|
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running | 
 enlarge | Author: Haruki Murakami
Creator: Philip Gabriel
Publisher: Knopf
Category: Book
List Price: $21.00
Buy New: $11.99
You Save: $9.01 (43%)
New (26) Used (16) from $9.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  12 reviews
Sales Rank: 360
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 175
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5 x 1
ISBN: 0307269191
Dewey Decimal Number: 895.635
EAN: 9780307269195
ASIN: 0307269191
Publication Date: July 29, 2008 (New: Last 30 Days)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: ships right away
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
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, not to mention triathlons and a dozen critically acclaimed books, he reflects upon the influence the sport has had on his life and—even more important—on his writing.
Equal parts training log, travelogue, and reminiscence, this revealing memoir covers his four-month preparation for the 2005 New York City Marathon and takes us to places ranging from Tokyo’s Jingu Gaien gardens, where he once shared the course with an Olympian, to the Charles River in Boston among young women who outpace him. Through this marvelous lens of sport emerges a panorama of memories and insights: the eureka moment when he decided to become a writer, his greatest triumphs and disappointments, his passion for vintage LPs, and the experience, after fifty, of seeing his race times improve and then fall back.
By turns funny and sobering, playful and philosophical, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running is rich and revelatory, both for fans of this masterful yet guardedly private writer and for the exploding population of athletes who find similar satisfaction in running.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 7 more reviews...
 Read Sheehan instead. August 24, 2008
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
The publishing world has a (monetary) fondness for pushing non-fiction books by fiction writers on us, hoping to capitalize on the author's readership. Stephen King's lovely tome about writing worked. This, Murakami's book on running, did not. I, too, am a middle-aged long-distance runner but found little insight or comfort of either subject in these pages. If you want to read something of depth about running, life, and aging, buy any one of George Sheehan's books instead.
 I know how he feels August 22, 2008
Well I'm coming at this from he opposite direction from Emma (above), but I agree with her assessment of the book.
As a 50-something runner and lover of Murakami's novels I found this fascinating - read it in one sitting (well, lying - it was an overnight hospital stay).
Recmmended for runners and couch potatoes alike.
 Stick to Fiction August 21, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I have read about half of Murakami's novel and love them all for their unique perspective and deep insight. With the caveat that I am not a long distance runner, I found this book disappointing. It is very mundane compared to Murakami's other writing. I would recommend any of his novels over this book.
Pain is Inevitable; Suffering is Optional August 20, 2008
Rarely do "writing" and "exercise" appear as the main topics for a memoir--there's something almost un-writerly about working out. Aren't all the great novelists supposed to be drunks? Well, no. Murakami compares running marathons to writing novels, and it's a damn fine analogy. His prose is masterly yet humble. Whether you're a writer, a runner, or just someone who enjoys a good book, Murakami delvers with "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running."
 Written for Murakami enthusiasts... August 19, 2008
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
Murakami, 58, authored 15+ novels, many highly acclaimed. He has received many literary awards and honorary doctorates. I have read and thoroughly enjoyed most of his best selling works (including my favorites: Kafka on the Shore, Norwegian Wood and A Wild Sheep Chase). In reading this book, I had come to learn that Murakami had completed 25+ marathons, 1 ultra marathon (60+miles) and 5+ triathlons - this is a truly extraordinary accomplishment.
Murakami is humble, candid and straightforward exposing his mistakes, flaws and shortcomings - - one passage: "But this wretched story of feeling I had as I stood in front of the mirror at sixteen, listing all of my physical shortcomings, is still sort of touchstone for me even now. The sad spreadsheet of my life reveals how my debts outweigh my assets."
You get into his mind and his incredible determination to complete marathons and triathlons - feeling the sun baking his skin and the water filling his lungs - yet he keeps his feet and arms moving despite his mind and body telling him to stop.
You also learn about the impact that advancing middle age has on his performance times and that they are no longer improving despite a rigorous training regimen - "even if, seen from the outside, or from some higher vantage point, this sort of life looks pointless or futile, or even extremely efficient, it doesn't bother me. Maybe it's a pointless act like as I've said before, pouring water into an old pan that has a hole in the bottom, but at least the effort you put into it remains. Whether it's good for anything or not, cool or totally uncool, in the final analysis what's most important is what you can't see but can feel in your heart."
The book is described by Murakami as a collection of essays he wrote between 2005 and 2007 and then pieced together and edited for this book. I felt that the book often read like a loosely edited diary - - in contrast to his visually beautiful, smooth, multi-layered, dreamy fictional works. While I found flashes of the profile of his prior novels in a few passages, I found this book to be choppy and informal in comparison.
Early on in the book, Murakami discusses his strategy in running a Jazz bar in Tokyo - he wasn't out "to please everybody" - "it didn't matter if 9 out of 10" didn't like his bar but that "if one in ten was a repeat customer" his business would survive. My sense is that this book will narrowly appeal to the "one in ten repeaters" of devoted Murakami's fans (me being one of them) - - readers who wish to learn more about his life, his experiences, what makes him "tick" - and more specifically, the role that running, biking, swimming and training for marathons and triathlons had on his writing and his life.
|
|
|
. | |
