A Wild Sheep Chase (1982)

The story of a man, a girl, her ears and a very special sheep. It is a world where people sweat about their careers, drink too much, and drift through broken marriages. The protagonist is an advertising executive who finds himself drawn into an elaborate quest for a mysterious sheep.

One of my favourites of Murakami's novels, beautifully written and intriguing with weird twists and turns along the way.

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World (1985)

The contemporary and the mythic collide in a hard-boiled tale of computers and conspiracy theories, unicorns and ancient lands. Winner of the Tanizaki Literary Prize.

Norwegian Wood (1987)

Toru Watanabe is looking back on the love and passions of his life and trying to make sense of it all. As his first love, Naoko sinks deeper into mental despair, he is inexorably pushed to find a new meaning and a new love to survive.

Not my favourite of Murakami's novels, but still an entertaining read. Originally published in two volumes in Japan, coloured red and green.

Dance Dance Dance (1988)

Sexual violence, metaphysical dread and hard-boiled detection - welcome again to the parallel universe of Haruki Murakami. High-class call girls billed to Mastercard. A psychic thirteen year-old drop-out with a passion for Talking Heads. A hunky matinee idol doomed to play dentists and teachers. A one-armed beachcombing poet, an uptight hotel clerk. Another man caught in the web of this maythem. Combining this offbeat cast of characters with Murakami's idiosyncratic prose it is an assault on all the senses, a murder mystery that is also philosophical speculation, and a dark fable of advanced capitalism.

South of the Border, West of the Sun (1992)

Hajime and Shimamoto, childhood sweethearts, would meet after school to listen to records, hold hands and talk about their future. Now in his late thirties, a married father and successful nightclub owner, Hajime is propelled into the mysterious realm of Shimamoto's life again.

The Elephant Vanishes (1993)

A collection of short stories, in which Murakami once again makes a determined assault on the normal. A man's favourite elephant simply vanishes; a couple suffering midnight hunger pangs hold up a McDonalds; and a woman finds she is irresistible to a green monster that burrows through her garden.

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (1994)

Toru Okada is an apparently happy man, drifting through life in a vague, blameless and somewhat apathetic manner. Then one morning his wife leaves for work and never returns.

Probably my favourite of Murakami's books, however, a friend of mine complained after I recommended this book to them that it contains a graphic scene of torture, so ever since then I've always mentioned that along with my recommendation. The torture scene, while graphic, is very brief - only three or four pages long.

Underground (1997)

This is an account of the Tokyo subway gas attack in 1995, in which 12 people died, as told to Murakami by the survivors and the Aum cult members responsible for carrying out such an outrage.

A non-fiction book, Murakami's first, yet covering an event as surreal and disturbing as the contents of many of his fiction books.

Sputnik Sweetheart (1999)

K, a primary school teacher, is in love with Sumire. But Sumire is in love with an older woman: Miu. Frustrated, K has an uneasy affair with the mother of one of his pupils. Then he receives a call from Miu who asks him to meet her. It seems that something very strange has happened to Sumire.

Very brief, and slightly disappointing by Murakami's standards, but still worth a look.

After the Quake (2002)

To be published.