Kafka on the Shore

Murakami’s fiction novels are extremely different from “What I Talk About When I Talk About Running”. If you want to try another non-fiction book of his check-out “Underground : The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche”, I loved it. If you go the fiction route “Kafka on the Shore” and “A Wild Sheep Chase” are a good starting point. Avoid some of his longer works unless you enjoy his style.

These threads are posted a lot, but I still like reading the comments for new book recommendations if I see a match. Also, hopefully this can show people how great fiction is. I've seen comments that shun people for liking fiction compared to non. For me: Lonesome Dove 100 Years of Solitude Catch-22 The Sellout (very relevant again) East of Eden Kafka on the Shore (and all the stories in Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman)

Surprised no one mentioned any of Haruki Murakami's books. Norwegian Wood made a big impression on me as a young man in my late teens. Kafka on the shore and the Wind-up Bird Chronicle are both trips. A Wild Sheep Chase is hilarious.

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami This just may be my imagined takeaway. But.. There's a theme around creativity existing on, let's call it a plane, and this plane is accessible to anyone. I've yet to think much on if this plane (or, perhaps way of thinking) is the same for everyone or actually shared in some way. This idea massively shaped my understanding, or feelings towards, the brain, and the immense ability for our own brains to limit or enhance our potential. This was a very literary way for me to form the advice that could be boiled down to: "think positively"

"The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared" by Jonas Jonasson (Love it -- hilarious, witty, a pleasure to read) "Kafka on the Shore" by Haruki Murakami (Strange good -- but I'm not sure if I liked it as much as liked "The Wild Sheep Chase") "One hundred years of solitude" by Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez (Very slow, had a hard time honestly) "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn (A fast, exciting read but found the ending unsatisfying. But would recommend) "Still Life with Woodpecker" by Tom Robbins (Fantastic prose, fantastical characters and situations. Will read more from him) And for technical books, I read "The Art of Agile Development". Was alright.

I went of a bit of a Murakami bender after reading The Wind Up Bird Chronicle. While it's still my favorite of his works, Kafka on the Shore is pretty fantastic as well.

Reposted from my site: (http://ben.kudria.net/post/2548785108/my-favorite-books-of-2... (http://ben.kudria.net/post/2548785108/my-favorite-books-of-2010)). Affiliate links there, for those inclined. === In 2010, every single book I read, I read on my Kindle. Buying a Kindle has been the best thing I have ever done for my reading addiction. I recently upgraded to a Kindle 3, and I wholeheartedly recommended you get one as well, even if you currently have a Kindle 2. Here are the top books I enjoyed in 2010, and you will enjoy also. - The His Dark Materials Trilogy. Start with The Golden Compass. - The City & The City by China Miéville. Quite the post-modern detective story. (Read also his novel Perdido Street Station) - Surface Detail, the new novel by Iain M. Banks, who has quickly catapulted to the very top of my “Favorite Sci-Fi Authors” list. Surface Detail may not be the best novel for a Banks-unfamiliar reader, however — you may wish to start with something like Consider Phlebas or Look To Windward.…

Haruki Murakami. Sputnik Sweetheart, Norwegian Wood, Kafka on the Shore. After the Quake, if you like short stories. Great stuff. If you want something lighter, try Banana Yoshimoto. If you want something with more sex and gruesome murders, try Ryu Murakami.

LOTR Kafka on the Shore (Haruki Murakami) Blood Meridian (Cormac McCarthy) Devil in the White City (Erik Larson)