Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Haruki Murakami, Chicago Diner

So the unthinkable has happened, in that it's been so long since I've updated that I can't remember all the books I've read, and therefore can't record them on here.  I might try anyway, at some point.  For now, let me say that The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami is fantastic.  I just finished it.

Toru Okado's cat has gone missing.  His wife asks him to look for it, since, because he's unemployed, he has time.  She also asks him to consult with a psychic recommended to her by her brother. Toru's meeting with the psychic is one of the first very strange things that happens to him.  Soon he's getting phone calls from a mysterious woman, discovering a dry well by an abandoned house, and searching not just for his cat but for his wife.  This book is almost impossible to sum up.  Crazy stuff happens.  I was riding the L in Chicago while reading it, and kept putting my hand to my mouth in shock (though surely I wasn't the strangest-seeming person on the L).

I bought another book of Murakami's, Kafka on the Shore, but haven't started it yet.

I'm in Chicago currently (reading on the L and whatnot) and I just need to mention the Chicago Diner.  My boyfriend and I ate there tonight, and it was SO GOOD.  It's an all-vegetarian, incredibly vegan-friendly restaurant.  I had a homemade sweet potato veggie burger with avocado, lettuce, and a mango-pineapple sauce on a whole wheat bun with a side of roasted veggies with pesto.  Deliciousness!  And the menu is just a beautiful thing to read - choosing that veggie burger was tough.  My boyfriend got country fried "steak" with mashed potatoes and the same roasted veggies and pesto.  Also incredible! He also got a super-yummy vegan milkshake and I got refreshing blackberry iced tea.

If you're near Chicago, go there.  If you're not, well, maybe you should be.

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