My Murakami phase was horrible. Let me never go back, haha.

Climbing is a story I love but know, instinctively, is flawed. :( I love that story so much but it's got so many issues.

I think Universal Languages took a lot of the elements of Climbing that I was most fond of and refined them. I think I did a lot more with it, and while the story of tea is missing, I think that the self-discovery aspects are a lot better articulated. Thus ;)