Norwegian Wood and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle are both quite good. I prefer the latter to the former, but they're both worth your time. I've noticed a lot of people dislike After Dark, but I'm quite fond of it and it's a pretty short read so you should check that out too!
I also was unable to get very far into 1Q84. It's hard for me to articulate it intelligently and accurately (it's been a while since I've re-read any of Murakami's novels, my first crack at 1Q84 was my most recent exposure), but it seems like 1Q84 is derivative of Murakami's previous works, especially in terms of characterization; we see protagonists who, for the most part, live relatively normal lives and do relatively normal things (if one can consider assassination "normal"), but do so in an extremely surreal and dangerous world which borderlines on fantasy and yet remain unflappable and even find time to wax philosophically about one thing or the other. I would love a Murakami protagonist that acknowledged the madness of her reality instead of cooking spaghetti, listening to jazz, and pontificating.
I don't have any experience with the Kindle version, but I know I hate having to take my hard copy of 1Q84 off the bookshelf. The dust jacket is basically this thin parchment paper and I'm always afraid of completely destroying the damn thing! There's a paperback boxset that looks pretty sweet, though, and it divides the story up into three books (similar to how it was published in Japan, I guess). I would get that, or the Kindle version if space/weight is an issue.
