"From July of his sophomore year at college to January next year, Tsukuru Tasaki was living while mostly thinking about dying."

Random House may not have yet announced the release of the English translation of Murakami's new work Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki and his year's of pilgrimage but we do know that.... 

a) This novel reportedly sold over 1 million copies in its first week alone in Japan - typical native frenzy from this literary legend.

b) British fans of 1Q84 and Norwegian Wood will be queuing around the block on its release day - will bookstores run the same midnight events that occured around the launch of 1Q84?

The novel is already available in countries including Spain and The Netherlands (Dutch cover photographed below) but looks like we'll have to wait a little longer for the English translation. 

Internet chat suggests that we could see the novel released in August 2014. In the meantime, there's time to catch up on Murakami classics. 

The Word's Shortlist recommends:

Norwegian Wood

The Wind-up Bird Chronicle

Kafka on the Shore

Murakami fans are loyal and committed which makes up for the lack of media publicity from Murakami himself. One of the best fan blogs includes a nifty map detailing all the places mentioned in novels. See the 1Q84 map of Tokyo here http://www.haruki-murakami.com/1q84map

Murakami bibliography here http://www.randomhouse.com/features/murakami/site.php?id=