If you enjoy reading novels by Haruki Murakami then you might also like the following authors:
Kazuo Ishiguro is a master storyteller whose novels blend dreamlike atmospheres, emotional depth, and quietly surreal moments. If you’re into Haruki Murakami’s subtle sense of mystery, then Ishiguro’s “Never Let Me Go” might resonate with you.
The novel follows Kathy, who looks back on her childhood at Hailsham, an exclusive boarding school with strange customs and rules. As Kathy grows older, the story reveals haunting truths about friendship, memory, and identity.
Ishiguro pulls you into a reality both familiar and unsettled, leaving you thinking long after the last page.
Readers who enjoy Haruki Murakami’s blend of realism, subtle magic, and introspection might also appreciate Banana Yoshimoto. Yoshimoto is a Japanese author who captures life’s softer, quieter moments with simple yet poetic prose.
Her book “Kitchen” tells the story of Mikage, a young woman who finds comfort in cooking after facing personal loss. Mikage gradually finds solace through food and friendship in an inviting household shared by Yuichi and his transgender mother, Eriko.
“Kitchen” delicately explores grief, healing, and the warmth found in unexpected relationships, combining gentle melancholy with glimpses of hope.
Yoko Ogawa is a Japanese author known for subtle, thought-provoking stories that carry hints of surrealism, similar in feel to the works of Haruki Murakami.
Her novel “The Housekeeper and the Professor” follows the connection between a math professor with short-term memory loss and his housekeeper and her young son. The professor’s memory resets every eighty minutes, yet their growing friendship defies his limitations.
Through everyday details and the poetic beauty of mathematics and baseball, Ogawa crafts a quiet story about human connections, memory, and compassion.
Readers who love Murakami’s blend of the ordinary world with gentle surreal touches might discover similar qualities in Ogawa’s storytelling.
David Mitchell is a British author whose novels blend reality with surreal and mystical elements, often reminding readers of Haruki Murakami’s imaginative worlds. His book “Kafka on the Shore” tells a fascinating story of parallel narratives.
It follows a teenage runaway named Kafka Tamura who escapes from home and a simple-minded man named Nakata who can speak with cats.
Their seemingly separate paths become intertwined through mysterious events, strange characters, psychological puzzles, and an eerie atmosphere rich in symbolism. Mitchell’s ability to weave together these threads makes “Kafka on the Shore” a memorable and imaginative read.
Readers who enjoy the surreal atmosphere and psychological depth in Haruki Murakami’s novels may appreciate Kobo Abe’s intriguing stories. Abe, a Japanese author known for his unique narratives and rich symbolism, explores themes of identity, existential anxiety, and absurdity.
In his novel “The Woman in the Dunes,” Abe tells the strange tale of a man trapped at the bottom of a sand pit, forced into a bizarre coexistence with a mysterious woman.
As he struggles to escape this isolated and shifting landscape, reality begins to blur and questions of meaning, freedom, and survival rise to the surface. Abe creates haunting scenes and characters that linger in the mind long after the last page.
Paul Auster is a contemporary American author known for his surreal storytelling and plots that blur reality and imagination. If you’re drawn to Haruki Murakami’s style, Auster’s “The New York Trilogy” might appeal to you.
The book combines elements of detective fiction and existential mystery, with three interconnected novellas that explore identity, obsession, and chance in an urban landscape.
In the first story, “City of Glass,” the protagonist, Daniel Quinn, is a writer mistaken for a private detective. He follows a strange assignment across New York City into unexpected territory, where the distinctions between investigator and subject become blurred.
Auster’s narratives present questions rather than resolutions, inviting readers into a thought-provoking literary world reminiscent of Murakami’s enigmatic storytelling.
Readers who enjoy Haruki Murakami’s blend of mysterious stories, surreal worlds, and thought-provoking themes might find Jorge Luis Borges fascinating. Borges was an Argentine writer famous for his imaginative short stories that blur reality and fantasy.
His collection “Ficciones” is a great starting point. This book contains “The Library of Babel,” a story where Borges imagines a vast library filled with every possible combination of letters and words.
It raises questions about knowledge, meaning, and infinite possibilities in an inventive and memorable way. If you enjoy how Murakami challenges reality, Borges offers another captivating angle to explore.
If you enjoy Haruki Murakami’s style of combining ordinary life with surreal elements, you might appreciate Italo Calvino’s novel, “Invisible Cities.” Calvino was an Italian novelist known for blending imagination and philosophical insight in his storytelling.
