Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
Wind / Pinball
Wind / Pinball | Haruki Murakami
Wind/Pinball includes Haruki Murakamie(tm)s first two novels, published back-to-back, available for the first time in English outside Japan. With a new introduction by the author. Published as a reversible hardback 'If youe(tm)re the sort of guy who raids the refrigerators of silent kitchens at three oe(tm)clock in the morning, you can only write accordingly. Thate(tm)s who I am.' Hear the Wind Sing and Pinball, 1973 are Haruki Murakamie(tm)s earliest novels. They follow the fortunes of the narrator and his friend, known only by his nickname, the Rat. In Hear the Wind Sing the narrator is home from college on his summer break. He spends his time drinking beer and smoking in Je(tm)s Bar with the Rat, listening to the radio, thinking about writing and the women he has slept with, and pursuing a relationship with a girl with nine fingers. Three years later, in Pinball, 1973, he has moved to Tokyo to work as a translator and live with indistinguishable twin girls, but the Rat has remained behind, despite his efforts to leave both the town and his girlfriend. The narrator finds himself haunted by memories of his own doomed relationship but also, more bizarrely, by his short-lived obsession with playing pinball in Je(tm)s Bar. This sends him on a quest to find the exact model of pinball machine he had enjoyed playing years earlier: the three-flipper Spaceship.
Amazon Indiebound Barnes and Noble WorldCat Goodreads LibraryThing
review
zurazureen
Wind / Pinball | Haruki Murakami
Mehso-so

First book of Murakami~ not bad but need full concentration to truly grasp the storyline of the two novels

blurb
Andrew65
Wind/Pinball: Two novels | Haruki Murakami
post image

Going to give Haruki Murakami another try by choosing his very first book and the first book in the Rat series. #Authorabook

night_shift Oh no, I see you gave Norwegian Wood a 👎 .. that's one of my gifted books I'd been planning on reading this year! 5y
Andrew65 @UnidragonFrag Others have enjoyed it, might just be me. Might be better as a physical book rather than an audiobook. So don‘t give up on it yet. 5y
night_shift @Andrew65 I have a physical copy, so cool! 5y
76 likes1 stack add3 comments
blurb
HeathHof
Wind/Pinball: Two novels | Haruki Murakami
post image

Starting this one today for #authoramonth. I've never read anything by the Author so I'm going with what was available on libby

Soubhiville I look forward to your review. I haven‘t read him yet either. 5y
52 likes1 comment
quote
GatheringBooks
post image

#QuotsyJune19 Day 8: I want to live near the #ocean someday. My soul craves the sounds of the waves, always. I don‘t think I own a copy of this Murakami novel. Not really sure how I feel about him.

quote
swatreads

“There‘s no such thing as a perfect piece of writing. Just as there‘s no such thing as perfect despair.”

review
Bookish.SAM
Wind/Pinball: Two novels | Haruki Murakami
post image
Pickpick

Double header at the gym (Zumba and Yoga) and a library drop-off this morning. Feeling productive 😊
Loving the gym/library in the same location 📚💪

This was some very early Murakami. Maybe not for everyone, but I enjoyed it. It‘s like meditation reading his work.

blurb
Bookish.SAM
Wind / Pinball | Haruki Murakami
post image

Mini #libraryhaul

Well... I decided to sign up for the gym at the local community centre. Guess what else is housed in the community centre...
As if I needed more reason to be hanging out at the library 🤦🏻‍♀️
💪📚

Erinreadsthebooks Sounds like the best of both worlds! 6y
45 likes1 comment
review
sophierayton
Wind/Pinball: Two novels | Haruki Murakami
post image
Pickpick

This was my first experience with Murakami as I try to read in the order written by the author where possible.
I had an unusual feeling while reading this, like, I don't know what the heck I'm reading but I like it! Strangely hypnotising. Onwards with more Murakami for me.

blurb
TheBookstorePodcast
post image

This week on the podcast: Haruki Murakami‘s first novels, Wind/Pinball. Check it out wherever you get your podcasts, or on our website, thebookstorepodcast.com, for more fun stuff related to the episode (like a Spotify playlist of songs from the books!).

