I maaaay have gone wild and impulse-bought them 
I read some Murakami in English for my lit class and I really enjoyed it so I was obviously drawn in. I’ve come a long way since I last tried following along with a book club so hopefully Zero Escape has prepared me for this challenge 
We’ll see how it goes!
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You know, I read a bit of this in English but I guess I got distracted by something else and never continued. Would very much like to read it. Murakami feels a little out of my depths, but knowing it’s probably more about the speed is good because I keep finishing the intermediate pick in like the first day. I’m tempted, but I’ll have to see how things look when the time comes… a lot can happen in a month but I’m currently in one of those phases where I have a few too many things to do, and I might not be fast enough to finish some of them by then.
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I mean, the current intermediate pick’s assignments are not that long, but anyways, if you can read that in a day, I don’t see why you shouldn’t be able to read this club’s assignments in 3 or 4 days tbh… (and then get used to it and speed up later on)
That’s a different story altogether 
(same hat, by the way…)
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I’ve been planning to read a Murakami book for a while now (it’s actually one of my 2022 reading goals), so maybe I will join. Maybe.
Kafka on the Shore is one of the ~3 novels I’ve been considering (the other ones being Norwegian Wood and Hardboiled Wonderland). But as most Murakami novels, it’s long. I’m not making good progress on my current books recently, but maybe things will look better in a month or so.
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Considering that reading Murakami was a big motivation for me to learn how to read Japanese in the first place, it’s strange that I haven’t read a Murakami book in Japanese yet either. Before I realized that reading in the original language was actually an attainable goal, I went and spoiled some of his most famous works by reading them in English (I’ll likely read them again in Japanese, but only after some more time has past).
My absolute favorite (and first one I read) was Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. I’ve had 1Q84 on my shelf pretty much since I cut myself off from reading Murakami in English. I also think Hardboiled Wonderland sounds intriguing. If you decide to read any of those three sometime this year and the timing works out I’d happily read along for some discussion and mutual motivation.
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Wow, so many participants already! That’s great 
For the schedule, a few people did not vote for the 11-week layout, so I decided to roll with the 12-15 week variant. I will add the 12-week version to the OP as our tentative schedule, and after 3 weeks we can see how it goes and whether we want to slow down (then or later).
Hahaha same! For me it was 1Q84 that infected me. Read it all in German, but did not manage to read more than Book 1 Part 1 in Japanese yet. Did you know that there is even a Hashing out the details for reading Murakami Haruki's 1Q84 (Intermediate/Advanced Book) reading club? I read said Book 1 Part 1 with them but then dropped out for various reasons. And it seems that the club dried up somewhat? Might be cool to revive it again, what do you think? 
I’d be game any time, starting from July
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Please do!
I stopped reading for a long time and only just got started reading vol 3 this month. I believe @Hijiki has finished the series?
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So we’re only reading the first volume?
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That’s the intention, since it’s so long. But we can probably create a spin-off bookclub after if there’s enough interest. I’ll probably want to read the whole story.
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Yeah, I can see how those who choose not to read it wouldn’t be thrilled about waiting half a year for the next book. But I find it hard to believe that anyone would read almost 500 pages of Vol. 1 and then just set it down and say “Eh, that’s enough.” 
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Are you talking about Kafka or 1Q84?
Yeah, especially since technically it’s one volume/book divided into two physical parts (上、下) and not two separate volumes. So storywise it’s more inseparable.
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Kafka
Would have liked to have gotten into 1Q84, but wasn’t aware of these book clubs when that group started.
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Thank you. I wasn’t aware that it’s so long. I read it in German a long time ago…
Yeah, I know it feels a bit stupid to have the book club only read the first part, but like the others said, it would be too long otherwise. So I’m counting on a spin-off book club 
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This very much sounds like something I’d do. I have so many other books to read!
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Yes, I did 
Somehow
I think I mentioned that since I finished book 2 in September and that was when the story was happening as well I wanted to finish the whole book by the end of the year. I couldn’t keep an even pace though, as I would have done with the book club, and guided myself according to what was happening in the book (like slowing down in October because the story has already advanced to November, and speeding up in December to catch up). I read the last chapter on the 31st of December, so I managed to finish it in time.
It felt a bit lonely to read it by myself, since the book club was what pushed me to start the series in the first place, but the characters were also pretty much by themselves for the remainder of the story, so maybe that’s the way it was meant to be.
Although I’d like to come by and discuss some of the chapters if you ever decide to revive the book club. Murakami never fully explains the intentions of a certain type of characters so there is always room for speculation.
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I’m sorry about leaving you to finish it on your own. 
I’m happy you finished it though!
I have often thought about at least creating an overarching thread for the third book, or maybe books 5+6, even if chapter threads wouldn’t make sense now that you’re done and I’ve abandoned all scheduling for 1Q84. 
I think I’ll do that tomorrow. I’ll tag you when I do. 
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Yeah I’ve definitely already bought both so barring anything crazy I’ll be there
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Definitely would be very interested in a revival! July timeframe should work for me. Although I’d be starting on book 1.
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