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| Author: Haruki Murakami
Creator: Philip Gabriel
Publisher: Harvill Secker
Category: Book
List Price: £9.99
Buy New: £5.99
You Save: £4.00 (40%)
New (32) Used (6) from £4.35
Avg. Customer Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 201
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 192
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.9
ISBN: 1846552206
EAN: 9781846552205
ASIN: 1846552206
Publication Date: August 7, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
 OK, but not brilliant September 26, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
On the whole, I did enjoy this book. I bought it because I'm a runner not because I've read anything by him before. Great to read someone else's take on distance running and some of his observations are indeed spot on but I'm afraid a number of things grated with me. Take these two quotations - "I don't care about the time I run" and "competing against time isn't important". Mmm. Makes him very different from every serious runner I know!! And he IS a serious runner who later on is disappointed by his time in New York and tries hard to analyse the reason. He's also obsessed by the fact that, in his mid-50s, he's past it "that's what happens when you get older" which I found to be somewhat pessimistic. At 60 now, I'm lucky enough to be running better than I have for years - maybe he should rejig his philosophy? One other thing - some of the prose I found to be very jerky, with some use of idiom which doesn't ring true somehow. OK, English isn't his native tongue, fair enough but I notice the book has been translated from the Japanese by someone else. Perhaps it's the translator's fault. But then Murakami has lived in the US and is translating Scott Fitzgerald, implying, I would have thought, an excellent command of the language? Do you have to be a runner to appreciate this book? No, but it would definitely help. His description of how it feels at around 22 miles in the Marathon is right on the money and I like very much his would-be epitaph - "he never walked" to go with his assertion that the marathon is, after all "a running event" something many entrants to London could do with remembering.
 Inspiring and humble September 12, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I have just finished reading this book and have to say that i thought it was an excellent read. I am not a fan of Murakami's novels (i abandoned the Wind Up Bird Chronicle half way through) but this has whetted my apetite to perhaps try another.
This book was written by a genuine running enthusiast and fan. He comes across as no different to any runner that i have encountered and this is why the book works. He expresses the thoughts and feelings that most runners will be familiar with, the insecurities around training, the nerves when competing and the frustration with injuries.
I have been running for years and found this both inspiring and motivational. It is written with a light touch and does not seem to take itself to serious which lends it a charm.
I'd recommend this book to any runner!
Fantastic Material for runner even non runners can benefit from it !! Very Inspiring !! September 10, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I found this book very inspiring and charming. When I started reading it, I found it hard to stop, literally read it from cover to cover ...not many books do that to me.
This book is very thought provoking, it makes you think about yourself, goals, its about achievement as well as doing something to live life to the fullest!! Its also about passion and lessons to be learned,and overcoming failure
I love running and this book has motivated me to keep going and set new goals not just in running but also helped drive my motivation to learn new skills and avoid procastination
He talks about how ''if something is worth doing, its worth giving it your best, even more than your best'' !!
I highly recommend this book to people who love running , and other sports. Even for the non-sporty, there is a lot to be learned from this book !!
 Disappointed September 8, 2008
1 out of 11 found this review helpful
Perhaps the best novelist out there and he comes out with this non-fiction entry after a long hiatus. What readers want more of are the incredible stories and characters. How about a follow-up to Norweigan Wood or South of the Border? The fans do not want to wait such a long time to be let down by receivership of a matter-of-fact title.
I know how he feels August 16, 2008
16 out of 17 found this review helpful
Well I'm coming at this from he opposite direction from Emma (above), but I agree with her assessment of the book.
As a 50-something runner and lover of Murakami's novels I found this fascinating - read it in one sitting (well, lying - it was an overnight hospital stay).
Recmmended for runners and couch potatoes alike.
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