What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

188 pages

English language

Published Nov. 3, 2008

ISBN:
978-0-307-26919-5
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Goodreads:
2195464

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(2 reviews)

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (走ることについて語るときに僕の語ること, Hashiru Koto ni Tsuite Kataru Toki ni Boku no Kataru Koto) is a memoir by Haruki Murakami in which he writes about his interest and participation in long-distance running. The book is translated by Philip Gabriel. Murakami started running in the early 1980s and since then has competed in over twenty marathons and an ultramarathon. The book's title was inspired by Raymond Carver's collection of short stories entitled What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.

8 editions

Honestly…A Painful Read

I went in with high expectations for this book. Running has been a massive part of my life since I was 8 years old, and getting to hear new perspectives on running was all I was expecting from this book.

Unfortunately, this book reads like a mid-level runner giving us a stream of consciousness about running; some of what’s shared being accurate, and some not. He shares many theories as to why and how certain things work - mainly based on hunches. Some hunches are correct, and some not.

I’m going to choose to ignore the frustrating number of hunches the author utilizes in place of science, and instead focus on the philosophy and emotional aspects of this book. (Which are the only somewhat redeeming parts of it)

Even in this realm, I really struggled to connect with the author with the exception of a few pages. A huge part …

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