story: “On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One April Morning” author: Haruki Murakami year: between 1980 and 1991 where: kitchen table, Abu Dhabi note: I’m unsure about the capitalization of that title. What I like about this story is that many people might find themselves in the initial situation. And I like that it doesn’t matter if you believe in love at first sight or not; the situation can exist either way. a line: “This was something […]
story: “New York Mining Disaster”, “Airplane: Or, How He Talked to Himself as If Reciting Poetry”, “A Perfect Day for Kangaroos”, “The Ice Man”, “The Rise and Fall of Sharpie Cakes” author: Haruki Murakami year: 2006 (from Blind Willow, Sleeping Willow) where: everywhere! note: a batch of stories (I’m behind on my chronicling) a line: “’Even after I’d lost almost all sensation, I still knew this: The husband here at the South Pole is not the husband I used to know. I […]
story: “Birthday Girl” author: Haruki Murakami year: 2006 where: at the campus cafeteria (started on Tuesday, paused, finished on Wednesday) note: intense déjà vécu a line: “When the owner’s meal was ready at eight o’clock, she pushed the room service cart into the elevator and rode up to the sixth floor.”
story: “Man-eating Cats” author: Haruki Murakami year: 2006 where: in palestra note: a reread, a favorite, a fantasy! a line: “The wind was the wind at the edge of the world. An inescapable retro color filled the place. It made me feel as if I were being quietly swallowed up by an alien reality, something foreign and just out of reach, vague yet strangely gentle. And the shadow of that substance colored the faces, the eyes, the […]
story: “The Year of Spaghetti” author: Haruki Murakami year: 2006 (originally 2005 in The New Yorker) where: home, bed note: Murakami just loves to weave in a mention of spaghetti in his long and short fiction; and this story (and his year of cooking and eating alone) makes me feel so content with my love of solitude. a line: “Can you imagine how astonished the Italians would be if they knew that what they were exporting in 1971 was […]
Samantha Neugebauer 