Yes, that's really the title of the book by Haruki Murakami, translated from Japanese. I've read a lot by him, principally his wonderful Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and his funny A Wild Sheep Chase. Hard-Boiled Wonderland is the most fantastical of his I've read–Chinese unicorns, allegorical villages, separated shadows, fish-like people living in the Tokyo underground … the list of the bizarre goes on. Alternating chapters, Murakami flips back and forth between two fantastical stories, he eventually combines them together into one story that actually turns out to be kind of moving. If you're interested in Murakami, I'd recommend either Wind-Up Bird Read more…

Under the Dome called out from the bookshelf to me for some reason I can't quite clarify. Maybe it was the similarity of the plot to The Simpsons movie, maybe it was the beautiful cover (which, since I read the book on my Kindle, I didn't get to enjoy). Or maybe it was that it seemed like such a perfect idea for a Stephen King novel. It was just so him. In fact, you've kind of read this novel if you've read much Stephen King. In terms of plot and theme, it's right there with the novella The Mist. Isolated, a Read more…