What I Talk About When I Talk About Running Summary and Reviews

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

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
List Price: $21.00
Our Price: $11.87
You Save: $9.13 (43%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $9.98 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


or

Book Summary Information

Author: Haruki Murakami
Translator: Philip Gabriel
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-07-29
ISBN: 0307269191
Number of pages: 175
Publisher: Knopf

Book Reviews of What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

Book Review: Zen running, Zen writing
Summary: 5 Stars

Haruki Murakami has run for his entire writing life, taking it up when he realised that the sedentary existence of a novelist was making him fat; he has eventually tackled more than twenty-five marathons, half-marathons aplenty, and even one gruelling 100 kilometre "ultra-marathon" whose odd spiritual benefits are described here in satisfying detail.

His simple approach to running is set down on the page with great skill and grace. But is it a hobby? An obsession? A way to keep fit? Or something more spiritual and meaningful? You can't help plumping for the latter when you read this book, so evocative and powerful are his thoughts on the way in which running requires tenacity, persistence, and a willingness to make the mind and body do things they don't really want to do. Running becomes a way of talking about all the difficulties of life - self-discipline, lack of willpower, the need for consistency.

On the other hand, he's also fantastic on the joys and delights of running: a "very attractive" young Japanese runner who smiles at him everyday on his Tokyo circuit; the mists of the wintry Charles river in Boston; a quick turn around Central Park reservoir in the company of fellow novelist John Irving.

If you aren't even slightly interested in running the book still has something to offer. It goes into detail about his philosophy of life, and he gives his thoughts about being a writer, which is intriguing for anyone who's read his strange and delightful fiction. But in the end I kept thinking about Zen buddhism - not a subject he directly touches upon. But there is something Zen about the simplicity with which he is determined to live his life, eliminating people he doesn't really want to see, pursuing single-mindedly his time and distance goals as a running, admitting that he really prefers just being on his own. The book is charming, completely thought-provoking, and I think very profound. You might even put on your trainers and go for a run after you read it. I have to admit, I did.

Biographies & Memoirs Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Books I read in 2008
Downtown Owl: A Novel ImageDowntown Owl: A Novel
by Chuck Klosterman
Scribner; Published: 2008-09-16; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.35
Price in other shops: $24.00
Dolores ImageDolores
by Jacqueline Susann
Bantam Books (Mm); Published: 1983-02; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops: $2.95
The Long Goodbye ImageThe Long Goodbye
by Raymond Chandler
Vintage; Published: 1988-08-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.93
Price in other shops: $13.95
Misery ImageMisery
by Stephen King
New English Library Ltd; Published: 1988-11-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.78
Price in other shops: $16.50
Snuff ImageSnuff
by Chuck Palahniuk
Doubleday; Published: 2008-05-20; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.50
Price in other shops: $24.95
After Dark ImageAfter Dark
by Haruki Murakami
ALFRED A KNOPF; Published: 2007-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.37
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (Oprah's Book Club) ImageThe Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (Oprah's Book Club)
by Carson McCullers
Mariner; Published: 2004-04-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.49
Price in other shops: $12.95
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World: A Novel (Vintage International) ImageHard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World: A Novel (Vintage International)
by Haruki Murakami
Vintage; Published: 1993-03-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.52
Price in other shops: $14.95
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman (Vintage International) ImageBlind Willow, Sleeping Woman (Vintage International)
by Haruki Murakami
Vintage; Published: 2007-10-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.19
Price in other shops: $14.95
Henry and June: From "A Journal of Love" -The Unexpurgated Diary of Anais Nin (1931-1932) ImageHenry and June: From "A Journal of Love" -The Unexpurgated Diary of Anais Nin (1931-1932)
by Anais Nin
Harvest Books; Published: 1990-10-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.08
Price in other shops: $14.00
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
Kafka on the Shore ImageKafka on the Shore
by Haruki Murakami
Vintage; Published: 2006-01-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.96
Price in other shops: $14.95
2666: A Novel Image2666: A Novel
by Roberto Bolano
Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Published: 2008-11-11; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $18.81
Price in other shops: $30.00
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World: A Novel (Vintage International) ImageHard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World: A Novel (Vintage International)
by Haruki Murakami
Vintage; Published: 1993-03-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.52
Price in other shops: $14.95
Outliers: The Story of Success ImageOutliers: The Story of Success
by Malcolm Gladwell
Little, Brown and Company; Published: 2008-11-18; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.89
Price in other shops: $27.99
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao ImageThe Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
by Junot D?az
Riverhead Trade; Published: 2008-09-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.14
Price in other shops: $14.00
Norwegian Wood ImageNorwegian Wood
by Haruki Murakami
Vintage; Published: 2000-09-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.93
Price in other shops: $13.95
A Wild Haruki Chase: Reading Murakami Around the World ImageA Wild Haruki Chase: Reading Murakami Around the World
Stone Bridge Press; Published: 2008-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.70
Price in other shops: $16.95
After Dark (Vintage International) ImageAfter Dark (Vintage International)
by Haruki Murakami
Vintage; Published: 2008-04-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.00
Price in other shops: $13.95
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle: A Novel ImageThe Wind-Up Bird Chronicle: A Novel
by Haruki Murakami
Vintage; Published: 1998-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.97
Price in other shops: $15.95
Murakami Diary 2009 ImageMurakami Diary 2009
by Haruki Murakami
Random House UK; Published: 2008-11-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.58
Price in other shops: $16.95