Monday, December 21, 2009

Pre-Christmas Booking

I recently picked up Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami, it will be the fifth novel by Murakami that I have read. While I have this time off I consider it a good time to plow through a good stack of books. Moreover, it is Christmas time and I foresee a good five non-fiction books waiting under the tree for me, so I am going to finish this new one before Christmas. I also have Madame Bovary kicking around, but that is how it will remain - being punted occassionally. Now that I am no longer in D.C. I can't take 15-page chunks at a time out of it while on the train.

Murakami is always surprising, surprising because he can draw me in without realizing it. Even though I am used to the way he pulls me in with each book so far. I wonder how much it has to do with the translations that I read. I have the feeling the translations are pretty true-to-form. Murakami seems to exude the attitude found in the translated works, and that is sufficient in convincing me. I still have only read his short story "Tony Takitani" in Japanese, but I am still unable to pick up most written nuance in Japanese. Nonetheless, when I read a translation I pick up some set phrases and feel like I can translate them backwards in a sense.

I am exactly a third of the way through the book and I had to stop myself before a good 60 some page section was coming up. I will be saving it for tomorrow.

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