Obsessed: Inspired by The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles

A friend of mine that was in town for New Year's Eve and to start 2012 off right we treated ourselves to an awesomely adult steak dinner at Primehouse.  To counteract all the adultness that happened at that dinner (haughty laughter, a bottle of red, proper usage of knife and fork, and chewing with our mouths closed), the next day we raced over the Dylan's Candy to stock up on their bulk gummies selection- sour worms, gummy cokes, sour ribbon and swedish fish- and to peruse the adorable Kinokuniya (Japanese bookstore) near Bryant Park (while eating our gummies, of course).

Between the Domo toys and Sailor Moon posters was a Haruki Murakami set-up with many of his books laid out.  The covers are what caught my eye- the bright colors, the weird shapes, and girl faces.  My friend recommended a book to me.

So, I'm usually late to the party when it comes to popular book reading.  I was totally late to the Twilight Saga obsession (which I never finished to do its poor writing, therefore, I am still Team Jacob) and I have yet to get on that whole Hunger Games bandwagon (though my Twihard friends have led me to believe that this series is better written than the Twilight books).  Now that it's gotten really cold (like 15 degrees cold) here in NY push has come to shove and I needed a new book to read while I was curling up in my new blanket.

Taking my friend's reco, I purchased The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles.  I've started to read it.  I'm not too far in, but what I find is when you get totally sucked into a book, your brain starts to put images in your mind whether the book describes them or not. Your imagination starts to form the world that the author is drawing for you (is that my inner English teacher coming through or what) and brings images that you are familiar with to fill in the descriptions.  So, here's what Murakami has drawn in my brain so far:

Short Sleeve Peter Pan Collared Shirt

Old school sea green shorts that are high-waisted.

Keds. Plain, white and with a little dirt on it.

Round rimmed sunglasses that fully hide the eyes and reach almost up to the eyebrows.

All partnered with the nude/bare makeup look.  Not all of these items are depicted in the book, but they all just make me think of where I am in the story right now.

I know it's freaking cold out right now, but doesn't this suddenly seem like an awesome outfit for the spring??  I think I'm obsessed with this slightly hipster and demurely girly outfit that has formed out of reading this book!

Have any of you read the book before?  Did you think of these things??  Do you agree with me?