What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
and over 900,000 other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Trade in What I Talk About When I Talk About Running for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
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
"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
GQ
`comical, charming and philosophical...excellent memoir'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
169 of 174 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Zen running, Zen writing,
By
This review is from: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (Hardcover)
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.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic Material for runner even non runners can benefit from it !! Very Inspiring !!,
By HuntersGold "HuntersGold" (London) - See all my reviews
This review is from: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (Hardcover)
I found this book very inspiring and charming. When I started reading it, I found it hard to stop, literally read it from cover to cover ...not many books do that to me.This book is very thought provoking, it makes you think about yourself, goals, its about achievement as well as doing something to live life to the fullest!! Its also about passion and lessons to be learned,and overcoming failure I love running and this book has motivated me to keep going and set new goals not just in running but also helped drive my motivation to learn new skills and avoid procastination He talks about how ''if something is worth doing, its worth giving it your best, even more than your best'' !! I highly recommend this book to people who love running , and other sports. Even for the non-sporty, there is a lot to be learned from this book !!
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An examination of motivation; an honest and moving record of the highs and lows of long-distance running; ambitious; admirable..,
By stevieby (UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (Paperback)
I thoroughly enjoyed and admired this book - both the subject and how it was handled. Unlike Murakami's novels which get too lost in fantasy for my taste, this is based totally in real life and records his thoughts and observations as he trains for the New York marathon, along with reminisces of past races. Now in his sixties, these feats of endurance are a matter of trying to maintain past performances rather than winning or breaking any records, a question of pride. The struggle is as much mental as physical.Murakami's lifestyle as a writer and his success offers him certain freedoms but he still has to balance the many demands on his time with the need to train if he is going to preserve his fitness and avoid injury. So, under the practicalities of his preparation, is a treatise on where his motivation, and indeed dedication, comes from. Popular sport today seems to be readily swallowed up in professionalism and celebrity, so I think it is fantastic that someone `normal' can relate their experiences - I mean someone who is not a `winner' in the conventional sense but yet who emerges as a strong and healthy individual as a result of his own efforts. Not that Murakami is trying to glorify his sport either - he does not gloss over the grinding effort involved in an almost daily basis, nor the sheer pain which races bring. This is a personal choice, there is no suggestion it is for everyone! Refreshing too, is the honesty when Murakami talks about his own personality, even to the point of saying he is not a very likable person! (Such disarming candour defeats some of my criticism for his novels - that they are too nerdy and pedantic.) By turning storytelling conventions on their head Murakami is being brave and ambitious - here is the writing superstar pounding down the road every day at a very average speed... Gosh! - He is not a God, not a superhero, just a human being! This is not as polished as most of Murakami's books, the build-up to the race and the tensions of the big events are broken as he jumps to past or future, or lapses into descriptions of clouds reflected in the river.... but I think this adds to the impression of being set in the real world. Anyone who participates in endurance sports can easily relate to this book, they know there are no shortcuts, they know what reality does to plans and dreams! Glad I read it!
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews |
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/02/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192198663_.gif){kind=small}
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
