NEW MURAKAMI BOOK

The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami was published this week by Knopf in the US and by Harvill Secker in the UK. Released in collaboration with Chip Kidd, who provided illustrations and design, the book is only the first in a number of older Murakami projects scheduled to finally see English-language releases. From my conversation with translator Ted Goossen in October, it sounds like fans of Japan's master of surreal mystery can expect to see a few more works published in English in the next year or two. Can't wait! The Strange Library has been listed as Amazon's Best Book of the Month and Neal Thompson has posted this intriguing review: "What an odd and oddly beautiful little book. A little boy enters a quiet library -- “even more hushed than usual,” we’re told in the opening line -- and is sent to Room 107, where he meets a creepy old librarian who leads him deep into a maze of dark catacombs beneath the library. There, we learn of the librarian’s ghoulish designs and the boy encounters a small man wearing the skin of a sheep and a pretty young girl pushing a teacart, their worlds now “all jumbled together.” Not even fresh-made doughnuts can sweeten the boy’s nightmarish predicament as the librarian’s prisoner. The Strange Library was designed and illustrated by famed book jacket designer (and frequent Murakami collaborator) Chip Kidd, whose moody and mysterious depictions of a child’s (and a parent’s) darkest dream match Murakami’s surreal imagination. It’s hard to discern the message. Maybe something about knowledge being free or the value of libraries. No matter. This is vintage Murakami and, at the same time, something entirely fresh. No one puts animal skins on humans like Murakami. No one would dare." Images: From the Art Pioneers Murakami Design image archive on Pinterest- new book designs and photographs of Murakami's own office space. Note the large record collection! The novelist once owned a jazz club in Tokyo called Peter Cat! Cool to see he is a Glenn Gould fan. Murakami has published many pieces about music, including a new book with conductor Seiji Ozawa (Japanese edition here). The Strange Library is available at local bookshops and at Amazon US and Amazon UK.