What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

I have a great respect for Murakami Haruki as a writer. His style may frequently be somewhat less-than-literary, but his novels, almost without fail, are always entertaining, and a few of them, particularly After Dark and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. If nothing else, a unique style and atmosphere permeates all of his writing, and despite being nonfiction, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running manages to capture the same aura. Part memoir, part exercise journal, part creative musing, Murakami gives a series of insights into his creative process through his attraction to running and small speeches about his life. He may be beginning to age (I believe he turns 60 this year), but he seems to be holding together quite well, and his writing shows that nothing so simple will end up as his bane.

If nothing else, the book comes across as a bit egotistical- he is, after all, assuming that his thoughts are relevant- but with Murakami perhaps such a thing is well-earned. In any case, the book is fundamentally interesting, but to one who doesn't appreciate his writing I daresay that reading it would be a terrible choice.

SCORE: 58/100