Kafka on the Shore – Haruki Murakami
There are occasions when I find that I have to take a break from Fantasy, and I lean toward other fiction in the hopes of broadening my horizons on many levels, most specifically the level of my own writing. So imagine my combined elation and dismay at discovering that Haruki Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore is definitely fantasy-adjacent, ripe with magical realism and metaphysical meditations. It is exquisitely written, deeply intriguing, and simply good reading. It is complicated and thought-provoking, and is an altogether outstanding read. Easily one of the best books I’ve read in a while. As I read through Kafka on the Shore, I realized that I very rarely read work by authors outside of the US or greater British Commonwealth, and I think that’s a tragedy I desperately need to mitigate by making some changes to my to-read list. (Fortunately, I’m currently reading Carlos Ruiz Zafon’s The
