From the Bookshelf of Around the World in 80 Books…

First Person Singular: Stories

Haruki Murakami,

Philip Gabriel (Translator)

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What Members Thought

Mar 24, 2023 Steve rated it it was ok

Shelves: fiction

I think I liked half of these stories. The other half felt thin, as if Murakami was clearing out his desk. My favorite story (and the most developed in the collection) was "With the Beatles." The story itself doesn't have that much to do with the Beatles, but it does have one memorable scene where the narrator sees a girl running down the school hallway clutching her treasured "With the Beatles" album. If you're of a certain age, such a memory is all about Joy and a specific time. This is shortl ...more

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Apr 09, 2021 Karen rated it really liked it

Shelves: travel-2021, translation-2021

What I love about Murakami is that you know even before opening the book what you will find inside. Tokyo, Jazz, light fantastical elements, baseball, literature, but first and foremost excellent writing, that just makes you wish there was a little more left to read.

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May 30, 2021 Mike rated it liked it

On A Stone Pillow will be my remembered story from this book. It’s nostalgic and sad look at a chance one night stand, which passes with little attention to the other by the participants, but leaving with the twist that the protagonist is likely the only person in the world who remembers the girl’s poetry.

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