Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

I've never been a fan of The Beatles, though I've tried. The only song I enjoy listening to has to be Norwegian wood, and it's entirely due to how much I enjoyed the book that shares it's name. It's quite a skill for a novelist to awaken interests in you through prose that didn't exist before. Perhaps through the way I find myself identifying with the characters, I find myself taking on aspects of their personality through memetic imitation. Perhaps each person will find different writers able to cause these interests and feelings in themselves, if so, Haruki Murakami is an author able to do that to me.

For the longest time, people had recommended this jazz bar owner turned author to me, but I was often unable to spare the time to find my entry point. In fall 2012 however, I was in the midst of a reading streak fueled by a HMV sale on books, and I was able to find Norwegian Wood for a few mere pounds. I had no idea if this was one of his best works, but for a price so low I didn't see much harm in taking a gamble.

Upon reading even the first chapter, Murakami's distinctive style hit something deep within me. His insight into the mind of Toru Watanabe is so well formed, and the entire book is steeped in a wistful tone. Though told in Toru's point of view, the narrative at times is very hard hitting and devoid of reaction, certain plot points are delivered so matter of factly that they leave a lump in your throat whilst the story skips along with little comment. It is an extremely kafkaesque style, and a most unromantic romance story. That's not to say the relationships forged don't feel authentic, the characters are very three dimensional and you feel for them in all the ways intended.

I was barely able to put Norwegian Wood down once I picked it up, and once finished I felt a great urge to read more by Murakami. Recently I managed to track down What I Talk About When I Talk About Running and 1Q84 and can confirm that this author is not a one hit wonder. It takes little consideration to say that Norwegian Wood will go down as one of the most influential novels of my young life.

"Isn't it good, Norwegian Wood?"

Sword Art Online

I'm going to go right out and say it, SAO is my favourite shounen animé in years. One day I'm going to run out of series of stuff that I'm blinded by my own bias with and perhaps talk critically on a subject, but that'll have to wait for a day I'm not talking about Sword Art Online. Or Metal Gear. Or Dragon Ball Z.

Other than Shingeki no Kyojin (which I do love, but not as much as SAO), I've lost interest in shounen animé, all I can bare nowadays is DBZ out of nostalgia, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, SAO and Shingeki. A younger me was obsessed with hits like Naruto and Bleach, and I mean no disrespect to shows of their ilk, but I just don't have the energy to keep up with convoluted plot lines like who has what sharingan and why anymore.

I feel like Sword Art Online is an entirely different breed of action show to those two. There are similarities, but all in all it's undeniable that the pace is much faster due to it's season-based format and the story arcs being far more condensed and streamlined, even when the Aincrad arc takes place over 2 years.

Metal Gear Solid

Kept you waiting, huh?

I think I've mentioned this at every possible opportunity on every possible platform but I love Metal Gear. I love giant robots and complicated plots that make me feel clever for following them, and even though I didn't when I started playing the series, I even love sneaking games thanks to MGS.

My first encounter with Metal Gear was through the demo for MGS2 packaged with Zone of the Enders. Back then, my dad's then-partner's brother and I were pretty close. I was an impressionable young kid into foreign martial arts movies and sci-fi rated for ages considerably above my own and he was a sage of those two things and patient enough to put up with hanging out with me. I'm pretty sure it was through him that I ended up with a copy of ZoE1.

First playthrough of the MGS2 demo terrified me. It set me on my merry way on the tanker in the Hudson river, rain pouring down, tasked with obtaining intel on something I had no knowledge of. My pre-teen hands were too lacking in dexterity to sneak past any of the guards with reliable precision and I couldn't calm my nerves quickly enough to tranquilise them before they spotted me. The tension hit me hard, and for maybe another year, I never touched the full game. I was scared of Metal Gear Solid, and thought of it as far above my skill level at the age I was then.

My cool almost-step-uncle Phil would later lend me his full copy of MGS2, and for a good month or so, it didn't enter my PS2 out of the anxiety I felt from the tanker chapter demo. I can't remember what finally gave me the courage to have a go at it but once I did, I was hooked. I still sucked at the game, but the story drew me in (even though I didn't understand any of the plot points from earlier games) and Hideo Kojima's philosophical commentary blew my by then teenaged mind. I beat the game in a summers afternoon just as I was about to leave for the city centre with some friends, and a sense of achievement struck me for the entire day.