What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
Ratings210
Average rating3.9
“Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.”
While training for the New York City Marathon, Haruki Murakami decided to keep a journal of his progress. The result is a memoir about his intertwined obsessions with running and writing, full of vivid recollections and insights, including the eureka moment when he decided to become a writer. By turns funny and sobering, playful and philosophical, here is a rich and revelatory work that elevates the human need for motion to an art form.
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This book is less about running than it is about Murakami's life experiences, quips, and personal development. I think many readers will find reflections of themselves in this quiet, simple memoir.
As a mediocre endurance athlete, I identified with a lot of this book, and it inspires me to get out there, even on bleh days. Murakami incisively describes the personality traits that motivate people who run crazy distances, and how it informs our approach to life and work (in his case writing). But it also could feel rote and banal, and at times like Star Trek's Data describing human behavior. Overall a good read.
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