i once had a girl ( or should i say, she once had me)

At 7:35pm this evening, I finally finished reading Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood. Why is it that the books I read always leave me sad and nostalgic? Nostalgic for a past that is not even mine. I feel as if those were my rain-soaked memories, my kinky lovers, my lost friends, my persistent demons, my brave recoveries. And I feel sad that people in these books never quite achieve happiness - they barely get there and barely hold on, as if holding on is good enough. That's how it feels like in real life too. The only real difference between me and characters like Toru Watanabe is the art - they live their lives and their pains with an artfulness that I lack. Even their empty Sundays of doing laundry and ironing are artfully empty.

Norwegian Wood is my third straight Murakami novel. I am going thru a Murakami period, as I did with Vonnegut a number of years back. I just can't get enough.

I am now trying to figure what to read next. I think I will give Murakami a break and return later. Maybe Michael Chabon?