Murakami at Midnight

Shelf Awareness

Three Lives & Co. in New York City held a midnight release party early today for Haruki Murakami's new novel, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage (Knopf). It was a blockbuster evening, with raffles, trivia contests, Japanese beer and snacks, and a full house in the small shop. Prizes included Murakami backlist and other Japanese fiction staff favorites; CDs of the "score" for the novel, Liszt's Years of Pilgrimage; and a Three Lives tote bag filled with a pasta dinner starter kit: penne, a can of tomatoes and garlic.

The shop stayed open all evening and by 10 p.m. fans were arriving to reserve a signed copy of the novel to purchase at the stroke of midnight. As Elvis sang "Viva Las Vegas," the Three Lives crew emerged from the basement with cartons of Colorless and, reported owner Toby Cox, "the cash register rang loud and long in the new day. Lots of new faces in the crowd, as well as a few repeats from our midnight release party for 1Q84 three years ago."

photo: Troy Chatterton