i've seen this book discussed on so many websites - the general consensus seemed to be that this is a wonderful and important book - that it seems to have somehow become "required reading" if i want to continue to call myself a passionate reader. i don't like this expectation - what if i think it's a terrible book? is that opinion even allowed? i suspect it'll be some time before i get to read "the wind-up bird chronicle" - so many other books are ahead in the queue - and i'm going to disregard everything i've heard about it, and just read it for myself.

i've been holding on to heaps of books that i know i'll never read; i went through them all with a critical eye, and set aside ones that will probably do better with a new owner. this was one of them...

it's been a long time between mass releases, so when mom went shopping today, i asked her to take a big pile of books to billy baxter's for me. the last time we passed by, the bookcase looked sad and quite empty, so hopefully having new material in stock means that someone will pick up my books. fingers crossed, anyway! to the person who picks up this book, i really hope you enjoy it, and journal it to let me know what you thought of it.