Description
In this engaging book, the internationally best-selling author and famously reclusive writer shares with readers what he thinks about being a novelist; his thoughts on the role of the novel in our society; his own origins as a writer; and his musings on the sparks of creativity that inspire other writers, artists, and musicians. Readers who have long wondered where the mysterious novelist gets his ideas and what inspires his strangely surreal worlds will be fascinated by this highly personal look at the craft of writing.
Books
| # | Reference | Page # | Author |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Underground | 4 | Haruki Murakami |
| 2 | Hear the Wind Sing | 6 | Haruki Murakami |
| 3 | Pinball, 1973 | 39 | Haruki Murakami |
| 4 | The Man with the Golden Arm | 44 | Nelson Algren |
| 5 | A Walk on the Wild Side | 44 | Nelson Algren |
| 6 | Fahrenheit 451 | 46 | Ray Bradbury |
| 7 | The Castle | 79 | Franz Kafka |
| 8 | The Sun Also Rises | 85 | Ernest Hemingway |
| 9 | A Farewell to Arms | 85 | Ernest Hemingway |
| 10 | The Nick Adams Stories | 85 | Ernest Hemingway |
| 11 | 1Q84 | 91 | Haruki Murakami |
| 12 | After Dark | 91 | Haruki Murakami |
| 13 | A Distant Drum | 95 | Haruki Murakami |
| 14 | Norwegian Wood | 95 | Haruki Murakami |
| 15 | Kafka on the Shore | 96 | Haruki Murakami |
| 16 | The Wind-up Bird Chronicle | 97 | Haruki Murakami |
| 17 | South of the Border, West of the Sun | 97 | Haruki Murakami |
| 18 | Dance Dance Dance | 101 | Haruki Murakami |
| 19 | A Wild Sheep Chase | 117 | Haruki Murakami |
| 20 | Demons | 155 | Fyodor Dostoevsky |
| 21 | Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World | 156 | Haruki Murakami |
| 22 | Tokyo Kitanshu | 157 | Haruki Murakami |
| 23 | Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage | 159 | Haruki Murakami |
| 24 | The Great Gatsby | 160 | F. Scott Fitzgerald |
| 25 | The Catcher in the Rye | 160 | J. D. Salinger |
| 26 | Coin Locker Babies | 172 | Ryū Murakami |
Authors
| # | Reference | Page # | Context |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | James Joyce | 3 | Irish author |
| 2 | Jean Racine | 24 | French dramatist |
| 3 | Raymond Chandler | 43 | American-British author |
| 4 | Nelson Algren | 44 | American author |
| 5 | Kurt Vonnegut | 44 | American author |
| 6 | Ernest Hemingway | 45 | American author |
| 7 | Jorge Luis Borges | 45 | Argentine author |
| 8 | Ray Bradbury | 46 | American author |
| 9 | Natsume Soseki | 57 | Japanese author |
| 10 | Zbigniew Herbert | 63 | Polish poet |
| 11 | Paul Valéry | 77 | French poet |
| 12 | Karen Blixen (Isek Dinesen) | 96 | Danish author |
| 13 | Raymond Carver | 105 | American author |
| 14 | Anthony Trollope | 123 | English author |
| 15 | Franz Kafka | 124 | Bohemian author |
| 16 | Alexander Pushkin | 128 | Russian poet |
| 17 | Arthur Rimbaud | 128 | French poet |
| 18 | Henry James | 135 | American-British author |
| 19 | Somerset Maugham | 152 | English author |
| 20 | Fyodor Dostoevsky | 155 | Russian author |
| 21 | Kenji Nakagami | 172 | Japanese author |
| 22 | Jane Austen | 182 | English author |
| 23 | Carson McCullers | 182 | American author |
| 24 | Alice Munro | 182 | Canadian author |
| 25 | Grace Paley | 182 | American author |
| 26 | John Irving | 185 | American author |
| 27 | John Updike | 190 | American author |
| 28 | Banana Yoshimoto | 191 | Japanese author |
| 29 | Yasunari Kawabata | 191 | Japanese author |
| 30 | Jun'ichiro Tanizaki | 191 | Japanese author |
| 31 | Yukio Mishima | 191 | Japanese author |
| 32 | Robert Gottlieb | 193 | American author |
Songs / Albums
| # | Reference | Page # | Context | External links |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Please, Please Me | 54 | Album by The Beatles | Spotify (opens in a new tab) |
| 2 | Surfin' USA | 54 | Album by The Beach Boys | Spotify (opens in a new tab) |
| 3 | Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky | 55 | Orchestral concert | Wikipedia (opens in a new tab) |
| 4 | Pet Sounds | 59 | Album by The Beach Boys | Spotify (opens in a new tab) |
