"On Meeting My 100 Percent Woman One Fine April Morning"

and i agree with sftakashi about "blind willow, sleeping woman". it is one of my favourite books with such a wonderful collection of short stories!

"Thailand" in "After the Quake" is my absolute favorite.

By the way, "Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman" from Knopf is such a great book. I was so surprised by the wonderful selection of Murakami's short stories. I had read all the stories in Japanese, but I couldn't help buying the book because there aren't any books like this in Japan.

Has anyone read any Endo Shusaku--I finished his book Silence sometime last year. The reason I read it was because supposedly he wrote the book in Nagasaki where I used to live. It was good, but, of course, nothing like Murakami's book.

I think Birthday Stories as well, but I'm not too sure =)"</i>

Birthday stories is just edited by Murakami, includes only one written by him, which is published already in BWSW. Worth reading also, of course. Each story and author is presented by HM.

Jonathan wrote: "Daniel, Blind Willow Sleeping Woman and The Elephant Vanishes are collections of his short stories.

I think Birthday Stories as well, but I'm not too sure =)"

Jonathan, Shannon, thanks I wrote that down on my list of books to read.

Possibly "The Dancing Dwarf."

Daniel, Blind Willow Sleeping Woman and The Elephant Vanishes are collections of his short stories.

I think Birthday Stories as well, but I'm not too sure =)

Is there one book where Murakami has many stories collected into one volume. I would like to check out one of his short story collections when I get the chance.

On meeting my 100% woman was very good.

I like very much how Murakami try to explain every concept, so easy and beautiful!

Ciao everybody!

I love Chance Traveler ( http://beret.livejournal.com/8784.html ).

Sleep in The elephant vanishes.

Awesome piece of work, with the theme of the monotony, and the trappings of routine, and how in the end no matter how far we try to run away from routine, we'll be trapped one way or another (or at least that's how I perceived it. =)

Shinigawa Monkey was my 2nd favourite.

me too

the elephant vanishes

I really found all of After the Quake to be completely marvelous. I any collection there are some stories that are better than others, but the leanness of ATQ combined with the shared focus of the works really makes it read like 5 parts of a whole - each story can stand on its own, but when read together they sort of coalesce into something magnificent and really powerful. So I'm going to cheat here and say that ATQ is my favorite Murakami short story, or perhaps that I like all 5 stories equally. Much in the same way that you'll never get a mother to tell you which child she loves more than the others, I will not be forced to choose here.

My favorite would be "Landscape with Flatiron" from After the Quake. I don't have any objective reasons for liking it, but subjectively, I could relate a lot to Junko. The Junko and Miyake relationship makes my heart tense up all over. I think it's the only Murakami work that I've had such a highly emotional response to.

The story "barn burning" left some kind of lasting impression with me. I don't know if I would call it my favorite, but out of all the short stories I have read by Murakami, this one definitely got to me in some way. I couldn't tell you why.

I like The Kangaroo Communique, but Family Values (I think that is the name from Elephant Vanishes) is my favorite.

On meeting my 100% woman... was also good.

"On Meeting My 100% Woman..." Absolutely.

one of my all-time favourite stories from Murakami is the amazing THE KANGAROO COMMUNIQUE. I read it with a jaw slightly dislocated. It was so evil and so off-centre and so wrong. A magnificent character study - which Murakami does so well - taken to such an extreme in this short story.

Here's a thread for picking apart which stories work for you, and why. My favorite would have to be "The Kidney-Shaped Stone that Moves Every Day" - just perfect, like all of "After The Quake" rolled into one.