Just How Do You Buy Books as a Gift for Someone?

Like many families, mine does a Christmas gift exchange where each of draws the name of another family member. This year I drew my cousin John. Now John is the youngest of our 13 cousins and even though he’s now in his upper-20s, I still know him as that little annoying kid of a cousin from podunk Oklahoma. Never mind that he’s grown into a man with multiple piercings, a genius IQ, and a college degree who’s spent the last few years hanging out in Japan. Since I haven’t really spent much time around him in over 10 years I don’t know John as an adult. So, just what kind of gift am I to give him?

My family is made up of a bunch of readers. Nearly all of us read a lot and many within the SFF genre (this is where I was first introduced to the Wheel of Time). So books are the obvious gift. But, what books? A gift card is certainly the easy way out – my time is limited and valuable and it sure is easy to allow John to pick out his own gift (and I get to avoid lines at the post office). While practical, a gift card is boring and unexciting, though it still remains my default mode. My wife suggested that I actually buy him a couple of actual books – what a novel idea.

After thinking on it, I became quite excited by the idea. After all, I’m a big important blogger, of course I know what books would make good gifts. But I really don’t know John well – he’s all growed up now. So, just what books would I get a single, highly intelligent young man who (hopefully) enjoys SFF fiction but very likely falls on the eclectic side?

I decided to stick with fantasy (it’s what I know best), but I went with books that tend to be non-traditional, intelligent (even literary), and a bit dark and serious while maintaining an entertaining feel. Or at least that’s what I started with. In the end, I picked these three:

American Gods by Neil Gaiman (Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound)

Perdido Street Station by China Miéville (Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound)

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami (Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound)

I sure hope John likes them.

So, how do you think I did?

Winners of the 2006 World Fantasy Award

• Novel: Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
• Novella: "Voluntary Committal" by Joe Hill
• Short Fiction: "CommComm" by George Saunders
• Anthology: The Fair Folk edited by Marvin Kaye
• Collection: The Keyhole Opera by Bruce Holland Rogers
• Artist: James Jean
• Special Award: Professional: Sean Wallace (for Prime Books)
• Special Award: Non-Professional: David Howe and Stephen Walker (for Telos Books)
• Lifetime Achievement: Stephen Fabian
• Lifetime Achievement: John Crowley

I haven't read many of these nominees, but I did read and review Kafka on the Shore. It is certainly worthy of the award.

I'm surprised that Kelly Link didn't win in the collection category, but I haven't read any of the nominees to justify that suprise.

It would have been nice to see Lou Anders at Pyr get the win, but then I don't know enough to say he's any more deserving than Sean Wallace.

Review: Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

Sometimes a novel moves through and beyond such trite descriptions as gripping narrative, talented writing, and beautiful prose. Sometimes a novel becomes important. Kafka on the Shore, while encompassing any number of canned descriptions such as those above, is important. I feel that I could read this novel a dozen times and come away with a different understanding each time.

Kafka on the Shore tells the story of 15-year old Kafka Tamura as he runs away from his home in Tokyo and a cold, distant father. Kafka is that silent brooding guy in the back of the class who never says anything, never smiles, and has no friends. He is mature beyond his 15 years, intelligent, conflicted, yet naïve as the typical adolescent male.

Kafka travels to the southerly city of Takamatsu where he searches for something – perhaps the mother who abandoned him at a young age, perhaps the sister lost to him with the mother, perhaps a way out of the world. He discovers a private library and its eccentric staff (or maybe the library discovers him); they take him in.

Mr. Nakata suffered mysterious and terrible accident as a child during World War II. He is now a harmless old man who enjoys conversations cats and predicts unexplainable events – such as fish falling from a cloudless sky. A meeting with a strange entity in the guise of Johnny Walker sets him on a journey to set things right in the world and its relation to other worlds.

For those that love labels, magical realism generally describes the atmosphere created by Murakami. For readers like myself who have limited exposure ‘non-Western’ literature, Kafka on the Shore is a great gateway to the East. This Japanese story cuts across cultures and reminds that humanity has more in common than we often realize.

Kafka on the Shore will speak to different people in different ways, and I’m still working out what was ‘said’ to me. It is a beautiful and meaningful novel that I certainly recommend. On my 10-point rating scale (described here), Kafka on the Shore rates a solid 8.