A few years ago my younger cousin Henry started showing an interest in reading and naturally I began to impose my favorite young adult books on him for every birthday and Christmas. Part of me thought that he would probably prefer Apple gift cards or video games, but I plowed ahead with my recommended reading list anyway. Today he turned 13 and having forgotten to send a gift or card I texted my aunt in a panic asking whether he would prefer a Vans or Target gift card. She texted back, “He actually really likes the books you pick out, any ideas along that line?” I am still beaming.
What I read: January 2012. Paltry, but 1Q84 should count for at least four books. Can you tell that all of my holds on the hot Fall releases came up at the library at the same time?
Spotted on the Upper West Side—looks like the HBO adaptation of The Corrections has started filming.
If I had known this was going to wind up (see what I did there?) on Murakami’s Facebook page I would’ve spent longer than ten minutes on it! Still kind of freaking out over this…
7pm at Library Bar, details here.
My breakdown of Murakami themes.
Based on the buzz surrounding 1Q84 I expected a departure from Haruki Murakami’s standby themes. I stopped reading him a while ago because after six or seven novels it felt like I was reading the same repackaged story, the innovative and exciting qualities that struck me after first discovering him now seemed stale. Within the first few hundred pages of 1Q84 I found myself distracted by mentions of cats or ears or cooking spaghetti, like playing a literary version of I Spy.
Anyway, 1Q84 is a thriller and was so creepy and disturbing that reading it before bed started to interfere with my sleep. Murakami is an expert at building tension and the prospect of resolutions and explanations for the bizarre happenings kept me going through all 923 pages. The ending didn’t provide the satisfaction I was looking for and felt anti-climactic—the main characters ran away from the danger rather than facing it head on.
If you’re new to Murakami or have only read a few of his books I would recommend 1Q84, assuming you have the stomach for 900+ page books. If you’ve read a lot of his work and are expecting something fresh it might be best to take a pass. This is not to say I think the book is uninteresting or poorly written, it’s a great piece of work and I have a huge amount of respect for Murakami’s talent—Kafka on the Shore is one of my all time favorites.
A Bookworm's Guide to Casting The Corrections -
I put on my Hollywood director hat and wrote this for Flavorpill.
Using Pinterest as a visionboard for writing your novel. -
I love this.
Ms. Wharton’s childhood home, at 14 West 23rd Street, in 1880.
(now houses a Starbucks, of course)
Edith Wharton Turns 150 (NYT)