| 5 | Garden Party | 176 | Song by Rick Nelson | Spotify (opens in a new tab) |
Artists
| # | Reference | Page # | Context | External links |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shigeharu Mukai | 20 | Jazz artist | Wikipedia (opens in a new tab) |
| 2 | Aki Takase | 20 | Jazz artist | Wikipedia (opens in a new tab) |
| 3 | Kiyoshi Sugimoto | 20 | Jazz artist | Discogs (opens in a new tab) |
| 4 | Yoshio Otomo | 20 | Jazz artist | Discogs (opens in a new tab) |
| 5 | Takao Uematsu | 20 | Jazz artist | Discogs (opens in a new tab) |
| 6 | Ryojiro Furusawa | 20 | Jazz artist | Discogs (opens in a new tab) |
| 7 | Fumio Watanabe | 20 | Jazz artist | Discogs (opens in a new tab) |
| 8 | The Beatles | 54 | English band | Wikipedia (opens in a new tab) |
| 9 | The Beach Boys | 54 | American band | Wikipedia (opens in a new tab) |
| 10 | Gustav Mahler | 56 | Composer | Wikipedia (opens in a new tab) |
| 11 | Franz Schubert | 56 | Composer | Wikipedia (opens in a new tab) |
| 12 | Thelonious Monk | 56 | Jazz pianist & Composer | Wikipedia (opens in a new tab) |
| 13 | Bob Dylan | 59 | American singer &songwriter | Wikipedia (opens in a new tab) |
| 14 | Woody Guthrie | 59 | American singer & songwriter | Wikipedia (opens in a new tab) |
| 15 | Pete Seeger | 59 | American singer | Wikipedia (opens in a new tab) |
| 16 | Brian Wilson | 59 | American musician | Wikipedia (opens in a new tab) |
| 17 | Beethoven | 61 | Composer | Wikipedia (opens in a new tab) |
| 18 | Bud Powell | 83 | American Jazz Pianist | Wikipedia (opens in a new tab) |
| 19 | Bill Evans | 83 | American Jazz Pianist | Wikipedia (opens in a new tab) |
| 20 | Herbie Hancock | 83 | American Jazz Pianist | Wikipedia (opens in a new tab) |
| 21 | Mozart | 128 | Composer | Wikipedia (opens in a new tab) |
| 22 | Ryuichi Sakamoto | 191 | Composer | Wikipedia (opens in a new tab) |
Directors/Actors
| # | Reference | Page # | Context |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Steven Soderbergh | 79 | American director |
| 2 | Jeremy Irons | 79 | English actor |
| 3 | Steven Spielberg | 80 | American filmmaker |
Movies
| # | Reference | Page # | Director | External links |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kafka | 79 | Steven Soderbergh | IMBD (opens in a new tab) |
| 2 | E.T | 80 | Steven Spielberg | IMBD (opens in a new tab) |
Notable People/Works
| # | Reference | Page # | Context |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oliver Sacks' 'Prodigies' from An Anthropologist on Mars | 53 | British neurologist |
| 2 | Vincent Van Gogh | 57 | Dutch painter |
| 3 | Pablo Picasso | 57 | Spanish painter |
| 4 | Albert Einstein | 77 | Theoretical physicist |
| 5 | Elmer Luke | 190 | Editor |
| 6 | Tetsu Shirai | 190 | Ex-President of Kodansha America |
| 7 | Alfred Birnbaum | 190 | Translator |
| 8 | William Shawn | 192 | Editor |
| 9 | Amanda 'Binky' Urban | 193 | American literary agent |
| 10 | Alfred A. Knopf | 193 | American publisher |
| 11 | Sonny Mehta | 193 | Editor-in-chief |
| 12 | Gary Fisketjon | 193 | Editor |
| 13 | Chipp Kidd | 194 | American graphic designer |
| 14 | Abraham Lincoln | 199 | 16th U.S. President |
| 15 | Jay Rubin | 204 | American academic |
| 16 | Philip Gabriel | 204 | Translator |
| 17 | Ted Goossen | 204 | Translator |
Sports
| # | Reference | Page # | Context |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yakult Swallows | 26 | Baseball team |
| 2 | Hiroshima Carp | 26 | Baseball team |
| 3 | Dave Hilton | 26 | Baseball player |
| 4 | Charlie Manuel | 26 | Baseball player |
| 5 | Katsuya Nomura | 96 | Baseball player |
Others
| # | Reference | Page # | Context |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gunzo Prize for New Writers | 19 | Literary Prizes/Awards |
| 2 | Ryūnosuke Akutagawa Prize | 37 | Literary Prizes/Awards |
| 3 | Nobel Prize | 43 | Literary Prizes/Awards |
| 4 | National Institute of Arts and Letters Award of Merit Medal | 44 | Literary Prizes/Awards |
| 5 | The New York Times | 190 | Daily newspaper |
| 6 | The New Yorker | 190 | Magazine |