Thursday 6 October 2011

The Best Things In Life | Murakami Comes

The world is about to change...

Least, it is if this website is to be believed.

It's not come up much in all the time I've been blogging, but I am a huge Haruki Murakami fan - it doesn't get much better than Kakfa on the Shore - and now that The Islanders is behind me, the book I've been getting all googly-eyed thinking about, without a shadow of a doubt, is IQ84.

In the UK, Harvill Secker will be releasing all three parts of this massive novel (his first since After Dark in 2007) in two editions due on the 18th and the 25th of October. That's this month! Meanwhile, back at the ranch - ie. in America-ca-ca - Knopf have assembled IQ84 into a single vast volume, due on the Tuesday before Halloween.


Me... I kinda wish there was an English-language edition divided as this book was upon its initial release in Japan, into three individual volumes - the better to look all pretty-like in my library - but I'll take what I can get, and gladly.

IQ84 been called Murakami's magnum opus by those in the know, and before now, all I've had it in my power to do is hope that that's the case. Today, praise the publicists, Harvill Secker have made my hopes that much more material, releasing a free sample of IQ84 for your Kindle device and mine.

Grab it here.

Bear in mind that if you don't have a Kindle, or the Kindle app for your phone or tablet or whatever, you can still download the reader software for your PC... so there's really no excuse to pass up on this delightful little glimpse of what wonders I imagine there are to come in IQ84.

Here's the book trailer, in case you're still not convinced:


Roll on the 18th of October, right?

So. Anyone else hyped for new Haruki Murakami, or is it really just me?

5 comments:

  1. Certainly, not just you:

    www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/sep/10/haruki-murakami-trilogy-1q84

    For myself, the temptation to go and get it on release day is rather large, especially given the preview chapter that was released.

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  2. Can't wait to get my hands on it, something aided by the fact that I've so far managed to steer clear of any samples and even most of the promotional stuff. I know it's coming, I know it'll be fantastic, and I can't wait to find out the rest when I crack it open and dive in.

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  3. Marduk/An0mand3r Rak37 October 2011 at 05:49

    I've never read anything by Murakami but your endorsement and the blurb make it sound very interesting..... on a side note, what did you think of The Islanders? It's sitting on my shelf daring me to read it after I finish the Metrozone trilogy by Simon Morden (which is great so far, just started Book 2 after ripping through Book 1)

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  4. @Marduk - Oh, there's nothing else quite like Haruki Murakami, but do give the fellow a go. As to The Islanders, stay tuned, sir. My review's up now on over at Strange Horizons; I'll blog a link in a minute.

    @Nathaniel - I'm afraid I haven't managed to be quite so restrained. Read the first chapter when it was teased a few weeks ago, and the second last night as part of this Kindle sample promotion... then this morning my review copy of the first book came through. It's as if I'd planned it! :)

    @Ty-Real - I meant more among the sliver of the blogosphere I try and keep up to speed with... haven't heard any talk of IQ84 from my fellow speculative sorts even now. But gratified to see it's not just me in a wider sense. Midnight openings and everything, eh? How about that.

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  5. I, too, have managed to stay clear of the various samples, as well as of any plot spoilers. Not easy!

    If you're not familiar with Murakami, there's a great introduction to him in this week's New York Times Magazine. I've discussed it a bit in a blog post (here).

    Cheers!

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