Becoming A Writer - Dorothea Brand

A very impressive book setting out a thorough system for turning yourself into a writer; hopefully as helpful as it is impressive. One thing definitely in its favour is it addresses the problem of "writing at all" - overcoming apathy, absence of ideas and so on - rather than technical advice. It shows its age and certainly isn't meant for a "busy, fast-paced, modern lifestyle" but then who ever said that that lifestyle is compatible with the lifestyle of a writer? Have taken one exercise to heart and begun writing first thing each morning. This is quite exciting and I can't believe I never thought of it myself.

Rashomon and Other Stories - Ryunosuke Akutagawa

Very tightly written and imaginative stories. I can certainly see how they influenced Murakami. The role of the narrator is very interesting. In some stories it's just a voice as is usual in modern third person fiction; in some it's an unnamed person who seems to have been present during the story's events; in some it's apparently a historian piecing the story together later; and in one it seems to be Akutagawa himself, admitting that it's fiction yet still approaching it as fact, telling it like it's a true story while writing as a fiction writer.