Books || What I Talk About When I Talk About Running ~ Haruki Murakami

If you are a runner, or hope to take up running sometime in your life, you must read this book. If you are a writer, or hope to become one, you must read this book. If you plan to do neither, you must still, read this book.

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running is a memoir, by Haruki Murakami, a Japanese writer.

Photo Credit: Upton (Creative Commons)

Humble.

This is the word that best describes Murakami. The manner in which he describes how he sold his jazz bar to take up writing, and eventually running, makes you feel like he did nothing big or great, and yet he did. The book made me feel thankful and hopeful that there are still such people in this world.

The man is in his 60s now, he was in his late 50s when he wrote the book. He took up marathon running in the later part of his life, middle-age. The way he’s trained his body to adapt to such a rigourous lifestyle is simply amazing. 

The book could inspire you to run. Write too, perhaps. But more importantly, it opens you to a certain way of life, a certain attitude towards it. Like this, for instance:

My time, the rank I attain, my outward appearance - all of these are secondary. For a runner like me, what's really important is reaching the goal I set myself, under my own power. I give it everything I have, endure what needs enduring, and am able, in my own way, to be satisfied. From out of the failures and joys I always try to come away having grasped a concrete lesson. (It's got to be concrete, no matter how small it is.) And I hope that, over time, as one race follows another, in the end I'll reach a place I'm content with. Or maybe just catch a glimpse of it. (Yes, that's a more appropriate way of putting it.)

He talks at length about his experiences with running, participating in different marathons, losing the passion to run, and then gaining it all back again. Of his reasons for taking up running, he writes:

People sometimes sneer at those who run every day, claiming they'll go to any length to live longer. But don't think that's the reason most people run. Most runners run not because they want to live longer, but because they want to live life to the fullest. If you're going to while away the years, it's far better to live them with clear goals and fully alive than in a fog, and I believe running helps you do that. Exerting yourself to the fullest within your individual limits: that's the essence of running, and a metaphor for life - and for me, for writing as a whole. I believe many runners would agree. 

He also talks a lot about his writing.

Writing novels, to me, is basically a kind of manual labor. Writing itself is mental labor, but finishing an entire book is closer to manual labor. It doesn't involve heavy lifting, running fast or leaping high. Most people, though, only see the surface reality of writing and think of writers as involved in quiet, intellectual work done in their study. If you have the strength to lift a coffee cup, they figure, you can write a novel. But once you try your hand at it, you soon find that it isn't as peaceful a job as it seems.

Murakami says that he writes one word at a time. Like he runs, one step at a time. And that’s all it takes.

The beauty of the book is that there is something quotable in almost every page. But this is the one that stuck with me the most:

Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.

Try it!

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Books || Stephen King ~ On Writing

A few months ago, I made a list of the things I enjoy doing, deciding to spend time doing each of these. Writing was on that list.

In an effort to understand writing better, I attended a Sunday workshop on creative writing. As it turned out, I didn't end up learning anything great over there. What did happen however, was that as I was participating in the various writing exercises, I realized how easily words came to me. And how they never stopped.

I decided to spend more time pursuing the art of writing. I got regular on my blog. I opened up Word docs at random and started to type. Suddenly, I was surrounded by diaries and notepads, scribbling away furiously. Read-able or not, writing is the one thing that absorbs me completely, holds my attention, as long as it pleases. My muse can have me, take me away, anytime, anywhere. Its wish is my command.

Anyway, there are two books I read that further inspired me to take my writing seriously. And, I'd like to talk about one of them today. It's written by Stephen King, and it's called ON WRITING.

The best thing that happened to me after I read this book was that I started to believe that I could write too. Earlier, when I read great and wonderful books, I used to wish I could write like that too, but I thought I never could. Mr. King reconfirmed that for me. Through his book he told me, of course, I could never write like that. But I could write like only I could. I could tell the stories that only I could tell, through my perceptions, that are unique to me. It was encouraging. I began to write more.

King puts forth his theory about the different kinds writers there are. This has stayed with me, and I think about it almost everyday. He says the four different kinds of writers are: Bad Writer, Competent Writer, Good Writer and Great Writer.

The interesting part is this: according to King, a bad writer can never become a competent one, and a good writer can never become a great one. But a competent writer can certainly hope, aspire and work towards becoming a good one. I have somehow taken the liberty to assume myself a competent writer, and spend every day of my life trying to become a good one. I hope I shall succeed some day.

I would say that this book is a must-read for anyone hoping to take up writing at some point in their lives. Even if you don't, the book is still an interesting read. Try it!

You can purchase the book here, or here.

I'll leave you with a quote from the book:

"Stopping a piece of work just because it's hard, either emotionally or imaginatively, is a bad idea. Sometimes you have to go on when you don't feel like it, and sometimes you're doing good work when it feels like all you're managing is to shovel shit from a sitting position."

Do you know of any inspiring books on writing? Please do share!

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