Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman

Haruki Murakami writes either novels or short stories. It's a pity; I don't like short stories much and here I got landed with a book full of them. It was part of my 3 books for the price of two at Gatwick airport, I think.

The stories are good; quirky and often very strange in the way that Murakami usually writes, and often without a definite end - they tend to peter out. All the stories are quite different and set in different parts of the world. I could have done without the shortened version of 'Norwegian Wood' which I had only just read. The blurb on the back talks about Murakami's inventive mastery - that's certainly right; he's absolutely astonishing in the kinds of stories and characters he creates - where does he get his ideas from?

If you like Murakami and you commute to work on a train or a bus it'll be a wonderful book. But of course, short stories are, er, short, and so it is probably quite put downable, too.

And that's all I remember about it - I read it a few weeks ago, in Ukraine. And now I can get it off my desk.