Book Of The Week: Haruki Murakami's "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running"

I was given this memoir a few Christmas' ago by my parents with a note written on the title page. It read 'Never Give Up on Yourself or Your Dreams'. A more fitting comment could not have been added to the pages of this brilliant work by acclaimed Japanese author Haruki Murakami.

As a gifted writer and translator, Murakami has been responsible for several award-winning works of fiction including The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and 2005's Kafka By The Shore, as well as dozens of short story compilations.

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running is Murakami's memoir of his experiences in training for the New York City Marathon. It is a beautiful and visceral depiction of one man's motivation and will to overcome the obstacles placed in the way by conditions such as age and fatigue. It is memoir, yet at the same time an instructional guide. A guide to never relenting on your dreams and the acknowledgement of mind over body. His penchant for description is as concise and as acute as is in his fictional works, but this time with a pinch of humour unseen in his previous works.

The title is a play on Raymond Carver's acclaimed collection of short stories What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.

I have read Murakami's memoir four times, with each time fueling my fire to succeed more so than the time before.

It is not my intention to sound-off as per the soap box this site provides, but Haruki Murakami's guidance applies to all and discriminates not in its lesson; the mind is truly exponentially more powerful than the body and the pursuit of completing the arduous task of running 26.2 miles is a metaphor for life's other obstacles.

The guardedly private Japanese writer opens-up not only about the struggles to train for a marathon, but also the challenges that writers face. This book could not speak to me in a clearer and more poignant voice than it does. Despite the fact that many of you may not be a writer like myself, or even a runner as I used to be, and am currently struggling to retain that same form, this memoir appeals to anyone that feels challenged to achieve in life what you desire.