What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

I've just finished Harumi Marakumi's book 'What I Talk About When I Talk About Running' and I rather enjoyed the book. I've always wanted to get down to reading one of Marakumi's books but there's a whole pile-up of books at my bedside table that I have yet to read. The reason I have so many books left to read is because of the simple fact that I cannot go to a bookstore and buy just one book. I have to get at least a half dozen each time I'm there. I completely over-estimate how much I can read at each given moment and well, long story short, I wind up with a book pile-up.

Lately, I've also started trying to read as many books as I can. I was a total nerd when I was a kid. I think I was the only kid in the world whose parents worried that I read too much. And I'm not exaggerating, I swear I used to get punished all the time because I wouldn't do my homework or go to bed at night because my nose was in a book. Even now if a book is particularly gripping, it would take sheer and complete exhaustion for me to even consider leaving a story on hold for a couple of hours. I have been guilty of going to work groggy because I absolutely HAD to finish a book at 5am in the morning.

Over the past couple of years though, my reading has slowed down a lot and I've taken to reading trashy magazines, running magazines and basically anything shorter in length. This I found a bit tragic, because my imagination was disappearing and replaced purely with the latest Hollywood gossip. So middle of the year I decided I needed a plan to get myself back on track with the reading. I found a list of books online ('101 books to read before you die'...I decided that '1001 books to read before you die' was being overly ambitious) and decided to try to read most, if not all, of it by the end of the year. As of last week, I don't think I was even halfway through, although I have read 8 books since I started.

So, with my book pile-up coupled with my self-imposed need to finish reading the books on my reading list, I had no time to actually get down to reading one of Marakumi's books. I happened to read a review about 'What I Talk About When I Talk About Running' in a magazine and it seemed interesting enough, but I forgot about it after a while. But I saw the book again when I was wandering around the Bangkok airport and it caught my eye. I figured since I finished one of the books on my list on the way there, I had nothing left to read on the plane ride back and I could do with a break from being a slave to my list.

Personally I rather enjoyed the book. I found it funny, entertaining and at moments motivating. I loved how I could almost hear Marakumi speaking through the words and how it was such an easy read. It probably won't win a Booker prize, nor will people sit around discussing the complex literary themes in the book, but to begin with, it should be read as a sort of a biography and also sometimes I just think it's great to read a book not because it's some critically acclaimed masterpiece but just because one simply enjoys reading it or because the book speaks to one in a way no other deep, intellectual book has (well, probably because I think I'm really not all that deep and intellectual to begin with).

I ramble though...this entry was just meant to say that 'What I Talk About When I Talk About Running' by Harumi Marakumi is a book I particularly enjoy and would recommend to non pseudo-intellects. Somehow I managed to make it into an essay!