It's Haruki Murakami's birthday (January 12, 1949).

He is one of the most powerful, imaginative writers alive today. In Japan his books sell out in the pre-publication stage. 

Murakami is a runner (I enjoyed his What I Talk About When I Talk About Running) ...

... and a music lover.  He once ran a coffee house and jazz bar, Peter Cat, in  Tokyo.

Click Murakami with his record collection to play the Chet Baker Quartet doing "Let's Get Lost."

Another Murakami book is Norwegian Wood, about college students in Tokyo in the 1960s and about nostalgia, loss, and evolving sexuality. 

This Beatles' song of the same name is often described in the novel and is the favorite song of one of the characters.

Click the cover of Norwegian Wood to hear the Beatles song of the same name.

1Q84 is one of the most fascinating books I have ever read. It's about two lost lovers seeking to find each other in a subtle yet dangerous alternate world.

The title is a play on the Japanese pronunciation of the year 1984 and a reference to George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty Four. The letter Q and the Japanese number 9 (typically romanized as "kyū") are pronounced the same but differ in meaning, which presents a possiblity for Japanese wordplay.

As in many of his works, Murakami often refers to composers and musicians, ranging from Bach to Vivaldi to Billie Holiday to the Rolling Stones to Leoš Janáček, whose Sinfonietta pops up many times at crucial points in the novel.

Click the 1Q84 book cover to hear a beautiful rendition of Janáček's  "Sinfonietta" (final movement.)

In 1Q84 a verse from the 1933 song "It's Only a Paper Moon" by Harold Arlen and Billy Rose appears in the book and is the basis for a recurring theme throughout the work.

Click the image depicting key scenes in the book to play Nat Cole's version of "It's Only a Paper Moon."