What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: A Memoir by Haruki Murakami (Englis

Description: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami By turns funny and sobering, playful and philosophical, this memoir is both for fans of this masterful yet guardedly private writer and for the exploding population of athletes that finds similar satisfaction in distance running. FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description An intimate look at writing, running, and the incredible way they intersect, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running is an illuminating glimpse into the solitary passions of one of our greatest artists.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. Author Biography Haruki Murakami was born in Kyoto in 1949 and now lives near Tokyo. His work has been translated into forty-two languages. The most recent of his many honors is the Franz Kafka Prize. Review "A fascinating portrait of Murakamis working mind and how he works his magic on the page." —The Plain Dealer"A brilliant meditation on how his running and writing nurture and sustain each other. . . . With spare, engaging prose . . . Murakami shares his runners high." —Sports Illustrated"Enthralling. . . . A quirky, brilliant gem."—Time Out New York"Murakamis descriptive eye is as acute as ever. . . . Fascinating. . . . A glimpse into the creative process of one of the worlds great writers." —The Hartford Courant"A genuine memoir, filled with gentle minutiae that truly communicates the rhythm of Murakamis daily life and work...Murakami actually offers himself whole." —Jesse Jarnow, Paste Magazine"A felicitous, casual series of reflections and anecdotes...[Murakami] has a Warholian way of tinting the mundane with mystery and restrained humor...Do still waters run deep? This paean to a runners life keeps us, pleasurably, wondering." —Joel Rice, The Tennessean"[What I Talk About When I Talk About Running is] a graceful explanation of Mr. Murakamis intertwining obsessions, conveyed with his characteristic ability to draw unexpected connections. Running may be a matter of placing one foot in front of the other on the ground, but, as is so often the case with Mr. Murakami, terrestrial objects have a tendency to take flight." —Chloë Schama, New York Sun"Beautifully written and full of great running aphorisms...Anyone who knows perseverance can appreciate this work." —Helen Montoya, San Antonio Express-News"Engaging, insightful...What I Talk About When I Talk About Running extends [Murakamis] winning streak." —Jenny Shank, Sunday Camera"Murakami constructs this piecemeal narrative with the same masterful, accessible prose marked by humor and streaks of magic which has made him a household name, the same staggering insights, the same fascinating connections...this is exactly what makes Murakami so special: his ability to render everything a part of everything else, and to end with monumental poignancy...In an extremely personal, candid and moving way, the book makes one want to read and run at the same time." —Reynard Seifert, Austin Fit Magazine"[What I Talk About When I Talk About Running] provides a fascinating portrait of Murakamis working mind and how he works his magic on the page...[a] charming, sober little book." —John Freeman, Newark Star-Ledger"Highly recommended...Practical philosophy from a man whose insight into his own character, and how running both suits and shapes that character, is revelatory and can provide tools for readers to examine and improve their own lives."—Library Journal Review Quote "Beautifully written and full of great running aphorisms...Anyone who knows perseverance can appreciate this work." Helen Montoya, San Antonio Express-News "Engaging, insightful...What I Talk About When I Talk About Running extends [Murakamis] winning streak." Jenny Shank, Sunday Camera "[What I Talk About When I Talk AboutRunningis] a graceful explanation of Mr. Murakamis intertwining obsessions, conveyed with his characteristic ability to draw unexpected connections. Running may be a matter of placing one foot in front of the other on the ground, but, as is so often the case with Mr. Murakami, terrestrial objects have a tendency to take flight." Schama, New York Sun "Murakami constructs this piecemeal narrative with the same masterful, accessible prose marked by humor and streaks of magic which has made him a household name, the same staggering insights, the same fascinating connections...this is exactly what makes Murakami so special: his ability to render everything a part of everything else, and to end with monumental poignancy...In an extremely personal, candid and moving way, the book makes one want to read and run at the same time." Reynard Seifert, Austin Fit Magazine "[Murakamis] descriptive eye is as acute as ever...Fascinating...A glimpse into the creative process of one of the worlds great writers." Dan Pope,The Hartford Courant "Enthralling...Throughout this quirky, brilliant gem, Murakamis life lessons unfold with plainspoken power that should prove valuable to a broad readership even those who have no ambitions to write elaborate novels or run grueling races." Hank Shteamer, Time Out New York "A felicitous, casual series of reflections and anecdotes...[Murakami] has a Warholian way of tinting the mundane with mystery and restrained humor...Do still waters run deep? This paean to a runners life keeps us, pleasurably, wondering." Joel Rice,The Tennessean "In What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, [Murakami] has turned something seemingly mundane---his running journals---into a brilliant meditation on how his running and writing nurture and sustain each other...With spare, engaging prose...Murakami shares his runners high." Farrell Evans, Sports Illustrated "[What I Talk About When I Talk About Running] provides a fascinating portrait of Murakamis working mind and how he works his magic on the page...