As of: March 6, 2024, 5:31 a.m
By: Marco Blanco Ucles
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Haruki Murakami recently celebrated his 75th birthday.
On the occasion of his special day, we present three of his books that you should read.
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One of the greatest Japanese writers of all time celebrated his 75th birthday on January 12, 2024: Haruki Murakami.
Born in Kyoto in 1949, Murakami can look back on numerous bestsellers and personal awards in his life - including the 2014 World Literature Prize.
His style is characterized by surrealistic elements and allusions to pop culture.
His stories are set in Japan and are often influenced by models of Western literature, from which many of the 20 best-selling works of all time on Amazon originate.
Haruki Murakami: Top three books you should read
One of Asia's most famous writers turns 75: Haruki Murakami © Kyodo News/IMAGO
Now, on his 75th birthday, after a six-year break, Murakami's novel was finally published again: "The City and the Uncertain Wall." In addition to Murakami's latest work, there are also other book publications in 2024 that you definitely shouldn't miss.
On the occasion of his special day, we have looked at the three greatest works of the Japanese best-selling author over the years and present them to you.
Haruki Murakami “Naoko’s Smile”
The novel, a mixture of love story and thriller, published in 1987, has sold over 13 million copies worldwide, making it one of the 150 best-selling books of all time, and was also made into a film in 2010.
Tokyo in the late 1960s: While students around the world gather to overthrow the establishment, Toru Watanabe's private life is also in turmoil.
He shares a close kinship with his first love Naoko, but their relationship is strained by the tragic suicide of their mutual friend Kizuki.
When the spirited Midori comes into his life, who is everything Naoko cannot be, Watanabe must choose between the past and the future.
Blurb
Haruki Murakami “Naoko’s Smile”
Dumont, ISBN-13 978-3-8321-5609-1
Price: bound 26 euros, paperback 13 euros, e-book 4.99 euros, 416 pages (different format)
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Haruki Murakami “Kafka on the Beach”
Within the first month of publication in September 2002, Murakami's novel Kafka on the Beach sold 500,000 copies in Japan.
The style is characterized by magical realism.
This means that in addition to realistic representations, fantastic elements are also incorporated.
15-year-old Kafka Tamura runs away from home and flees to the island of Shikoku to escape a dark prophecy from his father.
His adventurous journey takes him to a strange city, where he meets the fascinating library director Saeki and falls for her.
He meets a mysterious old man who can talk to cats and slips into a strange, strange world.
What is dream, what is reality?
Where does this journey full of mysterious encounters and labyrinthine paths end?
Blurb/Dumont
Haruki Murakami “Kafka on the Beach”
Dumont, ISBN-13 978-3-8321-7866-6
Price: bound 28 euros, paperback 14 euros, e-book 4.99 euros, 640 pages (different format)
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Haruki Murakami “South of the Border, West of the Sun”
The love story between Hajime and Shiamoto, which began in the post-war years, caused heated discussions among literary greats.
In the ZDF program “Literarisches Quartett”, the now deceased Marcel Reich-Ranicki and the Austrian Sigrid Löffler argued so intensively about the literary quality of the work, which appeared in the first translation under the title “Dangerous Beloved”, that Löffler subsequently said that TV format left.
In 2013 the work was finally re-translated again under the title “South of the Border, West of the Sun”.
Like a hallucination, bar owner Hajima's childhood lover reappears after decades, incomprehensible and shrouded in mystery.
Always on rainy evenings, Shimamoto appears like a seductive hint from an alien world and throws the life of the capable businessman and family man upside down.
›South of the Border, West of the Sun‹ tells with great magic about the intrusion of demonic forces into a life - and does not shy away from any taboos.
Blurb/Dumont
Haruki Murakami “South of the Border, West of the Sun”
Dumont, ISBN-13 978-3-8321-9707-0
Price: bound 16.99 euros, paperback 11 euros, e-book 4.99 euros, 224 pages (different format)
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Here you will find other books from the Spiegel bestseller list that you should read.