“Her cup is sitting there, with a bit of tea left in it. I leave it where it is, without touching it. The cup looks like a metaphor. A metaphor of memories that, before long, will be lost.” Out of context this quote actually sounds lovely, but after ages of reading about people buying underpants and eating eel and taking dumps I was pretty much “urh!” by the time we got to saying things are metaphors. Because not just the tea cups, no “The whole […]
Most human activities are predicated on the assumption that life goes on. If you take that premise away, what is there left?
I couldn’t tell you the last time I read Murakami, but I now remember that the last time I read him, I swore I would read all of his work, and I’m making that oath again. He is magnificently imaginative, terrifying, mystical, and believable all at once. He throws you into the deep end and patiently waits for you to swim or drown; he doesn’t care which happens. He moves the finish line just as you’re about to reach it, over and over again. You […]