[a] charming, sober little book." John Freeman, Newark Star-Ledger "A genuine memoir, filled with gentle minutiae that truly communicates the rhythm of Murakamis daily life and work...Murakami actually offers himself whole." Jesse Jarnow, Paste Magazine "Highly recommended...Practical philosophy from a man whose insight into his own character, and how running both suits and shapes that character, is revelatory and can provide tools for readers to examine and improve their own lives." Library Journal "If we all ran like brilliant Japanese novelist Murakami, would we write as well as he does?" Library Journal From the Hardcover edition. Excerpt from Book AUGUST 5, 2005 . KAUAI, HAWAIIWhos Going to Laugh at Mick Jagger?Im on Kauai, in Hawaii, today, Friday, August 5, 2005. Its unbelievably clear and sunny, not a cloud in the sky. As if the concept clouds doesnt even exist. I came here at the end of July and, as always, we rented a condo. During the mornings, when its cool, I sit at my desk, writing all sorts of things. Like now: Im writing this, a piece on running that I can pretty much compose as I wish. Its summer, so naturally its hot. Hawaiis been called the island of eternal summer, but since its in the Northern Hemisphere there are, arguably, four seasons of a sort. Summer is somewhat hotter than winter. I spend a lot of time in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and compared to Cambridge--so muggy and hot with all its bricks and concrete its like a form of torture--summer in Hawaii is a veritable paradise. No need for an air conditioner here--just leave the window open, and a refreshing breeze blows in. People in Cambridge are always surprised when they hear Im spending August in Hawaii. "Why would you want to spend summer in a hot place like that?" they invariably ask. But they dont know what its like. How the constant trade winds from the northeast make summers cool. How happy life is here, where we can enjoy lounging around, reading a book in the shade of trees, or, if the notion strikes us, go down, just as we are, for a dip in the inlet.Since I arrived in Hawaii Ive run about an hour every day, six days a week. Its two and a half months now since I resumed my old lifestyle in which, unless its totally unavoidable, I run every single day. Today I ran for an hour and ten minutes, listening on my Walkman to two albums by the Lovin Spoonful-- Daydream and Hums of the Lovin Spoonful --which Id recorded on an MD disc.Right now Im aiming at increasing the distance I run, so speed is less of an issue. As long as I can run a certain distance, thats all I care about. Sometimes I run fast when I feel like it, but if I increase the pace I shorten the amount of time I run, the point being to let the exhilaration I feel at the end of each run carry over to the next day. This is the same sort of tack I find necessary when writing a novel. I stop every day right at the point where I feel I can write more. Do that, and the next days work goes surprisingly smoothly. I think Ernest Hemingway did something like that. To keep on going, you have to keep up the rhythm. This is the important thing for long-term projects. Once you set the pace, the rest will follow. The problem is getting the flywheel to spin at a set speed--and to get to that point takes as much concentration and effort as you can manage.It rained for a short time while I was running, but it was a cooling rain that felt good. A thick cloud blew in from the ocean right over me, and a gentle rain fell for a while, but then, as if it had remembered, "Oh, Ive got to do some errands!," it whisked itself away without so much as a glance back. And then the merciless sun was back, scorching the ground. Its a very easy-to-understand weather pattern. Nothing abstruse or ambivalent about it, not a speck of the metaphor or the symbolic. On the way I passed a few other joggers, about an equal number of men and women. The energetic ones were zipping down the road, slicing through the air like they had robbers at their heels. Others, overweight, huffed and puffed, their eyes half closed, their shoulders slumped like this was the last thing in the world they wanted to be doing. They looked like maybe a week ago their doctors had told them they have diabetes and warned them they had to start exercising. Im somewhere in the middle.I love listening to the Lovin Spoonful. Their music is sort of laid-back and never pretentious. Listening to this soothing music brings back a lot of memories of the 1960s. Nothing really special, though. If they were to make a movie about my life (just the thought of which scares me), these would be the scenes theyd leave on the cutting-room floor. "We can leave this episode out," the editor would explain. "Its not bad, but its sort of ordinary and doesnt amount to much." Those kinds of memories--unpretentious, commonplace. But for me, theyre all meaningful and valuable. As each of these memories flits across my mind, Im sure I unconsciously smile, or give a slight frown. Commonplace they might be, but the accumulation of these memories has led to one result: me. Me here and now, on the north shore of Kauai. Sometimes when I think of life, I feel like a piece of driftwood washed up on shore.As I run, the trade winds blowing in from the direction of the lighthouse rustle the leaves of the eucalyptus over my head.I began living in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at the end of May of this year, and