I’ve only ever read one book by Haruki Murakami before and for some strange reason I thought this one would be more about writing. He does talk a little bit about his writing process and how running is a part of it and I completely believe that physical activity helps clear the mind and get the juices flowing as they say. He’s a great writer. He obviously has a passion for this that I truly admire that comes through in his writing. I just wish I was a little bit interested in running. Seriously, I walk a lot and have every now and again considered running but yeah, it’s just not my thing. I would probably trip and fall and I definitely wouldn’t make it very far.
The point I took from the book though is training your mind is as important as training your body and if you love something do it often so that you can do it well. Never give up on it. His descriptive prose is so good that this book made me want to go to New York in the fall, Greece in the summer and Hawaii pretty much whenever. It just didn’t make me want to run.
This book was recommended by a friend and I’m glad I read it. I see it more as life lessons book that I think could work for anyone but Murakami fans and running/marathon fans would love it.