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What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
	First edition
Author	Haruki Murakami
Original title	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
Translator	Philip Gabriel
Language	Japanese
Genre	Memoir
Published	2007 (JP); 2008 (Knopf) (US);
Publication place	Japan
Media type	Print (Hardcover)
Pages	175 (US Hardcover)
ISBN	0-307-26919-1
OCLC	226314473

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 to English 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 What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.

Content

Murakami writes "For me, running is both exercise and a metaphor."^[1] Throughout the book, he writes of how running informs his creative life.

He recalls his inspiration to become a novelist, which occurred while watching a baseball game: "The crack of bat meeting ball right on the sweet spot echoed through the stadium. Hilton easily rounded first and pulled up to second. And it was at that exact moment that a thought struck me: You know what? I could try writing a novel. I still can remember the wide open sky, the feel of the new grass, the satisfying crack of the bat. Something flew down from the sky at that instant, and, whatever it was, I accepted it."^[2] Before that, he had owned a jazz club, which he sold after his first two novels were published. "Most people I knew were flat out against my decision, or else had grave doubts about it. 'Your business is doing fine now' they said. 'Why not just let someone else run it for a time while you go and write your novels?' From the world's viewpoint this makes perfect sense. And most people probably didn't think I'd make it as a professional writer. But I couldn't follow their advice. I'm the kind of person who has to totally commit to whatever I do."^[3] After that, he started running long distances to stay healthy. He found success with the novels A Wild Sheep Chase and Norwegian Wood.

Much of the book describes his training for the New York City Marathon; he describes running from Athens to Marathon, Greece, an ultramarathon in Hokkaido and a triathlon in Murakami, Niigata Prefecture. He writes of translating F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and the complete works of Raymond Carver into Japanese. He writes that "Most of what I know about writing I've learned through running every day."^[4]

Reception

Reviews

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running received generally positive reviews. On The Omnivore, an aggregator of British and American press reviews, the book received an score of 3 out of 5.^[5] On Bookmarks Magazine Nov/Dec 2008 issue, a magazine that aggregates critic reviews of books, the book received a (3.0 out of 5) based on critic reviews with the critical summary saying, "Haruki Murakami has established himself as one of the most interesting and innovative novelists of the last two decades, combining pop culture with a magic-realistic sensibility that has garnered the author a faithful following".^[6]^[7] Globally, Complete Review showed many reviews from various publications that range from scores such as "C," "C-," "F."^[8]

Review from The New York Times
Review from The New York Sun
Review from The Los Angeles Times
Review from The Times
Review from The Christian Science Monitor
Review from The Daily Telegraph
Review from The Daily Telegraph
Review from the Stanford Social Innovation Review

External links

Interview with Murakami from Runner's World

References

^ Murakami, Haruki. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. p. 10.
^ Murakami, Haruki. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. pp. 27–28.
^ Murakami, Haruki. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. p. 31.
^ Murakami, Haruki. What I Talk About Running. pp. 81–82.
^ "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running". The Omnivore. Archived from the original on 26 Mar 2016. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
^ "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: A Memoir By Haruki Murakami". Bookmarks Magazine. Archived from the original on 6 Sep 2015. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
^ "Haruki Murakami – Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage". Culture Critic. Archived from the original on 2 Oct 2014. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
^ "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running". Complete Review. 2023-10-04. Retrieved 2023-10-04.