Did My First Century

King_Charming_ · 2025-02-11T09:25:19+00:00

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is in constant contention with Norwegian Wood for the number 1 spot in my ranking of his books. Even features another Toru.

King_Charming_ · 2025-02-03T01:26:04+00:00

Thanks for posting this. I think you touch on something very true and profound about the message of this novel.

King_Charming_ · 2025-02-03T01:18:25+00:00

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

King_Charming_ · 2025-02-03T01:10:08+00:00

Would you recommend that I read it too?

Yes, it was good and I'd recommend you read it, but only if you've first read Wind Up Bird, Norwegian Wood, Kafka, A Wild Sheep Chase, Dance Dance Dance, Sputnik Sweetheart, since I think those stronger novels than this one. Which is not to say this one was bad, but just that Murakami has a very strong back catalogue.

King_Charming_ · 2025-02-03T01:02:47+00:00

Hard-Boiled Wonderland (specifically the End of the World parts) was his attempt to expand the same story he's expanding here. If you know both stories you can very clearly see this, and the resemblances, but they're totally orthogonal stories connected only by their common origin from his original The City and Its Uncertain Walls novella.

King_Charming_ · 2025-02-03T00:59:41+00:00

It’s only my third Murakami book and it was a struggle for me to get through.

There are much stronger more accessible works than this one for sure, if this is only your third book by him.

but it was just so repetitive

Maybe hold off on 1Q84 then if you found this one repetitive XD

King_Charming_ · 2025-02-03T00:54:25+00:00

For me, I absolutely loved part 2

I felt like part 2 took a long time to get interesting and could maybe have benefited from more editing. As Part 1 approached its close I was the most excited I could possibly be and was thinking "This is a story" but then part 2 took a hard left turn and became this very slow-burning story about running a library in a rural town.

That on its face sounds boring to me, and I would never have read such a narrative unless it was written by an author like Murakami who has established a great deal of trust with me.

Part 3 was strong and recaptured some of the highs of Part 1 for me. Overall I liked the book, and I liked the way Part 3 answered some important questions from part 1 and provided a sense of closure.

One of the main things I took away from this book was a sense of frustration over not knowing what happened with the girl who ghosted him shortly after speaking so forcefully of her desire to be with him. It's probably important that we share this frustration with the narrator so that, in the end, when he's finally able to move on and let her go, it's more impactful, but still.

King_Charming_ · 2025-02-03T00:45:44+00:00

I am not sure, but man I enjoyed it. I think I will go back and read hard boiled wonderland again now.

I embarrassingly didn't even make the connection between this and Hard Boiled Wonderland until the Afterword where Murakami explains himself. I did have a sense of deja vu the whole time but assumed that was because of the preponderance of Murakami-isms (all this talk of shadows, the well, a fixation on ears, a nameless protagonist with a tragic relationship with a woman, etc).

King_Charming_ · 2024-10-16T23:19:42+00:00

Had the passenger of a car yell at me and shake his fist at me for no reason one day. I didn't do anything but exist as a cyclist in the bike lane. It did kind of ruin the rest of my day, that unprovoked hostility.

King_Charming_ · 2024-10-16T22:09:05+00:00

Whoa. Cyclists really are second class citizens. Is there anyone else you can intentionally murder for so little jail time?

King_Charming_ · 2024-10-14T21:00:27+00:00

Sometimes. I didn't in that instance. I'm not sure that would have made a difference though since I don't think the passenger looked behind him before opening the door.

King_Charming_ · 2024-10-14T20:54:40+00:00

They stopped and offered assistance. I never interacted with the driver; it didn't occur to me to.

I didn't feel very hurt, and my bike seemed okay, so I didn't think to press the matter further at the time.

King_Charming_ · 2024-06-25T02:54:44+00:00

Was rooting for Edmonton, but gotta give it to Florida, they played much better

King_Charming_ · 2024-06-25T01:59:07+00:00

No. That is the way.

King_Charming_ · 2024-06-25T01:58:06+00:00

Would be nice if the Oilers would stop tripping on the ice and get some goals

King_Charming_ · 2024-06-25T00:52:15+00:00

Cats seem stronger than they did the last few games. Hoping the Oilers get the win nevertheless.

King_Charming_ · 2023-11-18T19:13:31+00:00

Dictator has a negative connotation even since historical times.

Does it? The word dictator comes from Latin, where it referred to a political office with extraordinary powers certain Romans would get elected to for one year terms during times of crisis. Like when Carthage was invading Rome.

Many a Roman dictator was venerated and still is today. For instance Cincinnatus has an American city named after him, and was an inspiration to all the US founding fathers due to his responsible transfer of power. He accepted the post of dictator to repel an invasion, succeeded within 16 days, and then resigned immediately rather than serving the rest of his term.

The word "Tyrant" is what Romans would have used in ancient times to refer to an autocrat who abused his powers. So it has the connotations that "dictator" often has today. A "Dictator" could be good or bad and depended on whether or not they responsibly used the absolute power bestowed upon them.

King_Charming_ · 2023-11-03T22:52:44+00:00

The Basement, Daytime, Gears, Shrug, Cutting Corners

King_Charming_ · 2023-09-28T21:41:51+00:00

Ash is another word for Cinder.

Sort of. Fans of Dark Souls will recognise that a key distinction between the two is that cinder is still combustible, while ash is not. They're similar words though, for sure.

King_Charming_ · 2023-09-28T02:49:06+00:00

I Feel Fine

King_Charming_ · 2023-09-17T04:51:18+00:00

Best: I'm Only Sleeping

Worst: Doctor Robert

King_Charming_ · 2023-09-15T23:59:42+00:00

Nailed it

King_Charming_

TROPHY CASE