Murakami reading list: Books mentioned in Kafka on the Shore

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One thing that I love about Haruki Murakami books is there is always one character who loves to read – a sliver of Murakami’s personal love for reading.

In Kafka on the Shore, Kafka is a young boy who adapted the name of his favourite author and who reads a lot in preparation for when he will run away from home. In the first part of the story, it was mentioned that Kafka’s dad has a study filled with books. He also regularly visits the library after school reading everything he can get his hands on.

When he ran away with no fixed destination in mind, he found shelter and solace, where else, in a library managed by librarian Oshima and Miss Saeki where he spent his days poring over literature starting with The Arabian Nights. Later on, trying to evade the police searching for him, Oshima sent him to a cabin in the woods with a bookshelf filled with history books. If you have read the book, the story itself borrows the theme from Oedipus Rex.

Here are the book titles mentioned in Kafka on the Shore.

• The Arabian Nights (Sir Richard Burton Translation) (Amazon, Bookdepository)
• The Castle – Fanz Kafka (Amazon, Bookdepository)
• The Trial – Franz Kafka (Amazon, Bookdepository)
• Metamorphosis – Franz Kafka (Amazon, Bookdepository)
• In the Penal Colony – Franz Kafka (Amazon, Bookdepository)
• The Miner – Natsume Soseki (Amazon, Bookdepository)
• Sanshiro – Natsume Soseki (Amazon, Bookdepository)
• The Poppies – Natsume Soseki (Amazon)
• Macbeth – William Shakespeare (Amazon, Bookdepository)
• Oedipus Rex – Sophocles (Amazon, Bookdepository)
• Tale of Genji – Shikibu Murasaki (Amazon, Bookdepository)
• The Chrysanthemum Pledge (in Tales of Moonlight and Rain) – Ueda Akinari (Amazon, Bookdepository)
• Mame no Memeley (Matter and Memory) – Henri Bergson (Amazon, Bookdepository)

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