Should You Read The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami?

The Strange Library is a relatively short story about a peculiar library in an undisclosed location.

A boy in search of reading material stumbles upon an old librarian who asks what book(s) he’s looking for. Upon proclaiming an interest in taxes in the Ottoman Empire (the first topic that comes to mind!), he promptly receives three huge volumes.

His attempt to leave to get home in time for dinner, however, the librarian insists the books cannot be loaned out and can be read in the library’s reading room only.

The reading room the boy is led to is unlike any other reading room he’s ever been to. I’ll leave it to you to discover the particulars of said room.

The story is written in Murakami’s recognizable style, in an eerie and mysterious tone that does not reveal all. It’s up to the reader to decide what to believe in.

The audiobook is only 60 minutes long and available on Scribd. If you are a Murakami fan and have an hour, I recommend you check it out. However, if you haven’t read Murakami before, I do not recommend this as a starting point as it’s not his best work and there are better stories you can read such as The Elephant Vanishes collection.

Have you read this book? What are your thoughts?