Am re-reading Murakami Haruki's Norwegian Wood. I'm not in the habit of re-reading books, mostly because I used to think that my time would be better spent reading more books or reading the materials I needed for work or school.

Even though time has scoured much of the feelings and memories associated with that first reading, vague shadows and half-familiar shapes remain and the mind picks up quickly on those markers. Yet I am also not quite the same person who read this book years before. Like Cratylus's river the experience is unique, a fusion of individual experience (including previous readings!) and ink-on-paper.

That experience is strong when it comes to Murakami's works. I can't quite explain it but there's a kind of wistful, surreal and deeply personal quality to his work. The best thing to do, as always, is to savour the novels. Like an intellectual kind of wine. Can't rush it.

An interview with Murakami Haruki by Salon.com