“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.” Salmonella Men on Planet Porno is a collection of surreal, satirical, and often absurd short stories by Yasutaka […]
Japanese literature
Paprika
“The border between dream and reality is blurred—who knows which is which?” Chapter 1: The Dream Detective Dr. Atsuko Chiba, a brilliant psychotherapist, works at a research institute […]
Japanese literature
Killing Commendatore
“A portrait is not a likeness. The moment an emotion or fact is transformed into a photograph it is no longer a fact but an opinion.” Volume 1: […]
Japanese literature
After Dark
“The clock hands move, but time does not.” Chapter 1: Midnight in Tokyo The novel opens in the late-night hours of Tokyo, where Mari Asai sits alone in […]
Japanese literature
Sputnik Sweetheart
“In the spring of her twenty-second year, Sumire fell in love for the first time in her life.” Chapter 1 The narrator, K, recounts his friendship with Sumire, […]
Japanese literature
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
“The mind is a place of its own, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.” Chapters 1-5: The Beginning of the Dual […]
Japanese literature
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
“When the wind-up bird comes, the earth creaks, the wind blows, and time turns over.” Part 1: The Thieving Magpie The novel opens with Toru Okada, an unemployed […]
Japanese literature
1Q84
“It’s not that the world is full of mysteries. It’s just that we don’t know enough yet.” Book One (April–June) Aomame, a fitness instructor and assassin, exits a […]
Japanese literature
Kafka on the Shore
“Time weighs down on you like an old, ambiguous dream. You keep on moving, trying to slip through it. But even if you go to the ends of […]
English literature
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
“Curiouser and curiouser!” cried Alice. Chapter 1: Down the Rabbit-Hole Alice, a young girl, grows bored sitting by the riverbank when she spots a White Rabbit in a […]