I'm at work ATM so I can't give the wall of texte murakami explanation yet, but be prepapred for it. I will say though that Kafka is my least favorite Mutakami book and Norwegian Wood is the most "mainstream" and best book to start with as a foray into murakami.

EDIT: Okay, I'm home, so here it goes.

Murakami is a very quirky writer in that most of his novels are very surrealistic and most of his novels follow the format of "30 year old everyday average guy who searches for a missing wife/girlfriend. Befriends some weird young girl. Craziness ensues." You'd think that'd be the mark of a very uncreative writer, but if you read it, every novel is unique and fascinating. I'm a huge fan of Murakami.

With that said, I don't like Kafka on the Shore. It's probably the only Murakami novel that I wasn't crazy about. Rather, I don't like the part involving Kafka. If I could take the half of the novel involving Nakata and have it fleshed out into a novel the length of Kafka on the Shore, I'd be ecstatic.

Norwegian Wood is unusual in the sense that is not surrealist at all. It's probably Murakami's only novel that isn't surreal. It become enormously famous, though some hardcore Murakamites consider it a "sell-out" sort of book (I disagree with that), because it's very accessible to everyone.

It was the first Murakami book I read, and it's the one I recommend to anyone who is interested in reading his novels. It's kind of litmus test for Murakami - if you don't like Norwegian Wood, you probably won't like anything by him.

If you do like Norwegian Wood, I'd recommend going on to trying either Wind-Up Bird Chronicle or After Dark. Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is a door-stopper of a book and VERY surreal, but is considered his "masterpiece" and most polished of his novels, which I agree with. After Dark is probably my favorite Murakami book - it takes place within one night and is written in the third person, which is very unusual for him. It's not extremely surreal.

If you go on to liking those novels, let me know. I'll send you my favorite short stories and other his stories I loved, like Sputnik Sweetheart.

I really hope you love him!!!!