what came from the warm mud

One of the many delightful things about The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is that the writer has named the chapters. When poets don’t title their poems, they are suspected of not caring enough, but how often do contemporary novelists name their chapters? Seems rather a rare thing. But Murakami does this, and he does it with pizazz.

These titles were sweeping around my subconscious, until the whole entitling phenomenon burst into consciousness in the dentist’s waiting room when I arrived at the chapter called “No Good News In This Chapter.” Well, I loved that. And I was glad to be prepared. Indeed, there wasn’t much good news in it, on the surface anyway. I don’t know, the things that happened in this chapter didn’t seem soooo bad, but I’m projecting. If they happened to me, I wouldn't find them so bad, but I get where the protagonist is coming from. Read the book and find out.

Anyway. Other choice chapters include:

Six Fingers and Four Breasts
On Horses Dying in the Stables
Culverts and an Absolute Insufficiency of Electricity
Death in the Bathtub
Just a Real Knife
Is This Shovel a Real Shovel?
Jellyfish from All Around the World