Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakumi

As you must have guessed, this novel gets its title from the Beatles song 'Norwegian Wood (This bird has flown)'.

This novel doesn't contain the supernatural element that pervaded Murakumi's 'The Wind-up Bird Chronicle'. It's more realistic but melancholy and thought provoking. Again, Murakumi has conjured up real, flawed, interesting characters who each have an effect on our main character Toru Watanabe. In contrast, Toru Watanabe seems to be a bit bland and placid.

The novel is set in the 1960s and has the Tokyo student uprisings as a backdrop. Toru is not directly involved and both he and Midori, his friend, have no sympathies for those that are. They see their actions as half-hearted and their ideology as not thought through.

The plot had some very unexpected and tragic moments. This meant as with 'The Wind-up Bird Chronicle' I was absorbed from beginning to end. I cannot recommend this book enough.

'...indian dream, tiger moon...'

Captain Beefheart - 'Safe as Milk'



Pin your ears back and listen to the whole album at Spotify.


I would never have come across this little gem on my own. I owe the discovery of this masterpiece to my boyfriend who has a wide and diverse music taste. The first time I heard it I wasn't enamoured! However now I've listen to it more, I love it. I urge everyone to give it a try, my particular favourite is 'Yellow Brick Road', but what am I saying!? I love them all!

This album was released in 1967 and it's quite wild. It's known for being difficult to wrap your head around but now I've heard it a few times I can't understand when people don't like it!

Captain Beefheart mixes toe-tapping rhythms with a husky blues voice and sometimes poetic, sometimes just plain weird lyrics. All the songs manage to unleash a spectrum of emotions in me but all make me smile.

Your life is missing something large and emotionally charged if you have not and do not listen to this record! Bold statement I know, but it is a true account of the attachment I have developed for it. I listen to it often, I encourage you to do the same.

P.S. - Start with this album. The later albums and, I believe, the second half of the CD version of 'Safe as Milk' are not for the faint hearted!

Current obsession...

I have recently discovered the author Haruki Murakami. What a find! Having not indulged in a good book for a while I decided to spend a relaxing 20 minutes or so choosing something at 'The Pocket Shop' in Malmö central train station after work.

I read the blurbs of several novels whose covers caught my eye and 'The Wind-up Bird Chronicle' stood out from the others. I read this:

Toru Okada's cat has disappeared and this has unsettled his wife, who is herself growing more distant every day. Then there are the increasingly explicit telephone calls he has started receiving. As this compelling story unfolds, the tidy suburban realities of Okada's vague and blameless life - spent cooking, reading, listening to jazz and opera and drinking beer at the kitchen table - are turned inside out, and he embarks on a bizarre journey, guided (however obscurely) by a succession of characters, each with a tale to tell.

The plot line in this novel takes you on a really wild ride, from realistic to fantastical, from modern Japan to a minor character's war experiences in 1939, Manchuria. Whichever point you are at, it is completely absorbing. It was truly painful to have to put this book down but unfortunately I must work, sleep and eat.

Translated from Japanese, I simply marvel at the language used within its pages. Murakumi is exquisit and sensual in his descriptions, often using surprising comparisons. His characters are believable, unique and engagingly flawed.

This is a book that made me think deeply and still entertained me. I will not rest until I have read every novel he has written. I am currently reading 'Norwegian Wood' and loving it equally as much!