T's ofTHE TRADE

In a new book, HARUKI MURAKAMI takes a sartorial turn

Vanities /Collections

Haruki Murakami thinks he owns about 200 T-shirts. The prizewinning author of the novels Killing Commendatore and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, and more than 50 other books, didn't intend to collect the T's—they just piled up. "When I run across an interesting one I'll buy it on a whim," he says. His new book, Murakami T: The T-Shirts I Love, out from Knopf, compiles his favorites and the stories behind them in the candid, unassuming tone that characterizes his nonfiction. "Maybe readers will make some unexpected discovery—like, I see, novelists shop in thrift stores too, and buy used T-shirts for $3," he says. "Even a novelist has to wear something,right?"

CLAIRE LANDSBAUM