review: I saved this Murakami for last this year, because it’s the one book that everybody who has read Murakami says “oh, it’s our favorite.” And I wonder if there’s something of […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Fiction, Haruki Murakami, Literature, Murakami 2014, Reviews, The Ten Year Catch-Up, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

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Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

October 29, 2014 by Drew

The Short Version: Two alternating tales, of a data analyst whose brain may have been altered to carry a terrible secret and of a man just come to a strange town called the End of the World.  But these seemingly unconnected stories have far more in common than first meets the eye and the double helix of the story begins to spiral inward… The Review: At first, the novel feels like it’s two completely different novellas that Murakami just decided to […]

Categories: Fantasy, Fiction, Literature, Sci-Fi • Tags: Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Cyberpunk, Fantasy, Fiction, Hard-Boiled Wonderland, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, Haruki Murakami, Literature, Murakami 2014, Reviews, Sci-Fi, Science Fiction, The End of the World

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The Elephant Vanishes

August 29, 2014 by Drew

The Short Version: A missing cat leads to a strange encounter.  A young couple decide to hold up a McDonald’s late one night.  An elephant vanishes.  A brother and sister come to terms with their adulthood.  Whether realistic or fantastical, Haruki Murakami brings his deft skill to shorter tales of wonder. The Review: Now here is a strange thing.  Take just about any of these stories individually and you will be rewarded – but together?  They feel individually greater than […]

Categories: Fantasy, Fiction, Short Stories • Tags: Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Fantasy, Fiction, Haruki Murakami, Japan, Murakami 2014, Reviews, Romance, Short Stories, The Elephant Vanishes, The Ten Year Catch-Up

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1Q84

June 1, 2014 by Drew

The Short Version: On her way to an assassination, a young woman called Aomame takes a shortcut down an escape staircase from the expressway and finds herself in a slightly-different world – one with two moons.  Meanwhile, a young man named Tengo rewrites an entrancing manuscript and ends up caught in a mystery he doesn’t understand. The Review: 1Q84 was, I think, the first time Murakami really penetrated my consciousness as a reader.  I’d heard of Kafka on the Shore but he was […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: 1Q84, Book Review, Book Reviews, Books, Fantasy, Fiction, Haruki Murakami, Japan, Literature, Magical Realism, Murakami 2014, Reviews, The Tournament of Books 2012

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Kafka on the Shore

March 13, 2014 by Drew

The Short Version: A 15-year-old boy called Kafka Tamura runs away from home, setting off possibly to escape from an Oedipal prophecy.  Meanwhile, an addled older man named Nakata begins to notice strange things happening around him – or because of him.  After a disturbing accident, he too runs away and as the two draw unknowingly closer to one another, reality begins to blur and the spirit world begins to bleed into this one. The Review: Okay, so now it gets […]

Categories: Fiction • Tags: Book Reviews, BookClub, Books, Fiction, Haruki Murakami, Japan, Kafka on the Shore, Literature, Magical Realism, Murakami 2014, Music, Reviews

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Norwegian Wood

January 5, 2014 by Drew

The Short Version: A young university student named Toru Watanabe is devoted to his beautiful friend Naoko – his dead best friend’s former girlfriend.  But Naoko’s mental health begins to deteriorate and Watanabe struggles to balance his love for her with the time that is passing.  When he meets a vivacious girl named Midori and begins to fall for her, his world threatens to dissolve entirely. The Review: I decided to get an early start to this year’s installment of the […]

Categories: Fiction, Literature • Tags: Fiction, Haruki Murakami, Jay Rubin, Literature, Murakami 2014, Norwegian Wood, Translation

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