Tuesday, June 24, 2008

haruki murakami: running novelist



i had never heard of japanese author haruki murakami, but earlier this month i found a brief description of his upcoming book, "what i talk about when i talk about running." the book has already been released in japan, and the english translation is set for a late july release here in the united states. i immediately thought to myself, "oh, another book like 'strides: running through history with an unlikely athlete,' by ben cheever, a writer who happens to run."

since i enjoyed the cheever book earlier this year, i made a mental note to look for a copy of the murakami book later this summer. i'll read just about anything connected with runners and running. then, less than a week after learning about the forthcoming book, as a beneficiary of emmy's magazine recycling program, she gave me the most recent issue of the new yorker, "because it had an article about a runner in it." but, she warned me, "it might not be too interesting since it really didn't talk all that much about running."

when i took a look, it turned out to be the "life and letters" piece, by none other than haruki murakami, entitled: the running novelist: learning how to go the distance!" wow, coincidence or eerie forboding? either way, the piece was an interesting background on the man, his early career as a nightclub owner, eventual author, and converted daily runner (who then graduated to road races and marathons).

so from a mental note to be on the look-out for his book, i'm now on the pre-order list ;D

fyi: runners world was already on the scene with this interview of murakami back in 2005!



update: here is the link to my reveiw of haruki murakami's "what i talk about when i talk about running: a memoir."

6 comments:

Bill Carter said...

Very cool and I will definitely check it out. I love to read anything that has anything to do with running.

CTmarathoner said...

this is you ---the running writer:)

Nora said...

Thanks for the tipoff. I didn't really get absorbed into Kafka on the Shore and so haven't read anything else by him, but I might give this a try.

Anonymous said...

I read the article in the New Yorker: Interesting. His title reminds me of a Raymond Carver story, "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love."

Jimbozoom

Amit said...

i am a huge murakami fan (and a currently somewhat unmotivated runner due to the heat!). the wind up bird chronicles might be one of my favorite pieces of current fiction. once you've read his work you might dwell further on the 'coincidence or eerie forboding'...

enjoy =)

prakash murthy said...

I loved the article; read it a while ago on print. Now was looking for an on-line version of it to include in my First Marathon Blog and arrived at this entry. Looks like only an abstract of the article is available on-line.

However I am glad I came to this blog of a runner / writer / off-beat personality! Good collection of links on the right side!