Visiting Gramedia book store the other day, I stumbled upon this novel, Kronik Burung Pegas, by Haruki Murakami. Of course, I didn't literally stumble on it, which is lucky for me, as it is a very thick book, at 900 pages, and would surely have led to a great fall. But I was surprised because I thought I had read every novel published by Murakami. Wow, could this be new, I wondered? And if so, how in the world could he have written a 900 page book right on the heels of the lengthy Killing Commendatore? But no, it turns out that this is the Indonesian translation of the title, which appears in English as The Windup Bird Chronicle. The Indonesian title is translated as Chronicles of Spring Birds. I had just never seen the book in print, in any language.
So, I was overjoyed, because I love Murakami's work. All of the novels (except for the two very short early novels) are fascinating, inventive, challenging, elegant. My favorites so far are probably Kafka by the Seashore and Norwegian Wood.
The trouble is that these are 900 pages of rather small print, and my eyes have long since given up on small print. Then again, I guess that if it were larger print, such as my eyes can handle, the book would be about 1800 pages! Therefore, I'm having to commit to just a couple paragraphs at a time, using a pair of over-the-counter magnifying spectacles, so I may be reading it for the rest of my life, and may pass away before I've finished. The Man Who Was Killed by Murakami, right? But I suppose that would be a happy enough death as deaths go.
At the same time, I am reading a history of World War Two (Inferno) by Max Hastings, which is also a cement block of a book, although, as it is on iPad, I can make the print as large as I want. Anyway, all considered, I may need more than one lifetime for these two tasks.
So, I was overjoyed, because I love Murakami's work. All of the novels (except for the two very short early novels) are fascinating, inventive, challenging, elegant. My favorites so far are probably Kafka by the Seashore and Norwegian Wood.
The trouble is that these are 900 pages of rather small print, and my eyes have long since given up on small print. Then again, I guess that if it were larger print, such as my eyes can handle, the book would be about 1800 pages! Therefore, I'm having to commit to just a couple paragraphs at a time, using a pair of over-the-counter magnifying spectacles, so I may be reading it for the rest of my life, and may pass away before I've finished. The Man Who Was Killed by Murakami, right? But I suppose that would be a happy enough death as deaths go.
At the same time, I am reading a history of World War Two (Inferno) by Max Hastings, which is also a cement block of a book, although, as it is on iPad, I can make the print as large as I want. Anyway, all considered, I may need more than one lifetime for these two tasks.
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