Books by Haruki Murakami
Japanese author Haruki Murakami (born 1949) has written both novels and short stories. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is probably his most famous work, recommended on Five Books as his ‘grand opus.’ Short stories by Haruki Murakami appear in The Elephant Vanishes, a good book to read first to get a taste of his writing. Murakami’s most recent novel is The City and Its Uncertain Walls (2023), published in 2024 in English to mixed reviews.
“It’s about a teenage boy whose girlfriend mysteriously disappears. He never gets over it, and finally finds her working in a dream library in a shadowy parallel world. But she doesn’t remember him at all. Expect magical realism, dream logic, and plenty of Easter Egg surprises for longtime Murakami fans.” Read more...
Cal Flyn, Five Books Editor
“Murakami is writer who creates wonderful visions the stranger aspects of our mundane world. Some people call him a magical realist; Murakami has our normal world being invaded by, by strange things.” Read more...
The best books on Manga and Anime
Susan J Napier, Literary Scholar
“He’s the best-known Japanese writer right now and this book I would consider to be his opus. It’s a big sprawling book that deals with weighty subjects like the Second World War and Japan’s part in that. There is a horrifying section set when the Japanese had occupied Manchuria and the Chinese are approaching and it’s told from the point of view of a soldier who is told to kill all the animals in the zoo as the Chinese close in. It’s a harrowing tale of this Japanese soldier going round the cages killing these magnificent animals.” Read more...
The best books on The Asian American Experience
Sung J. Woo, Novelist
Interviews where books by Haruki Murakami were recommended
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1
Convenience Store Woman: A Novel
by Sayaka Murata -
2
The Memory Police
by Yōko Ogawa, translated by Stephen Snyder -
3
All She Was Worth
by Alfred Birnbaum (translator) & Miyuki Miyabe -
4
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
by Haruki Murakami -
5
The City and Its Uncertain Walls: A Novel
by Haruki Murakami -
6
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
by Hayao Miyazaki
Books By Japanese Authors
Books By Japanese Authors
Japanese literature has always performed strongly on Five Books, so we’ve put together an overview of some of the books on our site by Japanese authors that have previously been recommended by our expert interviewees—from contemporary novels shortlisted for the International Booker Prize to classic works of literature, and everything in between.
Magical Realism Books, recommended by Five Books interviewees
If you enjoy some fantastical elements in your literature—but you aren’t quite ready for full-on swords and sorcery—then perhaps magical realism books are for you. As a genre, magical realism is often associated with South America, thanks in large part to the ‘father of magical realism’ Gabriel García Márquez and mega-bestselling books by Isabel Allende, but examples can be found from all over the world. We’ve put a list of must-read titles.
The best books on The Asian American Experience, recommended by Sung J. Woo
The novelist reveals amongst his book selection that Minnesota has the highest number of Korean adoptees in the US (14,000), and that one in every 250 Korean births is adopted by an American family
The best books on Manga and Anime, recommended by Susan J Napier
Many people have heard of manga and anime, but would be surprised to learn how deeply this niche is steeped in Japanese tradition and culture—or how often manga features strong, smart female leads, says Susan Napier, anime expert and Professor of the Japanese Program at Tufts University. Here, she picks five books that encapsulate manga and anime as both forms of art and cathartic re-workings of Japanese history.
Notable Novels of Fall 2024, recommended by Cal Flyn
Our deputy editor Cal Flyn compiles her autumnal literary fiction highlights: five freshly released and hotly anticipated new novels that you should have on your reading list in the fall of 2024: from Sally Rooney to Garth Greenwell.
