Further to Haruki Murakami's new novel 19Q4, which I have covered here before (and failed to establish the meme "Newrakami" in the blogosphere): it will be published in English, in September 2011. Details, and all your Murakami needs, are furnished here.
I also have to talk about a seriously great book I'm reading at the moment (thanks, Mr Somerville). Despite having an impossibly cool cover, and being published by McSweeney's (two factors which tend to mean a book will sit on my shelf and never be read), Bill Cotter's Fever Chart is one of the most readable, brilliantly imaginative things I've read in quite a long while.
Yes, that is a 4/5ths wraparound dust jacket. Yes, that is a Ron Rége Jr illustration. Yes, there is a quote from Wells Tower on the back. But the words are good too. I promise! I've been trying, and failing, to think of a way to describe the prose. The frantic tragic style reminds me of Denis Johnson's Jesus' Son, but the luxurious sentence-craft gives me good George Saunders vibes. Anyway, seek it out and read it. Why not ask at your friendly local indie bookshop?
