I think Akutagawa's stories are a quite a bit more difficult than Murakami's stories. But I don't think you should let this discourage you. If you're interested, why not go for it! Akutagawa wrote mostly short stories, so it doesn't have to take you ages to get through them.
Grammar:
~と言っても - although one might say
【芥】
-trash ごみ、ごもく(畿)
-mustard, rape から.し
-but what about the あくた reading?
according to the 辞書 it also means trash, but I've never seen it used like that and, what sense does it make to have names such as 芥川 or 芥島？
river of trash? garbage island?
あくた puzzles me.
compared to 村上春樹's short stories, are 芥川's approachable?
I think Akutagawa's stories are a quite a bit more difficult than Murakami's stories. But I don't think you should let this discourage you. If you're interested, why not go for it! Akutagawa wrote mostly short stories, so it doesn't have to take you ages to get through them.