3.5
Novelist as a Vocation
By Haruki Murakami & Philip Gabriel &Publisher Description
NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • An insightful look into the mind of a master storyteller—and a unique look at the craft of writing from the beloved and best-selling author of 1Q84, Norwegian Wood, and What I Talk About When I Talk About Running.
"Murakami is like a magician who explains what he's doing as he performs the trick and still makes you believe he has supernatural powers" —New York Times Book Review
A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK: Esquire, Vulture, LitHub, New York Observer
Aspiring writers and readers who have long wondered where the mysterious novelist gets his ideas and what inspires his strangely surreal worlds will be fascinated by this engaging book from the internationally best-selling author. Haruki Murakami now shares with readers his thoughts on the role of the novel in our society; his own origins as a writer; and his musings on the sparks of creativity that inspire other writers, artists, and musicians.
Here are the personal details of a life devoted to craft: the initial moment at a Yakult Swallows baseball game, when he suddenly knew he could write a novel; the importance of memory, what he calls a writer’s “mental chest of drawers”; the necessity of loneliness, patience, and his daily running routine; the seminal role a carrier pigeon played in his career and more.
"What I want to say is that in a certain sense, while the novelist is creating a novel, he is simultaneously being created by the novel as well." —Haruki Murakami
"Murakami is like a magician who explains what he's doing as he performs the trick and still makes you believe he has supernatural powers" —New York Times Book Review
A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK: Esquire, Vulture, LitHub, New York Observer
Aspiring writers and readers who have long wondered where the mysterious novelist gets his ideas and what inspires his strangely surreal worlds will be fascinated by this engaging book from the internationally best-selling author. Haruki Murakami now shares with readers his thoughts on the role of the novel in our society; his own origins as a writer; and his musings on the sparks of creativity that inspire other writers, artists, and musicians.
Here are the personal details of a life devoted to craft: the initial moment at a Yakult Swallows baseball game, when he suddenly knew he could write a novel; the importance of memory, what he calls a writer’s “mental chest of drawers”; the necessity of loneliness, patience, and his daily running routine; the seminal role a carrier pigeon played in his career and more.
"What I want to say is that in a certain sense, while the novelist is creating a novel, he is simultaneously being created by the novel as well." —Haruki Murakami
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communities230 Reviews
3.5
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Created 20 days agoShare
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“Fun game to play while reading the book: tally up how many times he mentions his debut novel! Or turn to a random page and count how many pages it takes to get you to a mention of it!
If you’re over 21, you can play a drinking game and take a sip every time he mentions his debut novel, and see how sloshed you get by the end of the book!
There were some things that were okay writing advice. And it gave me confidence I need knowing that really anyone can write a book! They can pick up a pen and just say whatever shit comes into their head!
I have written 3 essays in direct response to how vapid and dumb half of the observations in this book are. That is how angry this book made me. I think my blood pressure sky rocketed every page and it’s a wonder I survived the first read. I am keeping it because it generates so much passion and so much writing, reading this book actively writes another from my raving and ranting!”
Emily Fox
Created 28 days agoShare
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Created 29 days agoShare
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O.G.1998
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Flossie Palmer
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About Haruki Murakami
HARUKI MURAKAMI was born in Kyoto in 1949 and now lives near Tokyo. His work has been translated into more than fifty languages, and one of the most recent of his many international honors is the Cino Del Duca World Prize, whose previous recipients include Jorge Luis Borges, Ismail Kadare, Mario Vargas Llosa, and Joyce Carol Oates.
Other books by Haruki Murakami
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