The Nobel Prize for Literature is usually given out on the 9 of October. I remember the date because it is my son's birthday. Again this year, Murakami was left out. This year, it was awarded to a French writer Patrick Modiano. I had never read anything by Modiano so I set up a list of his books to decide whether I approved of the selection. I don't! The saving feature is that his books are short and have to do with memories. In the case of Missing Person, it had to do with a detective who had lost his memory. I found it to be tedious. This is not to say that it is not well-written but there is no comparison with the skill,  style and universal themes in the writings of Mo Yan or Murakami. Mo Yan has his well-deserved Nobel Prize and Murakami doesn't. He doesn't need it.