Looking for something similar, but

[vesper]

I have read Hard boiled wonderland as a teenager; now, twenty years I read Kafka on the shore and I really liked it (unlike Norwegian wood, but that's another matter).

I always watched tons of Japanese and far eastern movies, be it anime or classic movies - wanted to be a critic, or a writer; things turned out a bit differently though, but that's okay.

I really like Koreeda Hirokazu: both Afterlife and Maborosi are beautiful films and I feel there is a thin thread connecting Kafka, Maborosi and Wandafuru Raifu (which was the original title of Afterlife). I'm looking for a book that may be included in this set - probably contamporary literary fiction with a nice style. I know it's kinda far fetched, but maybe something exists out there, I just don't know about it.

[vesper]

So far I had been recommended:

* paul auster: moon palace
* kawabata yasunari: thousand cranes
* kanai mieko: oh tama, the word book
* ishiguro: never let me go

[Sylvia]

I really enjoyed my journey with this book - it took my places I never thought I'd go. I still hit my pillow at night and think about the souls of cats and the library...

[vesper]

Wind up bird chronicle would be a logical step after the book, but to me windup was much darker and didn't have this nice "road of enlightenment" feeling. I'm reading Thousand cranes now, so far it's okay, but I miss the magical elements that are common in Murakami's writing.