Start with Norwegian Wood if you want the one that made him famous, or Kafka on the Shore if you want the strangeness he is actually known for. Both are in stock in Nepal from around NPR 864. Skip 1Q84 until you know you like him.
Murakami is the most borrowed and least finished author on a lot of shelves in Kathmandu. The reason is almost always the same: someone starts with the 1,000-page one, or with a book where a man talks to a cat for forty pages, and decides the problem is them. It usually isn't. It is the starting point.
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Which Murakami book should you read first?
Norwegian Wood, around NPR 1,008. It is the least strange thing he has written and the book that made him famous in Japan, to his own discomfort. A student in 1960s Tokyo, two women, grief that never quite resolves. No talking cats, no parallel worlds. If you want to know whether you like his sentences before you commit to his weirdness, this is the honest test.
If you already know you want the strangeness, start with Kafka on the Shore at around NPR 864 instead. A teenage runaway, an old man who can speak to cats, and two storylines that never quite explain themselves. It is the book most people mean when they say they love Murakami.
What if you only want to try a few pages?
Read the short stories. Men Without Women, around NPR 864, is seven stories about men who have lost women, and it is the fastest way to find out whether his voice works on you. Twenty minutes tells you what 400 pages would.
The Elephant Vanishes at around NPR 864 is the other collection worth having, and it contains some of the strangest short work he has done. First Person Singular, around NPR 1,152, is his most recent collection and the most openly autobiographical.
When should you attempt 1Q84?
After two other books, not before. 1Q84: Books 1 and 2 at around NPR 864 is his most ambitious novel and his most demanding: two moons, a cult, a parallel Tokyo, and a plot that takes its time. Readers who love it tend to have already learned to trust him. Readers who start here often stop.
Killing Commendatore, around NPR 1,008, sits in similar territory and is a little kinder about it.
What about the early novels?
A Wild Sheep Chase, around NPR 864, is where his voice first arrives fully formed, and it is shorter and funnier than his reputation suggests. It works as a first book for readers who like detective stories, because it is shaped like one, right up until it isn't.
Is there a reading order?
Nothing is a series, so no order is required. A path that works for most readers: Men Without Women, then Norwegian Wood, then Kafka on the Shore, then 1Q84 if the first three landed. Move from short to long and from realistic to strange, rather than the other way round.
What should you know before starting?
Three things, and they save a lot of frustration. His endings often do not resolve, and that is deliberate rather than a translation problem. The same motifs recur across books, so wells, cats, jazz and cooking will start to feel like old furniture. And the translations vary between Jay Rubin, Philip Gabriel and Alfred Birnbaum, which is worth checking on the copyright page if you end up caring.
Frequently asked questions
Which Murakami book is shortest? Men Without Women, as a story collection you can read in pieces. Among the novels, A Wild Sheep Chase.
Are these the English translations? Yes. Each book's page lists publisher, format, page count and ISBN so you can check the edition before ordering.
Do you deliver outside Kathmandu? Yes, to all seven provinces. Typically 1 to 2 days inside the Kathmandu Valley and 3 to 5 days elsewhere.
Can I pay on delivery? Yes. Cash on delivery is currently the only payment method, and you pay the courier when the parcel reaches you.
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