Read a Good Book: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami is published by Random House and is a complex story involving layers of characters. The main character, Toru Okada, is unemployed and trying to figure out what to do next. While searching for his missing cat his wife goes missing as well. As he tries to unravel these mysteries more fantastical and strange things begin to occur in his life.

Toru Okada encounters an aging war veteran who tells his tales of the horrors experienced during Japan’s campaign in Manchuria while he also receives visits from a psychic who helps him track down his missing wife. In addition to all of this, Toru Okada explores his neighborhood for his missing cat and encounters a teenage girl down the street who is simultaneously welcoming and vindictive. In the neighborhood he also discovers an abandoned well and begins to climb down inside for perspective which may seem odd but fantastical things happen as a result of visiting this well that fold into the layers of the story. The well belongs to a house that has a dark story behind it and all of the characters who seemed to be part of other circles in the beginning then blend in together as you move deeper into the mysteries surrounding Toru Okada.

Murakami paints a complex, eerie world filled with magical characters and surreal activities that envelop our main character slowly but surely until what we would call reality is no longer recognizable. It is an excellent book and while some mysteries are solved you are still left with a sense of wonder, a sense of longing for more explanations. This story will ink itself in your mind and perhaps invade your own dreams.

I highly recommend this book and you will most likely be able to find this in your local library and definitely in your local bookstore.


If you would like to purchase a copy for yourself on-line, visit:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_1_16?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=the+wind+up+bird+chronicle&sprefix=the+wind+up+bird


To learn more about the author, Haruki Murakami, you can visit his link below:

http://www.randomhouse.com/features/murakami/site.php?id=


Thanks always for reading, please stop in again next week…

The Writing Disorder Open Submissions

They are open year-round, four issues a year. They have an on-line submissions form or you can send your poems on-line, via e-mail, or snail mail. They really make it convenient for you. You may send five to eight poems or one piece of prose. If you submit prose, double-space your submission. If you send your poems via the internet attach an MS Word Document. It may take 2-6 months to hear a response, please include a bio, and send only one manuscript at a time per reading period or twice a year per writer.

By e-mail, your subject line should include your last name, provide your contact information in your e-mail and MS word attachment:
submitATthewritingdisorderDOTcom

By snail mail, specify Poetry Editor either on the envelope or with your bio when you enclose your poems and mail poems typed on individual pages (please remember to place contact information on each page and always include a self-addressed stamped envelope) and send to:
C.E. Lukather
The Writing Disorder
P.O. Box 93613
Los Angeles, CA 90093-0613.

Their guidelines are very detailed in a very helpful way so please check out full details using the link below:

http://www.thewritingdisorder.com/submit.html

Good luck to all who submit, please stop in again tomorrow for another featured good book…

Poems Found by Poet Hound

https://sites.google.com/site/howiegood2011chap/technotopia
“Technotopia” by Howie Good

http://www.poolpoetry.com/poetfour.html
“metaphorically speaking we…” by Frankie Drayus

Thanks for clicking in, please stop by tomorrow for more Open Submissions...

Poet Hound’s First Give-Away: For All These Wretched, Beautiful & Insignificant Things So Uselessly & Carelessly Destroyed by Hosho McCreesh

Yes, that’s right, we are giving away a collection of poems signed by the poet for the first time here on Poet Hound and the rules are simple: Simply prove you have links to both my blog and Mr. McCreesh’s web-site either by leaving a comment with a link to your own blog/web-site or by sending me an e-mail with a link to your blog or web-site.

In order to qualify you must have the following links somewhere on your blog roll/web-site list:

http://hoshomccreesh.com/hoshomccreesh.com/Home.html

and

http://poethound.blogspot.com


You have until Sunday, Sept. 18th 2011, to enter. I will literally draw your names/web-site/blog names out of a hat for the winner and then contact the winner for their mailing address to send them their free copy. The winner will also be posted on Sunday, Sept. 18th so make sure if you do not have a way to be contacted that you can contact me and receive your prize.

It’s as easy as that and I am happy to feature the collection here with a sample poem so you know what the collection is all about:

For All These Wretched, Beautiful, & Insignificant Things So Uselessly & Carelessly Destroyed, Hosho McCreesh’s poems record the city streets of the world and humanity’s attempts to live in a world of madness, hunger, and tragedy. The poems are dark and appealing and are a wake-up call to experience the world around you. I am happy to share a sample poem:


Homeless Man at a Bus Stop on Central Ave.

He wanted to ask for money,
that much was obvious

but before he could
he found himself trapped
in a meaningful conversation
with a stranger

& suddenly it must’ve felt wrong
to somehow cheapen it with a
ham-handed request for something,
anything the stranger could spare.

For a few moments they were just
two guys talking about
something true.

It couldn’t last of course, & ended
in an awkward parting of ways,
he cursing himself
as he walked toward the next bus stop,
trying to remember
not to invest himself
in these current transactions,
not to
connect meaningfully
otherwise he’d spend
the whole goddamned day
sober & starving

with truth.

This poem is intriguing in that you often don’t see a homeless man depicted in any other way than someone who is looking for a hand-out or is simply drunk and sleeping on the sidewalk. Here, a homeless man is having a real conversation, something outside the stereotype for both parties involved in the conversation. I wish we knew more about the discussion they were having, what truth were they speaking of to each other?


If you enjoyed this sample and would like to purchase a copy of the book, it is available at Sunnyoutside Press for $10.00:

http://www.sunnyoutside.com/authors.html

So if you do not enter or do not win the contest, you may visit Sunnyoutside Press of Buffalo, New York, to snag yourself a copy of this poignant collection.

Good luck to all who enter the contest and thanks always for reading…

The Writing Disorder

Wow, wish I’d found this site sooner! Poetry, fiction, nonfiction, art, reviews, blog, all of it is intelligent and engaging. Definitely check it out at:

http://www.thewritingdisorder.com/index.html

Thanks for clicking in, please stop in tomorrow for another featured poet…