Contemporary fictions

Contemporary fictions by year of their 1st publication, with my brief notes (contain spoilers), books info & etc.

• 1985 Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Murakami Haruki ★★★★☆ Most human activities are predicated on the assumption that life goes on. If you take that premise away, what is there left? READ MORE →

• 1987 Norwegian Wood by Murakami Haruki ★★☆☆☆ I was always hungry for love. Just once, I wanted to know what it was like to get my fill of it—to be fed so much love I couldn’t take any more. Just once. READ MORE →

• 1997 The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Murakami Haruki ★★★★☆ What we see before us is just one tiny part of the world. We get into the habit of thinking, This is the world, but that’s not true at all. The real world is in a much darker and deeper place than this READ MORE →

• 2002 Kafka on the Shore by Murakami Haruki ★★★★☆ Living turned me into nothing. Weird... People are born in order to live, right? But the longer I’ve lived, the more I’ve lost what’s inside me—and ended up empty. READ MORE →

• 2004 Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell ★★★★☆ My life amounts to no more than one drop in a limitless ocean. Yet what is any ocean, but a multitude of drops? READ MORE →

• 2009 1Q84 by Murakami Haruki ★★★★☆ It’s like the Tibetan Wheel of the Passions. As the wheel turns, the values and feelings on the outer rim rise and fall, shining or sinking into darkness. But true love stays fastened to the axle and doesn’t move. READ MORE →

• 2013 A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki ★★★★☆ I have a pretty good memory, but memories are time beings, too, like cherry blossoms or ginkgo leaves; for a while they are beautiful, and then they fade and die. READ MORE →

• 2013 The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt ★★★★☆ How can I see so clearly that everything I love or care about is illusion, and yet—for me, anyway—all that’s worth living for lies in that charm? and then they fade and die. READ MORE →

• 2017 Killing Commendatore by Murakami Haruki ★★★★☆ Memory can give warmth to time. And art can—when it goes well—give shape to that memory, even fix it in history. READ MORE →

• 2023 The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Murakami Haruki ★★★☆☆ Truth is not found in fixed stillness, but in ceaseless change and movement. Isn’t this the quintessential core of what stories are all about? READ MORE →