Murakami T: The T-Shirts I Love

this is the sort of book that more authors should have the freedom to write - to just kinda riff on their own personal interests and obsessions, where through their enthusiasm for the subject (theoretically) engaging writing would be produced. as a casual t-shirt collector and as someone who's read most of Murakami's books, this was a Venn intersection that i don't get to experience very often, so i had to see what this was about. i had anticipated this was going to have some ‘truly vintage threads' and i was surprised by not only how recent many of these shirts were made, but especially by how pedestrian most of them are, as most of the ones featured here are basic brand/logo advertisement shirts. second most common are Hawaii-related surf brands, followed by beer and whiskey brands, with animal-related designs probably fourth. most barely look like they've been worn and a fair number were surely promo swag given out for free in the first place, haha. the real reason for this book is for the essays. Murakami's style in here is droll and goofy, and is the most light-hearted writing collection he's ever released.

all that said, no way would i pay the listed MSRP for this ($24.99 - that's crazy). it is very short - it's mostly, or all, previously published in a Japansese fashion magazine series - and i had to restrain myself from cruising through it in one sitting.