“Invisible Cities” is about explorer Marco Polo who describes numerous fantastical cities to emperor Kublai Khan. Each city has a unique magical twist, with dream-like details and unexpected symbolism.
The book explores memory, desire, and the hidden meanings within the everyday. Reading Calvino may remind you of Murakami’s gentle way of making reality feel slightly magical.
Gabriel García Márquez is a Colombian author known for blending magical elements with everyday reality in his stories. If the surreal yet relatable worlds of Haruki Murakami appeal to you, Márquez’s “One Hundred Years of Solitude” could be a rewarding read.
This novel follows seven generations of the Buendía family in the fictional town of Macondo. Strange events seep into everyday life with natural ease, from endless rainstorms to family members communicating with ghosts.
Themes like love, solitude, and fate weave through the novel, set against the vivid backdrop of Latin American history. Márquez brings beauty and tragedy to his storytelling, a quality readers of Murakami might find equally satisfying.
Readers who enjoy Haruki Murakami’s subtle blend of dreamy atmospheres and realistic portrayals of everyday loneliness may find Hiromi Kawakami equally appealing.
Kawakami’s novel “Strange Weather in Tokyo” centers on Tsukiko, a single woman in her late thirties, who runs into her former high school teacher at a local bar.
From casual meetings over food and drinks, their quiet friendship gently grows into an unexpected bond, filled with tender moments and meaningful silences. Kawakami captures beautifully the emotions of solitude, companionship, and intimacy set against a vivid Tokyo backdrop.
If you enjoy the surreal worlds and quirky characters of Haruki Murakami, you might find Tom Robbins just as fascinating. Robbins writes with humor, imagination, and a touch of absurdity.
In his book “Kafka on the Shore,” Murakami blends elements of fantasy and reality seamlessly. Similarly, in Robbins’ “Still Life with Woodpecker,” the author introduces readers to unconventional themes and witty, unusual characters.
This novel follows a princess attending an environmental conference who meets an eccentric outlaw bomber. Their offbeat romance leads to adventures that explore the mysteries of love, freedom, and life’s hidden meanings.
Robbins keeps the narrative playful, surprising readers at every turn.
Mo Yan is a Chinese author known for imaginative storytelling with touches of magical realism. Readers who enjoy Haruki Murakami’s surreal blend of reality and fantasy may also appreciate Mo Yan’s novel “Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out.”
The book takes place in rural China and follows the story of Ximen Nao, who is executed during the land reform movement but finds himself reborn again and again as various animals.
Through his unusual lives, Ximen witnesses decades of transformation in Chinese society and explores human nature from a variety of fascinating perspectives. The novel offers humor, tragedy, and surprising insights into life and society.
Readers who enjoy Haruki Murakami’s blend of reality, fantasy, and rich cultural backdrops might also appreciate Salman Rushdie. Rushdie’s novel “Midnight’s Children” weaves magic and history together through the story of Saleem Sinai.
Born exactly at midnight on India’s independence day, Saleem shares a mysterious bond with others born at that very moment. Their unique gifts and lives mirror the struggles, dreams, and complexities of the young nation itself.
Readers will find vivid characters and penetrating insights that blur the boundaries between reality and imagination.
Ryū Murakami offers a fascinating alternative for readers who enjoy Haruki Murakami’s blend of modern Japanese life and surreal storytelling.
His novel “In the Miso Soup” follows Kenji, a young nightlife guide in Tokyo, who takes on a strange and unsettling American client named Frank.
As Kenji guides Frank through the city’s shadowy nightlife, the line between eccentricity and menace blurs, revealing Tokyo’s hidden sides and chilling events that keep readers questioning reality.
Ryū Murakami creates vivid, atmospheric settings and memorable character portraits, perfect for readers who appreciate narratives that probe beneath society’s surface.
Madeleine Thien is a Canadian author whose novels explore memory, identity, and the echoes of history, themes that readers of Haruki Murakami often appreciate.
In her novel “Do Not Say We Have Nothing,” Thien tells the story of two Chinese families who lived through the tragedies of the Cultural Revolution and the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.
Through an artful blend of music, poetry, and beautifully crafted detail, this book creates a narrative filled with layered emotions and characters whose journeys unfold across generations.
This novel captures a similar reflective and atmospheric quality that finds parallels in Murakami’s exploration of loss, nostalgia, and music, especially in works like “Norwegian Wood.”