running has once again been the mainstay of my daily routine ever since. Im seriously running now. By seriously I mean thirty-six miles a week. In other words, six miles a day, six days a week. It would be better if I ran seven days, but I have to factor in rainy days, and days when work keeps me too busy. There are some days, too, when frankly I just feel too tired to run. Taking all this into account, I leave one day a week as a day off. So, at thirty-six miles per week, I cover 156 miles every month, which for me is my standard for serious running.In June I followed this plan exactly, running 156 miles on the nose. In July I increased the distance and covered 186 miles. I averaged six miles every day, without taking a single day off. I dont mean I covered precisely six miles every day. If I ran nine miles one day, the next day Id do only three. (At a jogging pace I generally can cover six miles in an hour.) For me this is most definitely running at a serious level. And since I came to Hawaii Ive kept up this pace. It had been far too long since Id been able to run these distances and keep up this kind of fixed schedule.There are several reasons why, at a certain point in my life, I stopped running seriously. First of all, my life has been getting busier, and free time is increasingly at a premium. When I was younger it wasnt as if I had as much free time as I wanted, but at least I didnt have as many miscellaneous chores as I do now. I dont know why, but the older you get, the busier you become. Another reason is that Ive gotten more interested in triathlons, rather than marathons. Triathlons, of course, involve swimming and cycling in addition to running. The running part isnt a problem for me, but in order to master the other two legs of the event I had to devote a great deal of time to training in swimming and biking. I had to start over from scratch with swimming, relearning the correct form, learning the right biking techniques, and training the necessary muscles. All of this took time and effort, and as a result I had less time to devote to running.Probably the main reason, though, was that at a certain point Id simply grown tired of it. I started running in the fall of 1982 and have been running since then for nearly twenty-three years. Over this period Ive jogged almost every day, run in at least one marathon every year--twenty-three up till now--and participated in more long-distance races all around the world than I care to count. Long-distance running suits my personality, though, and of all the habits Ive acquired over my lifetime Id have to say this one has been the most helpful, the most meaningful. Running without a break for more than two decades has also made me stronger, both physically and emotionally.The thing is, Im not much for team sports. Thats just the way I am. Whenever I play soccer or baseball--actually, since becoming an adult this is almost never--I never feel comfortable. Maybe its because I dont have any brothers, but I could never get into the kind of games you play with others. Im also not very good at-one-on-one sports like tennis. I enjoy squash, but generally when it comes to a game against someone, the competitive aspect makes me uncomfortable. And when it comes to martial arts, too, you can count me out.Dont misunderstand me--Im not totally uncompetitive. Its just that for some reason I never cared all that much whether I beat others or lost to them. This sentiment remained pretty much unchanged after I grew up. It doesnt matter what field youre talking about--beating somebody else just doesnt do it for me. Im much more interested in whether I reach the goals that I set for myself, so in this sense long-distance running is the perfect fit for a mindset like mine.Marathon runners will understand what I mean. We dont really care whether we beat any other particular runner. World-class runners, of course, want to outdo their closest rivals, but for your average, everyday runner, individual rivalry isnt a major issue. Im sure there are garden-variety runners whose desire to beat a particular rival spurs them on to train harder. But what happens if their rival, for whatever reason, drops out of the competition? Their motivation for running would disappear or at least diminish, and itd be hard for them to remain runners for long.Most ordinary runners are motivated by an individual goal, more than anything: namely, a time they want to beat. As long as he can beat that time, a runner will feel hes accomplished what he set out to do, and if he cant, then hell feel he hasnt. Even if he doesnt break the time hed hoped for, as long as he has the sense of satisfaction at having done his very best--and, possibly, having made some significant discovery about himself in the process--then that in itself is an accomplishment, a positive feeling he can carry over to the next race.The same can be said about my profession. In the novelists profession, as far as Im concerned, theres no such thing as winning or losing. Maybe Details ISBN0307389839 Author Haruki Murakami Short Title WHAT I TALK ABT WHEN I TALK AB Language English ISBN-10 0307389839 ISBN-13 9780307389831 Media Book Format Paperback DEWEY B Year 2009 Translator Philip Gabriel Residence Oiso, JA Birth 1949 Subtitle A Memoir Place of Publication New York Country of Publication United States AU Release Date 2009-08-11 NZ Release Date 2009-08-11 US Release Date 2009-08-11 UK Release Date 2009-08-11 Pages 192 Publisher Random House USA Inc Series Vintage International Publication Date 2009-08-11 Imprint Random House Inc Audience General We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:43650153;

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