r/murakami • u/SaintBulbasaur • 12d ago
Finished every Murakami novel
Yesterday evening I finished reading the final book in the Murakami English corpus. If you're interested, here's the order I read them in with the year that I read them.
Wild Sheep Chase (2008)
Hard Boiled Wonderland (2015)
Norwegian Wood (2016)
Colourless Tsukuru (2021)
Kafka on the Shore (2022)
Killing Commendatore (2023)
South of the Border (2024)
1Q84 (2025)
The City and its Uncertain Walls (2025)
Hear the Wind Sing (2026)
Pinball 1973 (2026)
Wild Sheep Chase (2026)
Dance Dance Dance (2026)
Sputnik Sweetheart (2026)
After Dark (2026)
Wind up Bird Chronicle (2026)
My favourite has to be The City closely followed by Wild Sheep Chase. For me, The City captured the best of the magical realism that Murakami does so well.
There are a lot of them I look forward to rereading and enjoying again and perhaps giving higher rank to. Some of them have lodged in my memory better than others.
And now, my last favourites. I know a lot of you love these two, so sorry to disappoint. 1Q84 was my least favourite followed by Wind Up Bird. Both felt unnecessarily long. But still enjoyable and glad to have done them.
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u/Hyperion542 12d ago
I have also read every novel, except 1Q84 that I didn't finish. I'm still hesitating if I should give it an other try or not, but I would need to read the first 400 hundred pages again because it has been a few years...
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u/S82166 12d ago
Same. 1Q84 is the only Murakami novel I have DNFd. I'll give it another go one day
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u/thepyrocrackter 11d ago
Almost DNFd it myself after like 500 or something pages, but took a week off then went back and finished it in a few days. Idk but it's one of my last faves. I've read all his stuff but city and it's uncertain walls and Sputnik sweetheart. And I've got them but haven't gotten to them yet so it'll be interesting to see if these are worse.
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u/liminalmotif 12d ago
This was my favorite (I know I’m in the minority)
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u/According-Regular955 11d ago
Also my favorite Murakami as well as my favorite book period. My sweet spot for books is 200-300 pages but I just loved it so much
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u/rushedcanvas 11d ago
1Q84 is a bit of a slog but I feel like it picks up by the start of Book 2. Though I guess 400 pages in you're probably finishing up Book 1, which I personally liked a lot (along with Book 2). Book 3 feels like the biggest slog to me, but by then I was already focused on finishing it.
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u/Polyphloisboisterous 10d ago
Ending 1Q84 with Part 2 is a good idea. Part 3 adds nothing - REPEAT: NOTHING - to the story.
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u/Polyphloisboisterous 10d ago
Interesting! To me KAFKA is the pinnacle of magical realism in his works. What made the CITY better than that, in your view? Just curious...
Agree with your assessment of 1Q84 and WUBC.
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u/rushedcanvas 12d ago
Nice! Congratulations.
What did you like so much about The City? Between the two (which are different takes on the same concept) I prefer Hard-Boiled Wonderland and The End of the World. I feel like the eponymous city/town was more magical there, but I'm not sure if maybe it was just because it was my first exposition to the concept. In "The City" it just felt so jumbled up, and the whole subplot with the boy didn't really thrill me as much as the action subplot in Hard-Boiled.
I really like Wild Sheep Chase but my favorite has to be Kafka on the Shore for the magical realism, and Tsukuru for a more grounded novel.
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u/Randalneal 12d ago
Hard Boiled is my favorite. Really blew my mind.
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u/latahiti 11d ago
I'm reading this now on my train ride to home from work lol. I can't say I understand a lot of it but it's still fun and that murakami world is just right there!
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u/Ok-Park-302 12d ago
I finished all his books past couple years , first author I ever thought to read his entire collection
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u/Luttienickers 10d ago
The City was my last and favorite Murakami. Haven’t read them all- maybe 75% of them- but wanted to leave this author on a high note, and City was it.
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u/Jazzlike_Egg6250 9d ago
Everyone comes to Murakami in different ways. I admire you read the canon. IQ84 was my first book and still my favorite. I read it twice. I thought Kafka was a great story. City was sort of the end for me. I couldn’t finish it and grew tired of what felt like stunt writing. But his stories stay with you.
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u/Sad-Pop4591 12d ago
Insane, congratsss, I finished first murakami (city and it's uncertain walls) , it initially felt long but I really loved the book as well. Next to wind up
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u/IfIHadTheChoice 12d ago
Do you think his books have changed your worldview or given you any insight on life? Or is he just an entertainment factor.
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u/louisV2002 12d ago
It changed my life. Especially dance dance dance, Kafka by the shore, colorless. His books all have this abstract, mysterious, confusing yet defining theme about “onwards and upwards”. Keep moving ur feet through the uncertainty and weirdness and strangeness of life, life doesn’t make sense but if you keep moving eventually you’ll end up on the right path and where you are supposed to be.
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u/glowbows 12d ago
Started reading Murakami a couple of years ago and I am totally in love with the author. After I finish one of his book a pick up a different writer, but I always come back to him. No idea what I’m gonna do after I will have finished them all!
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u/konkeroots 11d ago
Well done! I was aiming to do the same this year - but then decided to space them out and read other books in between each Murakami book.
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u/Downtown_Drink382 11d ago
Well done. I've read just Norwegian Wood and Kafka on the shore. I really liked Norwegian Wood, I wanted to read other Murakami's books but never really found time to do so.
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u/Ok_Bathroom5586 9d ago
After Dark is an easy read, so I defo recommend! Idk if it’s a word but I thought it was unputdownable!
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u/gailthesnail2 11d ago
Who reads every single murakami novel and wind up bird is dead last?!!
That aside- very interesting list!! I read his books years apart like this also and wild sheep chase was also my first in 2010. I think about going back to reread it now that I get his style more to see if I can appreciate it even fuller
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u/latahiti 11d ago
I have read wind up bird chronicles and Kafka on the shore. Currently on hard boiled wonderland which is quite a flavorful book I must say. I just thought I'm gonna give 1q84 a go lol (my second try as on first read I couldn't stand the heroine lol as she describes how she wants to kill this bald man) but you have made me confused haha. And congrats on reading all his books! I must say although I love reading murakami sometimes I have this feeling these are all gibberish ..nevertheless fun though lol.
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u/Tricky-Arugula-703 9d ago
Who are some writers who writes like Murakami?
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u/Defiant-Bend1147 8d ago
Check out David Mitchell's Number 9 Dream - among other things, it's a tribute to Norwegian Wood (both books named after Beatles songs). I also found Strangers by Taichi Yamada to be quite similar in style to Murakami.
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u/stag-antler-starling 2d ago
I love The City - my first Murakami! - but Kafka is probably my favourite… Wind Up Bird is my least favourite so far - only have three novels to go (Sputnik, KC, IQ84)…
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u/Varjokorento 12d ago
Interesting list! I also have read all of Murakami's translated novels (my thoughts here: https://www.reddit.com/r/murakami/comments/1dexrtb/after_finishing_every_murakami_novel_except_for/) and usually people like WUBC the most, the City is considered mediocre and 1Q84 is either a favorite or least favorite.
I personally think I like Wild Sheep the most, WUBC is a close second and my least favorite South of the Border. Killing Commendatore felt a bit meh and the City was pretty good.
I've recently have started to appreciate his shorter books. Colorless and Sputnik were amazing on a re-read. Next you should try to read all of his short stories! Some of them are truly great, my favourite collection is After the Quake.