Thursday, May 09, 2002

Found a nice piece on the writer Murakami today.
It echoes many of the things that attract me to his books. I love the detached way he deals with often fantastical situations. I find myself leaping on every new release from him. My introduction to him was through "The Wind-up Bird Chronicle" in many way the toughest of his books, however I was hooked. All the books have merits, although on occasions the endings can drift away. My current reading matter, Number 9 Dream by David Mitchell, does have strong echoes of Murakami’s work. It features a split narrative, with the story switching between a 20 year olds search for his estranged father and a period in early childhood. To make matters slightly confusing the 20 year old undertakes regular Walter Mitty like flights of fantasy. I’m about 1/4 of the way through the book and it is starting to really grip.

On Monday evening we watched one of the most frightening film that I have seen in a long time. It was a Japanese film called "Ring", a very understated chiller that gradually built the tension. No gory special effects or over the top "here comes a scary moment" music. It was great very uncomfortable viewing. The follow-up "Ring 2" is being shown on TV next Monday. Can it be as good?

I still seam to be obsessed with all things Japanese. I could go on about the music of Cornelius as well but I better leave it for now.

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