44 likes1 stack add
review
Lauren.Archer
Mehso-so

This is definitely not my favorite Murakami novels, but I do think I can sense where he was going with his writing.

blurb
Lauren.Archer
post image

Working my way Murakami‘s backlist.

Dolly I will too, eventually. I‘ve only read Colorless. Beautiful fabric by the way. 6y
90 likes1 stack add1 comment
blurb
TrulyBookish
Wind / Pinball | Haruki Murakami
post image

Two Kitchen Table novels from one of the most sensitive writers in print. And Carson McCullers - a debut. Quality reading for a damp summer Sunday

6 likes1 stack add
blurb
tortusclux
post image

A joke about the Great Depression that can now be said about current times with the 9/11 attacks. 30ish years before it even had.

review
TheFaeWays
Wind/Pinball: Two novels | Haruki Murakami
post image
Pickpick

Murakami's first book was a great read. It was a little different from his later work, but it was so great.the magical realism is especially good in Pinball, and the whole meandering story is worth it for the one scene.

review
JenP
Wind/Pinball: Two novels | Haruki Murakami
post image
Mehso-so

Not my favorite of his books but interesting to see emergence of themes that become more fully developed in later books. Two novellas In one book. Includes an interesting author intro where he talks about his writing process and how he became a writer.

ephemeralwaltz I haven't read this yet but very interesting intro for any Murakami fan!! Must-read. I think it's online from when thid new edition came out :) 7y
77 likes1 stack add1 comment
quote
MissLiteraryAli
Wind/Pinball: Two novels | Haruki Murakami
post image

Sometimes, I imagine how great it would be if we could live our lives without bothering other people.

quote
Kati.Watson
post image

#foodforthought Some may read this and think that it's pretty grim but I think it's all depends on how you interpret it. I see it as this, all things in life are fleeting. They come and go so quickly, which is why we live for the sake of cherishing and holding onto to those moments while we can.
Not sure, if that's what the author meant especially since it's #HarukiMurakami. Still, it does make one think doesn't it?

review
alanacristin
Wind/Pinball: Two novels | Haruki Murakami
post image
Pickpick

Preferred wind to pinball though it also got more interesting toward the end. The foreword was a fun glimpse at how he developed his writing style... And makes him seem very much like a character in one of his stories. So much of his wordcraft, personal iconography, and character styling existed from these first novellas--fascinating. I do want to go play some nostalgic pinball now. #mommyreads #japanese #booksandcoffee

quote
IAmReading
post image

Sad life.

blurb
blankpagesofmine
post image
7 likes1 stack add
quote
IAmReading
post image

I tried to figure out the riding-a-white-elephant-down-a-narrow-jungle-path expression, but I failed to do so. What kind of expression it is? 😂😂😂

Any opinion?

Jess7 Maybe it's a scared, freaked out look - I would be nervous if I had to ride an elephant through a narrow path lol 7y
ChasingOm Or haughty? The image that came to my mind was royalty, riding through the jungle like nothing can touch her. 7y
IAmReading Thank you @Jess7 and @ChasingOm for the opinions. Here are some description of girl by the author: "Her voice on the phone was an almost inaudible, exhausted-sounding whisper. Her face was attractive enough, but kind of gloomy." Still, I don't know how to put the expression though. Maybe I should continue reading till I figured out what kind of person she is. 7y
27 likes3 comments
quote
IAmReading
post image

"We know very little about eternity, although we can infer its existence."

"The goal of pinball is self-transformation, not self-expression. It involves not the expression of the ego but its diminution. Not analysis but all-embracing acceptance.

If it's self-expression, ego expansion, or analysis you're after, the tilt light will exact its unsparing revenge."

quote
IAmReading

"Lies are terrible things. One could say that the greatest sins afflicting modern society are the proliferation of lies and silence."

quote
IAmReading
post image

"It's okay to fake it. Right? There are no truly strong people. Only people who pretend to be strong."

