■ Never Let Me Go

What made the tape so special for me was this one particular song: track number three,

"Never Let Me Go".

...... I really appreciated having the tape - and that song - back again.

Even then, it was mainly a nostalgia thing, and today,

if I happen to get the tape out and look at it,

it brings back memories of that afternoon in Norfolk every bit

as much as it does our Hailsham days.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

■ Kafka on the Shore / Haruki Murakami (Favorite Quote)

Nakata let his body relax. switched off his mind, letting things flow through him. This was natural for him, something he'd done ever since he was a child, without a second thought. Before long the borders of his consciousness fluttered around, just like the butterflies. Beyond these borders lay a dark abyss. Occasionally his consciousness would fly over the border and hover over that dizzying, black crevasse. But Nakata wasn't afraid of the darkness or how deep it was. And why should he be? That bottomless world of darkness, that weighty silence and chaos, was an old friend, a part of him already. Nakata understood this well. In that world there was no writing, no days of the week, no scary Gavernor, no opera, no BMWs. No scissors, no tall hats. On the other hand, neither were there delicious eel, no tasty bean-jam buns. Everything is there, but there are no parts. Since there are no parts, there's no need to replace one thing with another. No need to remove anything, or add anything. You don't have think about difficult things, just let yourself soak it all in. For Nakata, nothing could be better.



Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

■ The Wind-up Bird Chronicle / Haruki Murakami (Favorite Quote)

"It can be hard to wait for the flow to start," he said, "but when you heve to wait, you have to wait. In the meantime, assume you're dead."
"You mean I should stay dead for now?" I asked.
"How's that?"
"YOU MEAN I SHOULD STAY DEAD FOR NOW?"
"That's it, son. 'Dying is the only way / For you to float free / Nomonhan.'"



The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

■ Kafka on the Shore / Haruki Murakami (Favorite Quote)

Sometimes fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing direction. You change direction, but the sandstorm chases you. You turn again, but the storm adjusts. Over and over you play this out, like some ominous dance with death just before dawn. Why? Because this storm isn’t something that blew in from far away, something that has nothing to do with you. This storm is you. Something inside you. So all you can do is give in to it, step right inside the storm, closing you eyes and plugging up your eyes so the sand doesn’t get in, and walk through it, step by step. There’s no sun there, no moon, no direction, no sense of time. Just fine white sand swirling up into the sky like pulverised bones. That’s the kind of sandstorm you need to imagine.



Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami