I have been a huge fan of Murakami's novels and essays since I first read Kafka on the Shore, one of my all-time favorite tales. And, while I've not read everything he's written, The City and Its Uncertain Walls, his most recent novel, is another one of his tales that has completely engrossed me. This one especially appealed, as I especially love stories about books and libraries.
When a young man's girlfriend mysteriously vanishes, he sets his heart on finding the imaginary city where her true self lives. His search will lead him to take a job in a remote library with mysteries of its own.
When he finally makes it to the walled city, a shadowless place of horned beasts and willow trees, he finds his beloved working in a different library - a dream library. But she has no memory of their life together in the other world and, as the lines between reality and fantasy start to blur, he must…