Haruki Murakami, Colorless Tsukuri Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage

I haven't read all of Murkami's books, but he is one of my favourite authors, Norwegian Wood and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle are my top picks of his novels.

Colorless Tsukuri Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage is Murkarmi's latest offering, when it was published in Japan it sold a million copies in it's first week, and it has been similarly successful over here. There is always a lot of expectation when Murkarmi publishes a new book, and it can be difficult to life up to the hype.

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The Plot: At high school Tsukuru Tazaki was part of a close friendship group of 3 boys and 2 girls. Apart from Tazaki, the other friends, coincidently, all had colours in their names, Akamatsu 'red pine', Oumi 'blue sea', Shirane 'white root' and Kurono 'black field'. Together they formed a harmonious group, with each member having a special interest or talent that complemented and balanced the others. One day, without any explanation or prior warning, the four colourful friends annoudnced they no longer wanted to speak to Tazaki ever again. Since that time Tazaki has struggled to form meaningful connections with other people, until he meets Sara, who encourages him to contact his former friends and discover why they abruptly dumped him.

Rating: (3.5/5)
Full review under the cut:-

Ryu Murakami, From the Fatherland, With Love

I think I stumbled upon From the Fatherland, With Love during a search for speculative fiction. It instantly appealed as it is set in Japan and North Korea and the initial premise sounded both promising and believable.

The Plot: Japan's economy is devastated, there is mass unemployment and people are living in makeshift camps in public parks. Young men who have been in either the perpetrators or victims of violent crimes congregate in abandoned warehouses in Kyushu. They posses a unique set of skills, some are expert bomb makers, one can decapitate animals with custom built boomerangs, another boy breeds poisonous insects and frogs. Japan teeters on the edge of complete lawlessness, and North Korea seeks to take advantage. A small team of North Korean forces invades the city of Fukuoka, if they are successful  a further 120,000 troops will follow.

Rating: ««¶¶¶ (2.5/5)

For my review see under the jump:-

why I love Haruki Murakami

Whilst having a peruse around Amazon, (even though I'm on a self-imposed book buying ban) I found out that one of my favourite authors Haruki Murakami will be publishing a new book this summer, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage. Which got me thinking about why I like Murakami so much. 

Fun fact for you- aside from some giant electronics manual, the most stolen books when I worked at Waterstones was Haruki Murakami's. Regularly I would go to put out the delivery and there would be a gap on the bookshelf where Murakami's books should be.

source

 Most of Murakami's novels, apart from Norwegian Wood, are really surreal; talking cats, astral projection, shifts in time and rainstorms of fish are not out of place in Murakami's work as he blends together the ordinary with the fantastical. You'll either love it, or hate it (or attempt to steal it from Waterstones).

Murakami's style is instantly recognisable, he is experimental without being indecipherable. The alternate realities and characters he creates are unique and unsettling. Murakami is the master of the uncanny and incredibly quotable.

If you're new to Haruki Murakami I suggest you start of gently with Norwegian Wood, as it is the most normal of his novels. It is a story about love, mental health and music. Give it a go first to see if you like if writing style. Then increase the weird and move on to 1Q84, which includes cults, mystic beings and a female assassin.

My favourite Murakami is possibly The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, a truly strange book about a missing cat.

reading

"If you only read the book that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking"

- Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood 

Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games: The Mockingjay

After watching the most recent Hunger Games film, (which is brilliant by the way) I wanted to go back and re-read the series, so I picked up the third instalment The Hunger Games: The Mockingjay. So far, the films are only up to the second book, so if you want to get ahead I recommend you get a crack on with the books. 

Unusually, with The Hunger Games series, the films are just as good as the books.   

I'm not really one for reading YA fiction (although I do like to periodically re-visit Harry Potter and think His Dark Materials is amazing) but The Hunger Games is, in my opinion, a successful crossover book that appeals to both adults and teenagers. If you're stumped for buying a book for ages 11+, I'd highly recommended this series. It has a strong female protagonist, and promotes the values of bravery, compassion and resilience. 

I don't want to give away to many spoilers so just a brief summery of the series:-
In a dystopian future, twenty-four tributes between the ages of twelve to eighteen are selected at random
 to enter the annual Hunger Games, in which they must fight to the death until only one survives.

The Hunger Games: The Mockingjay is, I think, the weakest of the trilogy, as the action takes place outside of the Hunger Games arena. It is however, still a tense and enjoyable read and a satisfactory conclusion to the series.