The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami
Opening sentence: “The library was even more hushed than usual.”
I am big fan of Haruki Murakami and his fantastical, eloquent storytelling that sucks you straight in – no matter how unexpected the narrative becomes.
With this beautifully presented short story (it is a literal lunch-hour read) he gives us a creepy little horror tale that centres around an unnamed narrator being lured into a library basement.
It nicely balances horror conventions – an isolated setting that no one knows how to get to (or rather, escape from) with the signature Murakami quirky characters that have no explanation or back story – you just accept their randomness and go with the flow.
This makes for a unique little read although I did feel that it finished a little abruptly and, therefore, felt like a slightly incomplete tale, but the stunning visual references throughout make it a book worth talking about.
Here is a little sample of the wonderful drawings and illustrations:
Books on the 7:47 
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