???

quote
IAmReading
post image

The Introduction!

review
visualdaydreamer
post image
Pickpick

This book has no direction like there's no plot you couldn't really expect what is going to happen I rated this 3.5/5 because even if the plot is weird and not going anywhere, Murakami writing is what I enjoyed and really liked that is why I finished it and enjoyed it but for now this book is my least favorite from 3 books I read by Murakami.

quote
samra.reads

Night is when the bad thoughts tend to visit.

quote
Book_Gnome
Wind / Pinball | Haruki Murakami
post image

Opening line: "'There's no such thing as a perfect piece of writing.'" #wind #hearthewindsing #harukimurakami #bookgnome #bookish #book #bookcover #firstline

review
katedensen
Wind/Pinball: Two novels | Haruki Murakami
post image
Mehso-so

I don't know if I'm alone in thinking Wind/Pinball was "meh." I love Murakami and have read all of his other fiction. I know this is some of his earliest work, so maybe it's hard to go backwards when you know what an author is fully capable of. I wanted to enjoy this one as much as I've enjoyed other Murakami titles, but ultimately, I think being underwhelmed by it contributed to my reading slump.

(Also, I couldn't resist playing Murakami bingo.)

JenP Ooh Murakami bingo? Where did you hear about that? I need this bingo card 8y
katedensen @JenP It was published in the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/06/01/books/review/03snider.html) with the review of 8y
JenP @katedensen thanks! I love it although to bad to hear this one wasn't so great 8y
See All 8 Comments
katedensen @JenP I think it's because it even though it's some of his first work, it was only recently published in English, so my expectations were based on his later work, which I think is better. But we have his upcoming short story collection to look forward to 8y
Zelma This bingo board is everything! 😆💕 8y
katedensen @Zelma 😁😁😁 8y
ephemeralwaltz @katedensen Men without Women is great!! It came out in Spain a couple of years ago. I adored the stories! 8y
katedensen @ephemeralwaltz Awesome! Can't wait 😁 8y
27 likes1 stack add8 comments
blurb
katedensen
Wind/Pinball: Two novels | Haruki Murakami
post image

Riesling and my book? Don't mind if I do. How's your Sunday night going, Littens?

review
Weave
Wind / Pinball | Haruki Murakami
post image
Pickpick

41 ~ Wind/Pinball: Two Novels by Haruki Murakami (Paperback📖) ~ Started: 17.04.17 ~ Finished: 22.04.17
Rating: 4/5📚

I read 'Hear the Wind Sing' and 'Pinball, 1973' a few years ago, I enjoyed reading them both and I enjoyed them just as much now as I did then. This is the story of The Rat and the unnamed narrator which is told brilliantly, what can I say, I love Haruki Murakami's world.

Recommended.

5 likes1 stack add
blurb
katedensen
Wind/Pinball: Two novels | Haruki Murakami
post image

Saturday night is the best night for a hot date with your book. Especially when it's written by Haruki Murakami.

Pardon the black-and-white filter--my colorist botched my dye job and my hair looks like the bastard lovechild of Franka Potente in Run Lola Run and Little Orphan Annie. Yes, I know that makes no sense on several levels. Because it's. that. bad.

zsuzsanna_reads Hope your hair colour gets fixed! 8y
katedensen @zsuzsanna_reads Thanks! Planning to go back Tuesday, so fingers crossed. 8y
zsuzsanna_reads Happened to me once when a friend offered to do my hair as a birthday treat! 8y
katedensen @zsuzsanna_reads Everyone who gets their hair colored apparently has at least one story like this (or so my mother keeps saying). 8y
41 likes1 stack add4 comments
quote
stickytreats
Wind/Pinball: Two novels | Haruki Murakami

My face and my soul were lifeless shells, of no significance to anyone.

quote
katedensen
Wind/Pinball: Two novels | Haruki Murakami
post image

I can't believe it's been a month since I posted! I've missed you dearly & wish I had a better reason than the truth: I haven't been reading. Because if you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, you'll know that I'm alive and relatively well. Just super busy. (Terrible excuse, Kate!)

I'm trying to get out of my reading slump, though, and recently finished "Hear the Wind Sing" in Wind/Pinball. Loved this quote.

Also, hey, how are you, Littens?

