Mr. Murakami

"Lost opportunities, lost possibilities, feelings we can never get back. That’s part of what it means to be alive." HM

Berlin has been one big wet mass of grey the last few days.

So i went internal. : ) I've been reading, writing, and thoughtfully wandering around with my headphones on. I put a serious dent in The Brothers Karamazov, which I am reading solely because Eliot Rosewater said the meaning of life is in there in Slaughterhouse 5. I know, silly reason to read such a monstrosity of a book huh? The only other book I have read because of a mention in an completely unrelated book is Anna Karenina, because Murakami's character in Sleep reads it over and over and over again : )

We went to 'free Thursday' on Museum Island last night, only to find out that Thursdays are no longer free (and there is, in fact, no free days for any berlin museums EVER.) Then it began to rain.

We ran into a humongous English bookstore and I spent the rest of the evening curled up in a well worn leather chair next to a second story window reading to the sound of rain.

I came across a short story anthology put together by my favorite short story writer, Haruki Murakami, called Birthday Stories. It's the first time I've read Murakami writing as himself (as opposed to a character). He speaks plainly; straightforward and about as un-frilly as you can get. (Which is why I love his stories so much :) The way he writes from his own point of view reveals so much about the human being that he is, confident and comfortable in his own quiet, weirdo, skin. 

Murakami loves Jack London and shares a birthday with him. He took a trip to wine country in California and stopped to visit Jack London's vineyard; where he lived and wrote. He found that the cabernet was actually pretty good and now, each year on his birthday, cracks a bottle of Jack London cab for himself. I love that. I think I will start drinking Jack London cab on my birthday and think of Murakami drinking on his birthday : ) 

He also used to own a jazz club called Peter Cat. "When I had the club, I stood behind the bar, and it was my job to engage in conversation. I did that for seven years, but I'm not a talkative person. I swore to myself, once I've finished here, I will only ever talk to those people I really want to talk to." 

He's a total loner, which makes me love him even more, and since he said that, refuses to appear on radio or television. This is starting to be a theme in a lot of my favorite artists. Hm. : )

"Unlike my wife, I don't like company. I have been married for 37 years and often it is a battle. I am used to being alone. And I enjoy being alone." Yup, loner and an honest one!

He writes from the heart, lets his own love for music and literature flow through his stories, and has a brain I'd like to get inside for an hour or two. Every time I read his work I find myself wanting to write my own short stories...or even just to take in a place in the detail he manages to convey. 

He also loves baseball. Yes!

"...if you got her afloat on the night time sea she would probably sink any boat that happened to ram her." (HM in Birthday Girl) Probably one of my favorite descriptions of a woman ever : )

So, I'm re-obsessed. You should be too. Here's some of my favorites :

http://ctina.com/bakeryattack.html

http://www.murakami.ch/hm/shortstories/shortsories_on_seeing_the_100_perfect_girl.html

and you can find more at:

http://murakami.livejournal.com/51240.html
http://www.murakami.ch/hm/shortstories/main.html