What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami

This book has a Zen-like quality, and it's terrific.  

In 1982, having sold his jazz bar to devote himself to writing, Murakami began running to keep fit. 

A year later, he'd completed a solo course from Athens to Marathon, and now, after dozens of such races, he reflects upon the influence the sport has had on his life and on his writing.

Equal parts travelogue, training log, and reminiscence, this revealing memoir covers his four-month preparation for the 2005 New York City Marathon and settings ranging from Tokyo's Jingu Gaien gardens, where he once shared the course with an Olympian, to the Charles River in Boston.

By turns funny and sobering, playful and philosophical, this is a must-read for fans of this masterful yet private writer as well as for the exploding population of athletes who find similar satisfaction in distance running.

Review

"There's a wandering, digressive, free-form quality to the writing - like improvised jazz - familiar to anyone who has read the novels, with their labyrinth plots, perplexed, solitary male protagonists, meaningful coincidences and dream-like sequences. The narrative voice here is as persuasive as in any of the novels, candid and jaunty, and you finish the book charmed by the simple, unaffected grace of Murakami"--The Observer

"Comical, charming and philosophical... an excellent memoir"--GQ

"[Murakami] says no-one can warm to a character like his, but when he talks like this, on the run, we keep pace and pay rapt attention"--The Times

"Murakami manages to set a course that takes in views of all literature, sport and the uphill journey of ageing, all with a modest fluency that covers the ground without raising a sweat"--The Independent

Product Details

Format Paperback | 192 pages
Dimensions 128 x 194 x 14mm | 81.65g
Publication date 02 Apr 2009
Publisher Vintage Publishing
Imprint VINTAGE
Publication City/Country London, United Kingdom
Language English
ISBN10 0099526158
ISBN13 9780099526155

Customer reviews: 4.3 out of 5 stars   230 customer reviews