Haruki Murakami and Raymond Carver: Literary Comrades
“Life and death matters, yes. And the question of how to behave in this world, how to go in the face of everything. Time is short and the water is rising.” Raymond Carver Raymond Carver (1938-1988) is an American author from Washington state; he is a master of the short fiction genre. His subtle use […]
The Best Reviews of Men Without Women
The Best Reviews of Men Without Women by Haruki Murakami Did Haruki Murakami’s newest collection of short stories, Men Without Women, arrive on your doorstep this week? My Murakami community is pretty dedicated, so I’ve seen my Instagramfeed flooded with photos of the new book, friends have added it to their Currently Reading shelf on […]
Giveaway! Men Without Women by Haruki Murakami
Giveaway! Men Without Women by Haruki Murakami “The other thing that puzzled him was the fact that their lovemaking and her storytelling were so closely linked, making it hard to tell where one ended and the other began.” ~Haruki Murakami, Scheherezade By Jessica S. Manuel We are officially one month away from holding the English […]
Introducing the Reading Beyond Murakami Course Series
I’m excited to introduce a brand new way to engage with Haruki Murakami’s mind-bending stories. The Reading Beyond Murakami Course Series is a systematic approach to understanding the author in a whole new way. Life-long learners will delight in learning and re-learning what makes literature so profound. The first course launches March 20 and is an in-depth look […]
Authors Similar to Haruki Murakami in Mind-Bending Contemporary Fiction
Authors like Haruki Murakami and Italo Calvino have redefined contemporary fiction to teach readers everywhere the overwhelming power of language.
10 Books I Can’t Wait to Get My Eyes on in 2017
10 Books I Can’t Wait to Get My Eyes on in 2017 “And now we welcome the new year. Full of things that have never been.” ~Rainer Maria Rilke By Jessica S. Manuel As if the new year isn’t exciting enough, we have 10 incredible new reads on the horizon to build anticipation all year […]
Free Haruki Murakami Short Stories, Essays, Interviews, Speeches
Keywords Free Haruki Murakami Short Stories, Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, Men Without Women, The Elephant Vanishes, After the Quake I know how fiction matters to me, because if I want to express myself, I have to make up a story. Some people call it imagination. To me, it’s not imagination. It’s just a way of […]
Reading Beyond Murakami
Like many of you, I no longer hold my breath for Murakami to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. For some reason, they don’t see the brilliance or the depth in his work. Every year I hope for it, and every year I am disappointed. I’ve read some pretty depressing articles that try to explain […]
Write Like Murakami! The Best First Lines of His Mind-Bending Stories
It takes so little time for writers like Haruki Murakami to abduct you into their mind-bending worlds. Revisiting some of these first lines will make you laugh, while others will make you wonder. The rest might even bore you a little, despite how exciting the novel ends up. Here are the best first lines from his […]
The Best Way to Read Haruki Murakami
“When I open them, most of the books have the smell of an earlier time leaking out between the pages–a special odor of the knowledge and emotions that for ages have been calmly resting between the covers.” Haruki Murakami Haruki Murakami (b. 1949) is one of the most popular and respected contemporary authors still writing. […]
Birthday Girl by Haruki Murakami
“No matter what they wish for, no matter how far they go, people can never be anything but themselves.” ~Haruki Murakami, Birthday Girl Before diving into Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, I have students read this fun short story, “Birthday Girl,” by Haruki Murakami in my freshmen composition course. It’s a little […]
New to Murakami? Start here ==>
“But who can say what’s best? That’s why you need to grab whatever chance you have of happiness where you find it, and not worry about other people too much. My experience tells me that we get no more than two or three such chances in a life time, and if we let them go, […]