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Review: Novelist as A Vocation – Haruki Murakami

Novelist as A Vacation

Haruki Murakami

Philip Gabriel (Translator),

Ted Goossen (Translator)

Penguin Randon House

Harvill Secker

ISBN:9781911215387

RRP $35.00

Description;

Thoughts and advice on the creative writing process from an international master of literature.

In this book Haruki Murakami explores his craft. He muses upon the qualities a novelist needs such as endurance and delight in the process as well as laying out his own methods. He covers topics such as originality, finding your own style, creating characters and links between literature, music and art. He also talks about his own life experiences and how they have influenced his work and his relationship with the Japanese literary establishment. He discusses education, the importance of reading, his literary influences and his path to success and the way he balances physical and intellectual work in his life. Wise and enlightening, this is a window into the world of an unique writer.

My View:

Imagine you sitting in big cosy armchair, opposite you in the famous writer, Haruki Murakami. Perhaps it is after dinner, you are both feeling comfortable and relaxed, you have, after all spent some time that evening around the table getting to know one another during a superb four course meal. Relaxed, you sit opposite one another and conversation begins or maybe continues. This is the book you now have in front of you – conversations, musings, reflections.

I found it entertaining, engaging and surprising, unpretentious.

A stand out reflection for me was ” I have a standard answer when interviewers ask me about literary prizes – this question invariably comes up, whether in Japan or abroad. ‘The most important thing,’ I tell them, ‘is good readers. Nothing means as much as much as the people who dip into their pockets to buy my books – not prizes or medals or critical praise.’ I repeat this answer over and over ad nauseum, yet it doesn’t seem to sink in. Most often it is completely ignored.” pps 44-45. Did I mention humility?

I enjoyed this conversation with Murakami.

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#FridayFreebie: Criminals – James O’Loghlin

Criminals

James O’Loghlin

Bonnier Echo

ISBN: 9781760687465

Description:

What makes a criminal? One May 2019 morning, two masked gunmen rob Blacktown Leagues Club. What happens next will change the lives of three people. Twenty-three-year-old Dean Acton is a heroin addict trying to get off the break and enter treadmill by pulling one big job. Sarah Hamilton, also twenty-three, is a police officer on stress leave, working behind the bar, trying to forget the mistake she made that caused the death of her fiancée. Mary Wallace, a forty-five-year-old ex-schoolteacher who lives and drinks alone, feels that her life is already over, and has made plans to formalise that arrangement.

When Sarah realises there is something familiar about one of the gunmen, she is drawn back to the thrill of investigating, and can identify Dean. Dean is overjoyed at his $12,000 haul, but before he can decide whether to spend it on a new start in Queensland or a few months’ worth of heroin, he’s arrested, and in Long Bay jail everyone wants to find out where he’s stashed the cash.

Mary is inspired by the robbery. Pottery and French classes haven’t jolted her out of her depression, but perhaps embarking on a life of crime will. She starts small, and then ups the ante. When she, too, is arrested and her lawyer tries to discover why a respectable middle-class woman would steal constipation medication, will she be able to reveal what caused her to give up on teaching and everything else?
Dean learns that the only person who identified him at the robbery was Sarah and is tempted by a plan that will ensure she won’t ever be able to give evidence against him. But is he prepared to go that far? And if he does, will he ever come back?

As Dean’s trial approaches, Mary, Dean and Sarah must work out why they have become who they are, and whether they have the courage to change

The Book:

I am currently reading this one, what I love about this one is that it continues to surprise me. It is a book about a crime but it is more than that – it is about people; the façades we present to the world, the complicated route we take to end up in a particular place in life, a destination we can move on from – or not, the choices we make.

Each time I think I know where this book is going, it changes, little revelations here and there make for an engaging read.

If you want an opportunity to read this book I have one copy to give away thanks to the lovely people at Dmcprmedia and Echo Bonnier. It’s easy – in the comments let me know what other work James O’Loghlin is known for? Look closely I am sure many of you will recognise him 🙂 Giveaway open to Australian residents only and winner drawn on the 22nd of July 2022

James O’Loghlin
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Ten Things You Didn’t Know About Kaye Dobbie

Welcome to my blog Kaye Dobbie.

