Toru Okada's cat has disappeared. His wife is growing distant every day. Then there are the increasingly explicit telephone calls he has been receiving. In this title, as the story unfolds, the suburban realities of Okada's vague and blameless life, spent cooking, reading, listening to jazz and opera and drinking beer are truned inside out.

Features such characters as: High-class call girls billed to Mastercard; a psychic 13-year-old dropout with a passion for Talking Heads; a hunky matinee idol doomed to play dentists and teachers; and, a one-armed beach-combing poet, an uptight hotel clerk and one very bemused narrator caught in the web of advanced capitalist mayhem.

Hajime and Shimamoto had been childhood sweethearts. Now, as middle age approaches, the two meet up again. Hajime, now a father and husband, finds himself propelled into the dark, mysterious realm of Shimamoto's life.

Features a girl whose ears are so exquisite that, when uncovered, they improve sex a thousand-fold, a runaway friend, a right-wing politico, an ovine-obsessed professor, and a manic-depressive in a sheep outfit.

Mari sips her coffee and glances up from a book as a young man, intrudes on her solitude. Both have missed the last train home. Shortly afterwards Mari will be interrupted a second time by a girl from the Alphaville Hotel; a Chinese prostitute has been hur

An intimate look at writing, running, and the incredible way they intersect, from the incomparable, bestselling author Haruki Murakami.While simply training for New York City Marathon would be enough for most people, Haruki Murakami's decided to write about it as well. The result is a beautiful memoir about his intertwined obsessions with running and writing, full of vivid memories and insights, including the eureka moment when he decided to become a writer. By turns funny and sobering, playful and philosophical, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running is rich and...

In 1982, having sold his jazz bar to devote himself to writing, Murakami began running to keep fit. A year later, he completed a solo course from Athens to Marathon, and now, after dozens of races, he reflects upon the influence the sport has had on his life and on his writing."

Natsume Soseki's only coming-of-age novel, Sanshiro depicts the eponymous twenty-three-year-old protagonist as he leaves the sleepy countryside to attend a university in the constantly moving "real world" of Tokyo. Baffled and excited by the traffic, the academics, and-most of all-the women, Sanshiro must find his way among the sophisticates that fill his new life. An incisive social and cultural commentary, Sanshiro is also a subtle portrait of first love, tradition, and modernization, and the idealism of youth against the cynicism of middle age.
For more than seventy...

Fr Lufer und Leser: Murakamis persnlichstes BuchZwei Leidenschaften bestimmen Haruki Murakamis Leben: Schreiben und Laufen. Eines verbindet beide Ttigkeiten - ihre Intensitt. Fr Haruki Murakami bedeutet das Laufen ein zweites Leben, in dem er sich Kraft, Inspiration, vor allem aber die Zhigkeit zum Schreiben holt. Der Einfall und Entschluss, Romanautor zu werden, kam ihm beim Sport. Das viele Sitzen am Schreibtisch gleicht er mit dem Laufen aus. Nach langsamen ersten Schritten hat er sich in den vergangenen dreiig Jahren professionalisiert: Lngst sind zu den jhrlichen Marathons auch...

Für Leser und Läufer: Murakamis persönlichstes Buch!§Zwei Leidenschaften bestimmen Haruki Murakamis Leben: Schreiben und Laufen. Eines verbindet beide Tätigkeiten - ihre Intensität. Für Haruki Murakami bedeutet das Laufen ein zweites Leben, in dem er sich Kraft, Inspiration, vor allem aber die Zähigkeit zum Schreiben holt. Der Einfall und Entschluss, Romanautor zu werden, kam ihm beim Sport. Das Sitzen am Schreibtisch gleicht er durch Laufen aus. Nach langsamen ersten Schritten hat er sich in den vergangenen dreißig Jahren professionalisiert: Längst sind zu den jährlichen Marathons...