A moving, thoughtful story of long-lost love and second chances. Growing up in the suburbs in post-war Japan, it seemed to Hajime that everyone but him had brothers and sisters. His sole companion was Shimamoto, also an only child. Together they spent long afternoons listening to her father's record collection. But when his family moved away, the two lost touch. Now Hajime is in his thirties. After a decade of drifting, he has found happiness with his loving wife and two daughters, and success running a jazz bar. Then Shimamoto reappears. She is beautiful, intense, enveloped in mystery. Hajime is catapulted into the past, putting at risk all he has in the present. 'Casablanca remade Japanese style...It is dream-like writing, laden with scenes which have the radiance of a poem' The Times

Profiles the life and career of the award-winning Japanese author famous for works of both fiction and nonfiction.

As a spokesman for disaffected youth of the post-1960s, Murakami Haruki has become one of the most important voices in contemporary Japanese literature, and he has gained a following in the United States through translations of his works. In Dances with Sheep, Matthew Strecher examines Murakami's fiction--and, to a lesser extent, his nonfiction--for its most prevalent structures and themes. Strecher also delves into the paradoxes in Murakami's writings that confront critics and casual readers alike. Murakami writes of "serious" themes yet expresses them in a relatively uncomplicated style that appeals to high school students as well as scholars; and his fictional work appears to celebrate the pastiche of postmodern expression, yet he rejects the effects of the postmodern on contemporary culture as dangerous.Strecher's methodology is both historical and cultural as he utilizes four distinct yet interwoven approaches to analyze Murakami's major works: the writer's "formulaic" structure with serious themes; his play with magical realism; the intense psychological underpinnings of his literary landscape; and his critique of language and its capacity to represent realities, past and present. Dances with Sheep links each of these approaches with Murakami's critical focus on the fate of individual identity in contemporary Japan. The result is that the simplicity of the Murakami hero, marked by lethargy and nostalgia, emerges as emblematic of contemporary humankind, bereft of identity, direction, and meaning. Murakami's fiction is reconstructed in Dances with Sheep as a warning against the dehumanizing effects of late-model capitalism, the homogenization of the marketplace, and the elimination of effective counterculture in Japan.

Don’t know what to read? Marion Hill comes to the rescue again! Discovering new books is always an adventure. Like with any adventure, there’s always a dilemma. What road should I take? Which book should I read? Popular book reviewer Marion Hill rides to the rescue again with the second volume of his popular book review series. With more than 160 reviews under his belt, Marion has his fingers on the pulse of readers everywhere. As a prolific author himself, Marion is a voracious reader. Between publishing parts of his Kammbia fantasy novel series, Marion shared his reading list with his newsletter subscribers with thought-provoking book reviews. These reviews became so popular that he decided to publish them in book form for everyone to share. Just in time to make out your summer reading list, Marion has responded to growing demands from his grateful readers to publish yet another collection of his insightful, on-point reviews. In this collection, you’ll find a diverse selection of books that will earn a treasured spot on your bookshelf. In the second volume of Marion’s 25, you’ll discover dystopian science fiction works, like Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, classic novels, like Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck’s The Pearl, as well as works by popular contemporary authors, like The Cuckoo’s Calling, by Robert Galbraith (the alter ego of Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling) and Stephen King’s shivery horror novel, Bag of Bones. This collection of reviews even includes non-fiction titles, like Cal Newport’s Digital Minimalism, as well as many more gems well worth checking out. With an entire summer’s reading list (and maybe well into fall) in a single collection, you’ll be able to choose the ones you want to read, order them at your local library, bookstore, or online. Curled up with a good book, you can travel through worlds of adventure without leaving your home. The right book can transform your easy chair into a time machine, a spaceship, or a portal into an alternate universe. What better way to spend your spare hours than in your own private quest for adventure? As a former bookstore assistant during his younger days, Marion is an expert guide to the many worlds that books can open. Let him guide you through your reading adventures.

These living poems are my feelings and observations about my world. They were written on my travels in Haiti, Bolivia, Papua New Guinea, Europe and USA over the last two years.

Two hundred poems - a collection from my first four books written on my global travels.

A collection of 151 poems from my travels and a title poem.

Poems written around the world - this edition a birthday present for Stewart Sherriff

ESSENTIAL GRAPHIC DESIGN SOLUTIONS features PART 1: FUNDAMENTALS OF GRAPHIC DESIGN, of the bestseller, GRAPHIC DESIGN SOLUTIONS, to provide a focused study of design basics. Covering print and screen media, this book examines conceiving, visualizing and composing solutions to design problems with a comprehensive examination of typography; a broader investigation of creativity and concept generation; visualization and color; an updated timeline; an online chapter about building a Portfolio and the job search; and more. Providing excellent illustrations of historical, modern and contemporary design, this book is a great resource. Now available to accompany this edition, CourseMate with eBook brings concepts to life with projects, videos of designers in the field, and portfolio-building tools. Important Notice: Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the ebook version.

Spirit Matters is a ground-breaking work, the first to explore a broad range of writings on spirituality in contemporary Japanese literature. It draws on a variety of literary works, from enormously popular fiction (Miura Ayako’s Hyôten and Shirokari Pass and the novels of Murakami Haruki) to more problematic "serious" fiction (Ôe Kenzaburô’s Somersault) to nonfiction meditations on martyrdom and miracles (Sono Ayako’s Kiseki) and the dynamics of religious cults (Murakami’s interviews with members of Aum Shinrikyô in Underground). The first half of the volume focuses on the work of two women Christian writers, Miura Ayako and Sono Ayako. Combining a decidedly evangelistic bent with the formulas of the popular novel, Miura’s 1964 novel Hyôten (Freezing Point) and its sequel are entertaining perennial bestsellers but also treat spiritual issues—like original sin—that are largely unexplored in modern Japanese literature. Sono’s Kiseki (Miracles) and Miura’s Shiokari Pass focus on the meaning of self-sacrifice and the miraculous and survey both the paths by which people come to faith and the spiritual doubts that assail them. Perhaps most striking for Western readers, Gabriel reveals how Miura’s novel shows the lingering resistance to Christianity and its oppositional nature in Japan, and how in Kiseki Sono considers the kind of spiritual struggles many Japanese Christians experience as they try to reconcile their belief in a minority faith.