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

It reads like a thoughtful journal, or a detailed training log with barely any technical information but lots of heart. One way this work is different from other Murakami books is that it's a memoir. He keeps you comfortable with plainspoken prose, yet often surprises with surreal twists and beautiful turns of phrase. His words have a knack for making the mundane feel completely engaging. If you're not familiar with Murakami, he writes in the magical realism style with a distinctly Western sensibility, yet, in my opinion, everything he puts to paper has an ethereal sharpness that's unmistakably Japanese. Having read and enjoyed his fiction in the past, I was curious what he had to say about the sport we both love. Running and writing share a complementary bond, and this mysterious link is the focus of his book What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. He continues these pursuits today just as ardently as when he began.

Haruki Murakami started running in the early 1980's shortly after he started writing, and he completely committed himself to both endeavors. You might assume that someone who intentionally plods away in a thoughtless void endlessly listening to 'Do You Believe In Magic?' isn't the type of person who is serious about their sport-but you would be wrong. He runs for the sheer pleasure of turning off his thoughts, entering 'the void' as he calls it, and mindlessly listening to the same Lovin' Spoonful albums over and over again on an aging MiniDisc player.

One of Japan's most beloved fiction writers doesn't go running everyday to find inspiration for story ideas, or to mentally develop his characters and plot lines-he does the opposite.

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