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

I came across this book early this year. I have read several of Murakami's works including The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, some of his short stories, and Norwegian Wood, all of which I have found to be brilliant reads. ---------- The Writer. Haruki Murakami himself is a 59 year old Japanese novelist, often described as the greatest living, and the most influential cult writer today. Born in Kyuto in 1949, he lived most of his childhood in Kobe, followed by studying theatre arts at Waseda University, Tokyo. During this time he met his wife, and opened a jazz café. After closing the café to focus on a writing career at 29, he moved to New Jersey United ...  Read the complete review

This book received an excellent review in the Telegraph a while back, and so I bought a copy for my boss who is a runner. He was chuffed to bits with it, and leant it to me when he had finished it. I am not a runner, but I am interested in the mentality that goes behind running, so I was happy to give it a go. Haruki Murakami is a novelist from Japan, and a runner. In this book, he writes a series of slightly disjointed essays about all aspects of running - from training to running super marathons, triathalons and the like, it is a 'behind the scenes' guide to the mentality that goes into running. On top of that, it contains a fair bit of ...  Read the complete review

Being a fan of Murakamis' and having read all his books released so far I was pretty excited to see that he had another book out which I somehow hadn't previously noticed. I saw it in a bookshop and did think it was a little on the thin side for its £7.00 price tag, and the writing in the book is also quite large and spaced out. However, seeing as I like Murakamis' books so much, and as I didn't know much about the author himself, I was eager to read this. Seeing as 'What I Talk About When I Talk About Running' is a memoir, and not a work of fiction, as expected it is radically different from Murakamis' other works. Rather than write an autobiography Murakami ...  Read the complete review

I am an avid Haruki Murakami fan and I awaited the publication of his latest writing eagerly. The book description states that this book is 'the closest thing to a memoir that Haruki Murakami will ever write.' The book is about more than running, a fan of his would expect nothing less. After selling his jazz bar in the early 80s Murakami, took up running in order to keep fit. He reflects on running and the impact it has had on his writing and in wider terms on his life. Twenty five marathons later and he writes about how running and life are not dissimilar when thinking about problems. His books have always left me fascinated by how such an ...  Read the complete review