Truth be told, as big a fan as I am of Haruki Murakami, I was a little skeptical about paying $22 for a short (170 pages!) hardcover memoir about running of all things. Little did I realize that underneath the book’s exterior lies the pleasant truth about the writings of one of my favorite contemporary writers. (And it doesn’t hurt that buying a copy allowed me to get into a book signing to see him!)

While What I Talk About When I Talk About Running really is a collected group of autobiographical chapters written between 2005 and 2006, Murakami reveals a lot about his own personal history as a writer, which is not only incredibly interesting but also motivating for those of us readers who actually want to be writers ourselves. In essence, he shows us how something like running can be a metaphor for writing, which is an interesting idea. He’s very honest about it too, which is refreshing, and unlike many other writers.

Surprisingly, Running reads like many of Murakami’s novels, which just goes to show that not only is this none other than Haruki Murakami, but that a lot of his protagonists are pretty much based on himself.

Obviously one of the problems with the book is that it’s short, but that’s really more of a disappointment than a flaw on Murakami’s part. Sure, it probably could’ve been longer, but he says exactly what he wants to say; it’s not like a novel in which a story might benefit from some additions.

Fans of Murakami definitely should consider giving this a try, even if autobiographies aren’t really your thing. It definitely gives you some major insight into what goes on in the mind of the man, and it’s well worth the short time it takes to read.