KarenUK Welcome back! 💕👍 8y
LauraBeth Miss you - hope you've broken the reading slump 💕😀 8y
katedensen @KarenUK ☺️❤️ @LauraBeth And I you! It's in progress! Halfway through Wind/Pinball then gearing up for a palate cleanser! Hope you're well 😍 8y
LeahBergen 👋🏻👋🏻 8y
katedensen @LeahBergen 👋🏻👋🏻 back 😉 8y
36 likes5 comments
blurb
Weave
Wind / Pinball | Haruki Murakami
post image

Book haul! I took advantage of the 3 books for (c8 offer from amazon? ~ I invested in 'Holding Up the Universe' by Jennifer Niven, 'A Quiet Kind of Thunder' by Sarah Bernard, 'Wind/Pinball: Two Novels' by Haruki Murakami?

blurb
katedensen
Wind/Pinball: Two novels | Haruki Murakami
post image

Feels like I've been going nonstop for weeks so I'm really excited for my hot date tonight with my bed and a book.

review
goktrose
Wind/Pinball: Two novels | Haruki Murakami
post image
Mehso-so

For #ReadHarder2017, for a book set over 5000 miles from my location. My friend had been pushing me to read Haruki Murakami for a while and the dual novella format caught my interest; however, I was not pulled in. The disjointed way Murakami writes wasn't my cup of tea, though I am glad I finally read him!

blurb
katedensen
Wind/Pinball: Two novels | Haruki Murakami
post image

FINALLY starting this one while I grab some coffee before a very long night out ahead of me...also the "W" for my #LitsyAtoZ challenge so yay.

33 likes1 stack add
blurb
lovelybookshelf
Wind/Pinball: Two novels | Haruki Murakami
post image

#FirstBookOfTheYear 2017 is Murakami, of course! ❤

ephemeralwaltz Yayyy😍🤘🏻 8y
24 likes1 stack add1 comment
blurb
DzdnDstrctd
Wind / Pinball | Haruki Murakami
post image

Here's my list to start.... I'm sure I will add more. #bookishresolutions #readjanuary @RealLifeReading @bookriot

quote
lovelybookshelf
Wind/Pinball: Two novels | Haruki Murakami
post image

"So you don't read books by living writers?"
"No, I don't see the point."
"Why not?"
"I guess because I feel like I can forgive dead people."

(bookmark lovingly made by my 7yo)

8little_paws Aww that's cute! 8y
20 likes1 comment
blurb
CrystalLKing
Wind / Pinball | Haruki Murakami
post image

My haul from the Harvard Bookstore Winter Warehouse sale! Now, what to read first.

blurb
Abailliekaras
Wind/Pinball: Two novels | Haruki Murakami
post image

A quick read before I go to the launch of Murakami's new book Absolutely on Music. ☕️🎶📖

CoffeeAndABook Enjoy the launch 🤓 8y
24 likes1 comment
blurb
katedensen
post image

It's about time I start this one. #MurakamiMadness

46 likes2 stack adds
blurb
Texreader
Wind/Pinball: Two novels | Haruki Murakami
post image

Husband has just started this duo. Playing pinball is pretty close to #gaminginthelitworld. Right? #octphotochallenge

71 likes2 stack adds
blurb
Alisnazzy
post image

Hear the Wind Sing is the debut novel of Haruki Murakami. Often paired with the follow-up to it, Pinball, it's a taste of HM's magical realism. While definitely not as good as his later works, if it hadn't been for Wind/Pinball, those later works may never have made it to paper. #debutnovel #booktober #MurakamiCultMember #stockphoto

75 likes3 stack adds
blurb
BeardedHeckler
post image

Just starting Hear the Wind Sing. Excited to get into a Murakami I haven't read before. He's one of my favorite authors, but there are still a handful of things I've never read.

review
Alisnazzy
Wind/Pinball: Two novels | Haruki Murakami
post image
Mehso-so

I hate having to give a so-so to a Murakami work but alas, here I am. You can definitely tell this was his first work, as it's quite obvious he's attempting to delve into the realm of magical realism, but this work doesn't quite get there like his later novels do. It's still a solid book, but in comparison to other Murakami's works, it falls a bit flat.

readinginthedark I tried listening to Colorless Tsukuru (etc) but just couldn't get into it. 😕 Haven't read any others. 8y
kammartinez I know that feeling, but with other authors. It's hard not to feel a tiny bit betrayed when a work by an author we otherwise adore doesn't quite meet the expectations we've set for them :(. 8y
59 likes1 stack add2 comments