Which is what I did =D
Haruki Murakami is my favorite author.
I collect all his books (all english versions, most chinese versions, some japanese versions) and read and read and read. For nearly two decades now.

But.
A year ago I couldn't continue with reading "After Dark" after a few pages.
It's the Australian version of the book cover.
It's freaking distracting and severely put me off!
Murakami's stories are superb mood pieces: mundane, strange, surreal, psychological, metaphorical, metaphysical, existentialism, lonesome, magic.
so.
why a photo of an ero chick on the book cover?
I'm so not a fan of the australian versions of the current batch of most of his bookcovers.. are they trying to sell them to men with oriental chicks fetish? *shudders*
It's so misleading!
So I had to paint over the cover.

See the black acrylic paint with the minimalistic eerie texture? The jazz and black coffee in the witching hours feel? Now that suits the mood perfectly =D
And I happily read the book.
Last night. close to midnight.
Sipping black coffee with Curtis Fuller's old jazz tune "Five Spot After Dark":
(awesome remix on the left, live jazz version on the right)

Setting the mood.
Then listened to the Portrait of Jazz (selected by Murakami) cd while immersing into the Murakami world.
After Dark.
story took place and time between midnight to 7am.
the witching hours where dreams and realities swapped places, the line between physics and metaphysics blurred.
a young jazz trombonist orders a chicken salad at 11:56pm.
at midnight, statics appears on an unplugged tv set in a darken room.
a loveho named Alphaville.
a pencil, with an eraser, stamped with the name veritech.
4:09am. feeding stray cats in a small park.
a cricket running away from the past.
a deserted mobile phone ringing from a 7-eleven dairy shelf.
soon the morning comes.

Hope there's no major plot spoilers :D
Highly recommended.
"After Dark"'s gotta be near my current top favorites of Murakami's books.
All time favorite is "Hardboiled Wonderland and The End of the World".
I like "After Dark" more than his some of his other books due to it's short and concise, everything wrapped up well (as far as metaphysic is concerned).. it's a bit like Wong Kar-Wai's Chungking Express remains my top favorite film, 'cause it's short but so concised. It's not that I don't like long novels/movies. I like things wrapped up nicely sometimes ^^
Unlike "Kafka on the Shore", too ambitious (although they're all interesting ideas) and too overly trippy-wtf.. "Wind-up bird chronicles"- kinda similar "problem".. plus certain scenes a little too gruesome for my taste ^^; That aside, I still enjoyed "Kafka on the Shore" and "Wind-up bird chronicles" a lot.

Speaking of Wong Kar-Wai <- my favorite film director!
Reading Murakami definitely makes me think of Wong Kar-Wai's films;
while watching WKW's films makes me think of Murakami's stories.
Both like the element of mood, jazz/cool music, dopplegangers, and loneliness/isolation.
Bits of After Dark and its execution makes me think of WKW's Chungking Express + Fallen Angels + Days of Being Wild.
I hope these two collaborate one day in a film project.. with actors Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Ninomiya Kazunari :D Nino can be Tony's younger self, his son, or doppleganger; both WKW and Murakami love the concept of dopplegangers.
That's my ultimate movie wish list heheh.

Sorry for the long ramblings, had to do it lol.
I'm going to read "After Dark" again.
*boils water for black coffee*

take care and catch up later!