In the past few weeks I noticed several times that I had to look up which of Haruki Murakami’s novels I have read & when — and which ones are still on my Mount TBR (To Be Read).
As you may know I plan to read all Murakami’s books that have been translated into Dutch and/or English; something I decided on soon after I had finished my first book of the master, De opwindvogelkronieken (The Wind-up Bird Chronicle) in *runs to check the year* 2004. I usually read about two works by Murakami a year. So I decided to write a list post to keep track!
As you can see all his books are huddled together on our shelf; Dutch and English together. The only one that’s still missing from our collection is Pinball, 1973. Now that it’s been reissued in Japan I hope to be able to fix that omission soon…
Below are all books listed in chronological order of the first publication date in Japan, except for those collections of short stories that have been combined especially for translation. Please let me know if you notice any errors?
NB: I first mention the title in the language that I read the book in. English titles are bold. Unfortunately my wordpress template doesn’t allow other text-colours, otherwise I could have made a more legible overview ;)
- 1979: Hear the Wind Sing (Kaze no uta o kike)
- 1980: Pinball, 1973 (1973-nen no pinbōru)
- 1982: De jacht op het verloren schaap (Hitsuji o meguru bōken / A Wild Sheep Chase)
✔ read in 2008 (my thoughts in Dutch) - 1985: Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World (Sekai no owari to hādoboirudo wandārando / Hard-boiled Wonderland en het einde van de wereld)
- 1987: Norwegian Wood (Noruwei no mori / Norwegian Wood)
✔ Dutch translation read in 2007 - 1988: Dance Dance Dance (Dansu dansu dansu / Dans, dans, dans)
✔ read in 2009 - 1992: Ten zuiden van de grens, ten westen van de zon (Kokkyō no minami, taiyō no nishi / South of the Border, West of the Sun)
✔ read in 2009 - 1993: The Elephant Vanishes (short stories from 1983-1990; De olifant verdwijnt)
- 1995: De opwindvogelkronieken (Nejimaki-dori kuronikuru / The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle)
✔ read in 2004 - 1997-1998: Underground (Andāguraundo / Underground)
- 1999: Spoetnikliefde (Supūtoniku no koibito / Sputnik Sweetheart)
✔ read in 2004 - 2000: after the quake (Kami no kodomo-tachi wa mina odoru / Na de aardbeving)
✔ read in 2008 - 2002: Kafka on the Shore (Umibe no Kafuka / Kafka op het strand)
✔ read in 2005 - 2003: Een stoomfluit midden in de nacht (Yonaka no kiteki ni tsuite)
✔ read in 2007 and 2010 (my review) - 2004: After Dark (Afutā Dāku / After Dark)
✔ English translation read in 2006 - 2006: Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman (short stories from 1981-2005; Blinde wilg, slapende vrouw)
✔ read in 2010 (my buddy review with Elsje) - 2007: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (Hashiru koto ni tsuite kataru toki ni boku no kataru koto / Waarover ik praat als ik over hardlopen praat)
- 2009: 1Q84 (1Q84 Ichi-kyū-hachi-yon)
So, up until May 2010 I’ve read 11 of 17 of Murakami’s publications that have been translated!
Summarizing the books by reading year:
2004 The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle / Sputnik Sweetheart / After the Quake
2005 Kafka on the Shore
2006 After Dark
2007 Norwegian Wood / Een stoomfluit midden in de nacht
2008 A Wild Sheep Chase / After the Quake (reread)
2009 South of the Border, West of the Sun / Dance dance dance
2010 Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman / Een stoomfluit midden in de nacht (reread)
Graasland 
8 reacties
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woensdag 28 april 2010 bij 13:22
Mel u
great reading project-I am on my 5th Murakami now-I will read all the novels-not sure if I will read all the short story collections-
woensdag 28 april 2010 bij 13:26
Jackie (Farm Lane Books)
Good luck with your challenge! I hope to read all of Murakami’s books at some point. I’ve read four so far, but own four more. He is a wonderful author!
woensdag 28 april 2010 bij 13:54
gnoegnoe
It says a lot that we come across so little people who have only read 1 book by Murakami, don’t you think? ;)
woensdag 28 april 2010 bij 14:33
leeswammes
I’ve read about 10 of his books. I think my favorite is A Wild Sheep Chase. Oh no, that’s not right, it’s Hardboiled Wonderland. Or maybe Kafka on the Shore…
Most of his books are great, with some (like After Dark) I wonder what it was about, really, but even so, they’re good reads.
I need to reread the Wind-up Bird Chronicles, it’s been too long.
Good luck with finishing all of the books!
woensdag 28 april 2010 bij 20:15
leeswammes
I just ran into a book ABOUT The Wind-up Bird Chronicle and thought of you.
It’s called Haruki Murakami’s “the Wind-up Bird Chronicle” and the writer is Matthew C. Strecher.
http://www.bookdepository.com/book/9780826452399/Haruki-Murakamis-the-Wind-up-Bird-Chronicle
As a real Murakami fan you might be familiar with it already, but if not…
vrijdag 30 april 2010 bij 14:57
tofugirl
Hehe, your Murakami shelf looks a lot like my Murakami shelf (well, except mine is all English)! Very cool to “meet” another fan :D I can’t even pick a favorite, but maybe based on rereads, it would have to be Hardboiled Wonderland, Wild Sheep Chase, or The Elephant Vanishes. Although I just reread Kafka on the Shore, and that one is really growing on me too.
woensdag 15 december 2010 bij 10:24
Novroz
Great post Gnoe :)
I have read 6 books but only reviewed 5 of them. Wind-up Bird needs to be reread before I write my review.
I really need to catch up with my Murakami read
donderdag 23 december 2010 bij 15:44
Haruki Murakami Reading Challenge « Novroz' Favorite Things
[…] had already written this nice post about trying to read all Murakami’s books (read the post here), I copied her list to see which book I have and haven’t read, here are all Murakami’s […]