Haruki Murakami Manga Stories 3: Scheherezade; Sleep

With their trademark mix of realism and fantasy, centering around Murakami's signature themes of loss, remorse and confusion, the two stories in this volume are:

• Scheherezade: A man named Habara is confined to his house and is visited by a nurse, Scheherezade, who brings him provisions and has sex with him. She tells Habara the story of a boy she had a crush on when she was young, whose house she repeatedly broke into. She tells him the story over several visits, and the story ends before Scheherezade finishes. Habara worries he may never see Scheherezade again.

"A powerful, eccentric tale" --The Guardian
• Sleep: recounts the life of a housewife with a regimented existence. But at night, she has her own life, as though she enters an extra-dimensional space. In this world she examines her own life and family and ponders the meaning of death.

"[Murakami's stories] take place in parallel worlds, not so much remote from ordinary life as hidden within its surfaces." --The New York Times