Haruki Murakami (born 1949) is the best-known living Japanese author, the creator of more than a dozen books translated into many languages. “Hear the Wind Sing” (1979) and “Pinball, 1973” (1983) are the first two novels of the “Rat Trilogy,” a famous cycle by the writer that culminates in “A Wild Sheep Chase” (1988) and is continued by “Dance, Dance, Dance” (1991).