Haruki Murakami's illustrated The Strange Library and "taxation in the Ottoman empire"

Mavi Boncuk |

Haruki Murakami's illustrated The Strange Library

The quest for knowledge takes an unexpected turn in Haruki Murakami’s The Strange Library, published for the first time in English this December.

On his way home from school, the young narrator of The Strange Library finds himself wondering how taxes were collected in the Ottoman Empire. He pops into the local library to see if it has a book on the subject. This is his first mistake.

Led to a special 'reading room' in a maze under the library by a strange old man, he finds himself imprisoned with only a sheep man, who makes excellent donuts, and a girl, who can talk with her hands, for company. His mother will be worrying why he hasn't returned in time for dinner and the old man seems to have an appetite for eating small boy's brains. How will he escape?

Harvill Secker (Knopf in the US) is to publish an illustrated 96 page edition of Haruki Murakami’s The Strange Library, marking the first time the book has been published in English.

The Strange Library will be published in hardback.on 2 December 2014, translated from the Japanese by Ted Goossen.

It will have full-color art throughout in a lavish volume designed by Chip Kidd, Knopf’s associate art director and long time Murakami cover designer. Kidd said he drew on his own collection of vintage Japanese graphics as inspiration for the design.