Good morning my fellow book lovers. I would like to share a quote this morning from an author I discovered a few years ago through this book and then kept reading more and more, although it was not ususally the type of books I read.

 Haruki Murakami is a Japanese writer. His novels, essays, and short stories have been bestsellers in Japan and internationally.

His work has been translated into 50 languages and has sold millions of copies outside Japan.

He has received numerous awards for his work, including the Gunzou Prize for New Writers, the World Fantasy Award, the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, the Franz Kafka Prize, and the Jerusalem Prize.

His fiction has polarized literary critics and the reading public. He has sometimes been criticised by Japan's literary establishment as un-Japanese, leading to Murakami's recalling that he was a "black sheep in the Japanese literary world". This is not THE reason, but one of the reason I like this writer and especially this quote. :-)

Norwegian Wood was hugely popular with Japanese youth and made Murakami something of a superstar in his native country (apparently much to his dismay at the time)

A film adaptation with the same title was released in 2010, directed by Tran Anh Hung. @shujaat1@bbs - do you know that film?

From wiki: 

The novel is a nostalgic story of loss and burgeoning sexuality. It is told from the first-person perspective of Toru Watanabe, who looks back on his days as a college student living in Tokyo.Through Watanabe's reminiscences, readers see him develop relationships with two very different women—the beautiful yet emotionally troubled Naoko, and the outgoing, lively Midori.

This novel is set in late 1960s Tokyo during a period when Japanese students, like those of many other nations, were protesting against the established order. While it serves as the backdrop against which the events of the novel unfold, Murakami (through the eyes of Watanabe and Midori) portrays the student movement as largely weak-willed and hypocritical.

I hope that we all find books that get us out of the box of what everyone else is thinking :-)

Have a great day!