Thank you :). I received a similar ask, and although this question is slightly different, the answer is still the same. The best book to start with (in my opinion) may differ from his best work. The reason I say this is because if you are not familiar with his style, it might be difficult to grasp certain books. If you boiled down the thematic elements of his entire bibliography, short stories and all, and mixed them together, the result of this would come out to Kafka On the Shore.

For the record, I’m not finished with 1Q84, and I still have a difficult time placing any of four of his books as my favourite (Kafka On the Shore, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Sputnik Sweetheart, Norwegian Wood). My favourite shorts, though, are Airplane and 100% Perfect Girl. :)