Journal Entry 1 by cat207 from Gladstone, Queensland Australia on Monday, February 11, 2008

'... follows the fortunes of two remarkable characters. Kafka Tamura runs away from home at fifteen, under the shadow of his father's dark prophecy. The ageing Nakata, tracker of lost cats, who never recovered from a bizarre childhood accident, finds his pleasantly simplified life suddenly turned upside down. Their parallel odysseys - as mysterious to them as they are to the reader - are enriched throughout by vivid accomplices and mesmerising dramas. Cats converse with people; fish tumble in storms from the sky; a ghostlike pimp deploys a Hegel-spouting girl of the night; a forest harbours soldiers apparently un-aged since WWII. There is a savage killing, but the identity of both victim and killer is a riddle.' 

Journal Entry 2 by cat207 from Gladstone, Queensland Australia on Thursday, February 14, 2008

I was disappointed with the loose threads at the end - but a beautiful work nevertheless. 

Journal Entry 3 by cat207 from Gladstone, Queensland Australia on Thursday, February 14, 2008

A '1001...' book going travelling.

Promised to shnedwards to replace a stalled ring / ray.

VeganMedusa - NZ, NZ/Aus
FreePages - Australia, Aus
Shelly3110 - Australia, Aus preferred (asked to be skipped)
nikkilovesbooks - Australia, anywhere
EvaBlue - Greece, EU
NICNIC2 - UK, anywhere
taniazed - Australia, Aus
 

Journal Entry 4 by cat207 from Gladstone, Queensland Australia on Friday, March 07, 2008

Off to VeganMedusa in New Zealand in Monday's mail. Enjoy. X 

Journal Entry 5 by VeganMedusa from Invercargill, Southland New Zealand on Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Thanks cat207, and shnedwards!
I'll PM Freepages now. 

Journal Entry 6 by VeganMedusa from Invercargill, Southland New Zealand on Monday, March 24, 2008

I also thought there were a few loose threads at the end that deserved explanation. But overall a wonderful book, I'm looking forward to reading more by this author. I've been mulling this book over the last few days, hoping I could think of something intelligent to say - but no, sorry. It's definitely one that will stay with me though.
I'll post this on Thursday (if not before). Thanks for including me. :) 

Journal Entry 7 by VeganMedusa from Invercargill, Southland New Zealand on Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Posted airmail to freepages this morning. 

Journal Entry 8 by FreePages from Canberra, Australian Capital Territory Australia on Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Arrived safe and sound today, thanks VeganMedusa. My Bookring TBR pile is growing like mad. I'll get to this as soon as I can, looks like a VERY interesting read. 

Journal Entry 9 by FreePages from Canberra, Australian Capital Territory Australia on Saturday, November 29, 2008

An excellent book!
First off tho' thanks to everyone for their indulgence in being good about me having this here so long. This is the first of Murakami's books that I've read and I am really looking forward to reading more. There were loose ends but I felt that I just flowed through the book and the loose ends didnt bother me. I loved the range of diverse characters. Such an unusual plot. Normally a plot like that would leave me feeling frustrated, I think that it didnt, shows what a master writer this author is. Just Excellent :-)

I've PM the next on the list, but on her bookshelf she says she is quite busy at the moment. I'll wait for a week, if I havent heard from her I'll PM the next person in line. 

Journal Entry 10 by FreePages at Canberra, Australian Capital Territory Australia on Monday, December 08, 2008

Released 3 yrs ago (12/8/2008 UTC) at Canberra, Australian Capital Territory Australia

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:


In the mail today to Nikkilovesbooks.

Enjoy :-) 

Journal Entry 11 by nikkilovesbooks from Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory Australia on Monday, January 05, 2009

Thanks cat207 for this bookring & FreePages for posting it to me. Sorry for the delay in journalling the book. I've been away on hol's & arrived home on the weekend. I picked it up from the PO today & have already read the first chapter (while having a coffee on the way back from the PO). It looks good, cannot wait to get into it tonight. I'll pm the next in line now, as I am guessing I will have it devoured by the end of the week ;-)
 

Journal Entry 12 by nikkilovesbooks from Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory Australia on Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Well, I'm not sure about this one. I persistet till the end (although I almost put it down about 4 times!). Some of the character introductions did not work for me & overall it was just a little too ..... weird! It was my first dive into Murakami so maybe I just need to be a little more open minded. Thanks for the experience - I think!?! I'll post it off to Evablue tomorrow. 

Journal Entry 13 by Evablue from Athens, Attica Greece on Wednesday, January 28, 2009

good lord this is huge!!!
it arrived safely all the way from Australia, looking forward to reading it.
Thanks for posting nikkilovesbooks and cat207 for taking over the lost ray. 

Journal Entry 14 by Evablue from Athens, Attica Greece on Tuesday, February 24, 2009

This was a lot of fun!!! It felt as if Murakami kept giving pointers about reading his work. The book deserves a second (probably also a third) reading, but I don't want to delay it any longer.

As one of the characters pointed out, the situation is impossible to describe. However, my guess is that what's important is not in the storyline itself, but in the descriptions of the settings, in the characters' views about life, in some phrases they utter out of the blue.
I thought most of the characters were hilarious - the book is literally crawling with metaphores and puns. The whole reading experience was somewhat like living in someone else's dream and I enjoyed it very much!
Thank you cat207 (and shnedwards) for including me in this ring.
Posting to NICNIC2 today. 

Journal Entry 15 by NICNIC2 from St Andrews, Scotland United Kingdom on Sunday, March 22, 2009

Arrived safely :) I have one book to read before this one. Will get to it soon! 

Journal Entry 16 by NICNIC2 from St Andrews, Scotland United Kingdom on Monday, July 20, 2009

Well, I know that I couldn't put this down once I started reading it and that the language and narrative style was really compelling but I have to admit that I don't get the meaning of the story. Is it merely pointing out that its easy to be so wrapped up in your own past that you can't fully exist in the present? The storyline with Mr Nakata was strange and I felt I didn't really understand it. But I did enjoy reading the book, even if it was a bit of a mystery...