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What I Talk about When I Talk about Running
- A Memoir
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 4 hrs and 23 mins
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There are some odd things about Nate’s new apartment. Of course, he has other things on his mind. He hates his job. He has no money in the bank. No girlfriend. No plans for the future. So while his new home isn’t perfect, it’s livable. The rent is low, the property managers are friendly, and the odd little mysteries don’t nag at him too much. At least, not until he meets Mandy, his neighbor across the hall, and notices something unusual about her apartment. And Xela’s apartment. And Tim’s. And Veek’s.
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Publisher's Summary
Settings range from Tokyo, where he once shared the course with an Olympian, to the Charles River in Boston, among young women who outpace him.
Through this marvelous lens of sport emerges a cornucopia of memories and insights: the eureka moment when he decided to become a writer, his triumphs and disappointments, his passion for vintage LPs, and the experience, after age 50, of having seen his race times improve and then fall back.
Translated by Philip Gabriel.
Critic Reviews
"A brilliant meditation on how his running and writing nurture and sustain each other....With sparse, engaging prose....Murakami shares his runner's high." ( Sports Illustrated)
"Provides a fascinating portrait of Murakami's working mind and how he works his magic on the page." ( The Plain Dealer)
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What listeners say about What I Talk about When I Talk about Running
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Rick
- 03-10-09
It is what it says it is
I don't understand the negative reviews that some other people have given. This book is exactly what it claims to be: the memoirs about running of a writer who runs. It's not meant to be motivational or educational, nor is it either.
Yes, it is obvious that Murakami has control issues. No, his style of running and training will not work for everyone. No, you're not going to gain some existential epiphany from this book. (Unless, of course, you happen to have unacknowledged control issues of your own.)
What it is, however, is well-written, well-narrated, and entertaining. It's a little on the short side, but by the same token it is an appropriate length. None of the stories drag on too far, nor do any of them leave you wanting for more information. The work is concise but not dry, amusing but not cute.
I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Murakami's other works, with the caveat that it is much more straightforward.
87 people found this helpful
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Overall
- OC Taurumara
- 03-30-10
For Runners
I am an avid long distance runner and share books I find on Audible with my wife who is not a runner. Haruki Murakami writes earnestly about running as a void or space in his day. Being the space between his activities he doesn't write about running as a pathway to mind blowing revelations about writing - although running does help him stay motivated to write. The book is about a quest that got underway by trying to use running from Athens to Marathon as a magazine topic piece, leading to an enduring race against his younger self in besting his marathon times; to a transcendent ultra marathon that led to less running. In other words, things mostly dedicated runners tend to understand and have enough interest to listen to or read. Ray Porter was smooth in his reading of the translated material and seamlessly made me think that the author himself was reading. If you are a runner this is a "must read" along with "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall... if you are not a runner you might, like my wife, get a little bored with "all the runner insider stuff." You can always find a writer who shares a hobby you like and read his/her book about it.
47 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Don
- 11-27-08
Wow!!!
"Running" is really about being yourself and thinking about it. If you want to reflect honesty in your writing, you have to check out this audiobook! In short, it is about being truthful, not about being liked.
23 people found this helpful
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Overall
- lindamarie
- 09-21-09
Gem
This is a short monologue on endurance and continuing to pursue difficult projects and goals. I listened to it as I ran or exercised and the author stimulated me to continue my work.
19 people found this helpful
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- S. Yates
- 09-30-17
Good but a bit disjointed
3.5 stars. A sort of odd mix of musings on running and thoughts on being a novelist, sprinkled with bits of memoir. I enjoyed getting a look at Murakami's life and a peak into his mind, but it was hard to discern a real thread -- if this were just a set of essays, it would cover a wider range of topics, but it doesn't read smoothly as a memoir or as a manifesto on running or as a chronicle of how he came to be a novelist. Still, for fans of his novels, time well spent.
10 people found this helpful
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Overall
- James C. Maddox
- 08-28-09
Murakami Nonfiction
I've found the Murakami's nonfiction can be both insightful and lacking depending on the section you read. With WITAWITAR (whew!), I found the book meters above Underground, which was a bit repetitive. With Running, you get anecdotes that come across as both touching and insightful. These two words are often used to describe Murakami's fiction (along with weird, surreal, etc.), but here they come across through the effort of journaling.
I will say, however, that HM's nonfiction doesn't hold a candle to his novels, or even his short stories, but for the price they're asking here, you can't go wrong with this selection.
8 people found this helpful
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Performance
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Story
- Susan Brady, LCSW
- 11-22-11
A beautiful treatise on how to be an artist
This memoir is about running and about being a writer, but it is more fully a document on how to manage all the details of life while still keeping ones goals in site.
6 people found this helpful
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Story
- Raleigh
- 07-22-12
i am my own therapist and hero
murakami is a neurotic, nonathletic, indulged and observant guy
he works hard to make a genuine, deliberate life for himself
society's demands for conformity and interaction surround him
in the midst of this struggle he discovers long distance running
he does it because "... it suits me..." / it lets him be himself
in the process of running he becomes his own therapist and hero
the book doesn't try very hard to dazzle or entertain or engage
murakami wants to connect to those who have travelled the same path
he then shares the process by which he came to know his true self
in an increasingly sedentary and interactive world he found a way out
he has created a private, moveable, reliable place to retune his compass
if that speaks to your soul great / if not, murakami would say "...move on..."
11 people found this helpful
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Overall
- A. Yerkes
- 06-09-09
pretty good
I had no problem with the narrator -- his reading is unaffected. I loved the first half of the book, as the writer made philosophical connections between running and writing. His claim that writing is like summoning up a toxin from deep inside will stay with me forever. But in the second half of the book, it succumbed to the common error of fitness books by focusing only on the details of his own training, goal-setting, disappointments, and I stopped caring. Still, compared to the jockish egoism of so many running books, I was impressed and identified strongly with Murakami's individualist outlook and will now check out some of his novels.
4 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Kyle
- 09-04-08
Great memoir.
To my great delight, I found this memoir on running nearly as interesting as Murakami's fiction. I have no interest in running, nor did this book inspire me to pull out my running shoes, but there was plenty to chew on both as an avid Murakami reader and as an individual. Some of his insights on life unexpectedly struck strong chords with me. We are such different people, yet some things are the same.
4 people found this helpful