As expected, I did find a few minutes to finish 69 by Ryu Murakami yeasterday. Ryu (not to be confused with Haruki, the other Murakami I have been reading) also has a distinctive, exceptionally good, flow to his work. I've also read In the Miso Soup, which had the same distinctive flow, but not as intriguing of a plot. 69 is a fast and easy read, yet still clever. The "69" refers to the year 1969. Written as the memoir of a smartass kid from a navy base town, the story is essentially the smartass's efforts to get a musical/film festival going in town (dubbed the "Morning Erection Festival"). It's a humorous read, woven with Murakami's flow of words, and a peek into an era of Japan that I certainly didn't know very much about.