A picture taken on October 18, 2011 shows books entitled “1Q84” in a bookshop in London. Booksellers in Britain were expecting to sell thousands of copies of Japanese author Haruki Murakami’s latest novel as excitement built after some stores held special late-night openings. Hardback versions of the book, “1Q84”, went on sale across Britain a week ahead of its eagerly awaited launch in the United States and it leaped to second place in the hardback sales lists on Amazon’s British site. The novel blends Murakami’s mix of parallel universes, bizarre characters and surrealist happenings as the lives of a female murderer and a male novelist intertwine. AFP PHOTO / FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA (Photo credit should read FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA/AFP/Getty Images)