Kaye Dobbie

Kaye is an Australian author living on the central Victorian goldfields. She has been writing professionally ever since she won the Grafton Big River short story contest at the age of 18. Her career has undergone many changes, including writing Australian historical fiction under the name Lilly Sommers and penning romance novels as Sara Bennett. Kaye has written about, and been published in, many countries, but her passion for Australia shows in her current Harlequin Mira novels.

A big congratulations Kaye on the release of your new book, Sweet Wattle Creek.

Sweet Wattle Creek Kaye Dobbie Cover

Ten Things You Didn’t Know About Kaye Dobbie:

I’m married to an Accountant called Rob and I know of at least two other writers who are also married to Accountants called Rob. (Not the same one I hasten to add!)

 

  1. At one stage we had six cats, all strays, a rescued dog and five gold fish. It was crowded.

 

  1. My mother’s sister married my father’s father. This has caused much confusion and many long explanations when it comes to me and my cousin. Because as well as being my cousin she became my step-aunt.

 

  1. I have an allergy to the dust in books and have to wear a mask when I’m sorting them.

 

  1. As a child I was home schooled. We lived on a yacht built by my father, and sailed up the east coast of Australia.

 

  1. I was once rescued by a Life Saver from a rip in the surf.

 

  1. I was almost School President, a job to which I would be totally unsuited.

 

  1. I’ve never felt comfortable in the water since Jaws.

 

  1. Once I was writing in my study, heard a rustle behind me, and when I turned around there was a large blue tongued lizard watching me.

 

10.  I have a strong desire to live on a small island far away from everything.

 

 

For more information visit http://www.kayedobbie.com

 

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Ten Things You Didn’t Know About Charles Hall

 

Today I welcome expatriate Perth author Charles Hall to my blog. Thanks for sharing with us and good luck on the launch of your book Summer’s Gone.  Over to you Charles 🙂

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Charles Hall

I decided to try my hand at writing quite late in life: before that I had always been a musician, of sorts, and a songwriter. I first met my wife, who started out as a jazz singer in Melbourne, at a quite strange arts/music/poetry venue in Perth in 1967. After a spell in Melbourne we returned to Perth in ’69 and started a band, Gemini, and later that year we put out a record that was a big hit throughout WA. The song was called Sunshine River, written by Will Taylor, a folkie friend of ours, and for a short time we were pop royalty in Perth. It didn’t last; our next record stiffed and we went back to being pop commoners. We spent the next few decades in London, Perth and Melbourne, and have ended up in a peaceful and remote part of East Gippsland in Victoria. We don’t play gigs very often these days, the amps get heavier as you get older, and some years ago I decided to write a novel instead. ‘Write about what you know,’ they say, so I did. The result is my first novel, Summer’s Gone, set in the Australian music scene of the sixties.

 

Ten other things you’ve always wanted to know. Or not:

 

  • I hitch-hiked from Perth to Melbourne in 1967 when I was 19. With a girl.

 

  • My first car was a very old Austen A40 wagon, purchased in Melbourne for $29 in 1968. Its name was Roger.

 

  • My wife and I tried to drive back to Perth in Roger in 1969. With our little’un. We got as far as Port Pirie.

 

  • The owner of the Port Pirie caravan park gave us $20 for Roger. He planned to paint it up like a Noddy car for the kiddies’ playground. We finally got to Perth by train (them) and hitching lifts (me).

 

  • Two DJs from a Perth radio station heard us play Sunshine River at a restaurant in Araluen. They said, ‘We want you to record that song. It’s going to be a hit.’

 

  • We were going to call our band Genesis. (Pretentious nitwits? Us?) But Clarion Records boss Martin Clarke called to say a new band in Britain had that name, and they were going to be huge. (He was right.) So we became Gemini, for no very good reason.

 

  • I didn’t go to uni until I was 32.

 

  • I didn’t become a high school teacher until I was 59. (But I did a lot of other stuff in between.)

 

  • Summer’s Gone was launched in February 2015, three days after I turned 67.

 

  • I’m a late starter. (Except when it comes to getting married. I did that at 19.)

 

Your life so far sounds like it has been an adventure! Thanks for sharing Charles and good luck with your new writing career.