"The Strange Library," written by Japanese writer Haruki Murakami, one of the most important representatives of postmodern literature, tells the story of a young boy making a mysterious discovery in a library while conducting research on the tax collection system in the Ottoman Empire.The main character goes to the library to return a book he borrowed, but he does not want to go back home immediately. As usual, Murakami's characters are highly curious, and the boy wants to look at books on the tax collection system in the Ottoman Empire. After he passes through the long, dim corridors, he finds himself in a very quiet lecture room. At this point, Murakami's mysterious characters begin to show up: a grumpy old man who masquerades as sheep and an invisible girl. As long as our character reads the book, he becomes Turkish tax collector Ibn Armut Hasır, and starts to collect tax in Istanbul with a machete on his waist.In contrast to his usual style, Murakami did not carry out wide psychological analyses in "The Strange Library," though the book is enriched with illustrations this time. He brought mystery into the forefront instead of cats, jazz and love. The characters attract attention with their plain linguistic performance. They go on to give messages with morals about life, just like in other Murakami books. The reply of an old man to our character, who is concerned about his mother and starling bird, is stunning: "Everyone thinks for themselves and continues to live like your mother and starling bird. Do not worry, the world continues to turn in some way." We realize that these words hold significance to the surprise ending in the last episode of the book.The literature genius Murakami, a person who has a "Noble of Our Hearts," blends his novels with music, dreams, surreal characters, love and cats, animals that are greatly loved by him. He engraves the soul of his books with songs that he is addicted to. Although the novel's characters belong to a grey gloomy world, they hold on to life with music and hope. The writer often uses metaphors in his books and indicates that his supreme hobby is to run. Indeed, he has a book that says, "What I talk about, when I talk about running."Cats, jazz, mystery and loveIf you read a book by Murakami, there is definitely a cat hidden somewhere there. Cats that are friends of writers like Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner and Samuel Beckett, do not leave Murakami alone. However, Murakami's cats are a little odd. They can speak and appear unexpectedly.The writer says that he constantly searches for a melody in his novels and has a collection of more than 1,000 jazz albums. He even opened a jazz club named "Peter Cat" together with his wife, Yoko, in 1971. His love of music is so profound that he related almost all his novels to songs, like "South of the Border, West of the Sun" named after American singer Nat King Cole' s "West of the Sun," The Beatles' "Norwegian Wood" and The Dells' "Dance, Dance, Dance." Murakami's "The Wind-up Bird Chronicle" is inspired by Robert Schuman's "Bird as Prophet."Dreams, hallucinations, nightmares... Readers come face to face with mysteries that Murakami cannot give up using in his novels. Kafka Tamura, who is 15 years old and has escaped from an ominous prophecy that was made by his father many years ago; Toru Watanabe, who travels to his university years after hearing the Beatles' song "Norwegian Wood," are the two Murakami characters in search of mystery.When it comes to love, Murakami's characters live in such extreme states of passion that you never want to finish the book. The description of characters is so attractive and unique that the melancholic characters' love appears to belong to another planet.'Turkey was unique'It is not a coincidence that Murakami refers to the period of the Ottoman Empire in his work "The Strange Library." Murakami, who wonders about Turkey and Turkish culture, expressed that he was amazed by Turkey and Greece after a tour at the end of 1980s, "In the Holy Mountain, on the Turkish road."Murakami says that Turkey is very distinctive. "Turkey's atmosphere was different from everywhere else. Briefly, Turkey's color, smell, touch to my skin was so unique. It had a strange atmosphere. Postcards fade away but this atmosphere is remembered. After Turkey, I went to so many countries, I breathed various atmospheres. However, none was like the one in Turkey."