I am reading the short story collection "The Sea" by Yoko Ogawa. I've just read the story "The truck with the little chicks" (ひよこトラック) and I am once again in awe. I really wished I could write like her. With simple words but evocative, rich and subtle at the same time. I have read "The housekeeper and the professor" and "The memory police" and I loved both of them, but these short stories demonstrate her abilities even more.
Incidentally, if anyone has an English translation copy of "The memory police" handy and wouldn't mind looking something up for me, I would be grateful (I only have the Japanese version).