In my opinion, Joe Meno's newest book 'The Great Perhaps' is very Murakami-esque in tone. Maybe check that out.

The Great Perhaps A Novel

Ranee wrote: "hi! i've heard that norwegian wood would be adapted into a movie?
any news?"

According to IMDB, the film is set for a December 2010 release. It is directed by Tran Anh Hung.

The cast is as follows:

Rinko Kikuchi - Naoko
Ken'ichi Matsuyama - Toru Watanabe
Tetsuji Tamayama - Nagasawa
Kengo Kora - Kizuki
Kiko Mizuhara - Midori
Reika Kirishima - Reiko Ishida

I am only familiar with Rinko Kikuchi, who was in the 2006 film "Babel". She's a pretty good actress. A friend tells me that Kenichi Matsuyama was terrible in "Nana" and "Don't Laugh at My Romance", so I'm not going to watch this with high expectations.

hi! i've heard that norwegian wood would be adapted into a movie?
any news?

Cheers mate. I actually have Goodbye Tsugumi on my to-read list. I'll check it out.

I can't think of any books that are dead on, but here are a few suggestions that are in the general area.

Kitchen - Banana Yoshimoto

and

Naomi - Tanizaki Junichiro


Banana Yoshimoto is a modern pop fiction writer (like Murakami) so her book might be a little closer. Junichiro is prewar. The book is set during the Taisho Period I believe, when western influence in Japan was high.

If you end up enjoying Kitchen then take a look at Goodbye Tsugumi by the same author as well. Definitely has a melancholy feel to it.

Interesting. I'll certaintly look into this. Thanks mate.

Michael Chabon's first novel, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh.

I've been an avid fan of HM for about a year and have devoured almost all of his novels. However, my favourite is easily Norwegian Wood.

Thus, I was wondering if there were other novels ( by other writers) that have a similar melancholy feel to them, with good prose, poignancy and subtle humour.

I did a bit of research but didn't really find what I was looking for.

Thank you very much.

(PS: I have read both TCITR and The Great Gatsby. Loved them both )