From: owner-trajectory-digest@smoe.org (trajectory-digest) To: trajectory-digest@smoe.org Subject: trajectory-digest V5 #22 Reply-To: trajectory@smoe.org Sender: owner-trajectory-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-trajectory-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk trajectory-digest Sunday, May 13 2001 Volume 05 : Number 022 Today's Subjects: ----------------- While I'm waiting for the new one... ["Adam K." (by wa] Re: While I'm waiting for the new one... ["Eric Simons" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 12 May 2001 23:54:01 -0400 From: "Adam K." (by way of meredith ) Subject: While I'm waiting for the new one... Still awaiting delivery of Field Study (anyyyyy daaaayyyyyy nowwwww...), but I thought I'd take this pause to mention that Harukai Murakami, the Japanese author who inadvertantly gave "You Do Not Live in This World Alone" its name, has a new book out (at least, here in the UK) on May 17, "Sputnik Sweetheart". For those unfamiliar with his work, he is well worth checking out. I first stumbled upon him by chance, picking up his "Wild Sheep Chase" from a second-hand bookshop after reading a review that described it as a cross between Kafka and Woody Allen. Well, I'm not sure about that -- more of a cross between Kafka and Raymond Chandler, but it IS a great, inventive and haunting book, playing the mystery format but to its own, skewed rules. His follow up to that, "The Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World" is an even more bizarre creation, being two books in one -- one a detective story, the other a fantasy -- running in alternative chapters and finally colliding at the end to devastating effect. It is from a line of dialogue in this book that Veda took her title. Subsequent books haven't quite had the same impact on me, although his sprawling epic "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles" comes frustratingly close, although "South of the the Border, West of the Sun" has a melancholic beauty in its somewhat standard love story. They only recently published his first book in England, "Norwegian Wood", which I found not just bad but objectionally bad, being the memoirs of a student in 60's Japan and his affair with two very different women. It's one of those first-person narratives where everyone, especially all the beautiful women in it, keep telling the narrator what a great and special person he is, and he solemnly informs you of every detail of his sexual acts, as if we're supposed to accept that it's deep, soulful art, simply because we are supposed to accept that he himself is deep and soulful, simply because everyone keeps telling us that he is. Still, I eagerly await his next book, and highly recommend "Wild Sheep Chase and "The Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World", who confirmed him as one of my favourite authors. In the meantime, I can only wait. Adam K. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 12 May 2001 23:43:03 -0700 From: "Eric Simons" Subject: Re: While I'm waiting for the new one... > They only recently published his first book in > England, "Norwegian Wood", which I found not just bad but objectionally > bad Oddly enough that's the book that I had recently recommended to me as being a good introduction of Murakami and which I just found a second-hand copy of (at the wonderful Carson Books, for all you Vancouverites). Though I've just barely begun reading it and can't comment on the quality of the prose I must admit that my eventual judgement will be slightly bolstered by the fact that it's published as two teensy adorable breast-pocket-sized volumes which appeal enormously to the bit of book fetishist in me ;-) But your description of it doesn't surprise me based only on the first few pages; wasn't his original audience mostly Japanese teens? In fact I seem to remember reading somewhere that he's still the best selling author to that group. Thanks for the other recommendations and if I could toss out one of my own I'll mention what I just finished reading: "Close to Spider-Man" by Ivan e. Coyote. It's a collection of short stories of questionable autobiographical veracity about growing up in the Yukon (nearly on-topic!) as a tomboy-come-dyke. I just saw her do a reading a few days ago and was throroughly entertained -- it may have been the strongest delivery I've ever seen. - - Eric ------------------------------ End of trajectory-digest V5 #22 *******************************