running, reading, nonsense.
This is the memoir of William Finnegan, a detailed and lovingly retold account of a life. Love, drugs, travel, apartheid, war reporting. Between it all, between every facet of his life, like a spider web which returns each time it is brushed away, is waves. Surfing, in all weathers, all lands, thick, thin, overhead, glass… Continue reading Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life
I have completed the Adharanand Finn Trilogy. First I read his latest (and greatest?), The Rise of the Ultrarunners, then his first book, Running with the Kenyans, and now his middle child: the deep immersion and investigation into the fascinating world of Japanese running culture, The Way of the Runner. I am a big fan… Continue reading The Way of the Runner, and the Long Game.
There is no magic bullet when it comes to getting better at running. When it comes right down to it, being an excellent runner is a combination (mostly) of two things: commitment to training, and genetics. For those willing to commit to the training (regardless of whether or not genetics are on their side) there’s… Continue reading Runners Book Club: The Lost Art of Running.
Markus Torgeby was an extremely talented teenage runner, but he could never quite get things together in races. The potential that everyone could see - his family, his coaches, himself - was struggling to come into fruition. Running was Markus’ solace, a way to make his body and mind sing together. He struggled in school,… Continue reading Runners Book Club: The Runner.
This book came to me courtesy of the algorithm. Having previously read Richard Askwith’s Running Free my Kindle felt obliged to line this up next, and I’m glad that it did. Vybarr Cregan-Reid’s Footnotes: How Running Makes Us Human is, again, partially a memoir on running experience. Like Askwith, he is a runner who prefers… Continue reading Runners Book Club: Footnotes.
Most of the running books I’ve read have looked into the world of the elite. I’ve read about insane ultrarunners, for instance, learned of legends like Emile Zátopek, and have heard all about the intense natural ability of Kenyan marathon runners. It’s always nice to get a different perspective though, hence the enduring appeal of… Continue reading Runners Book Club: Your Pace or Mine?
Paul Tonkinson’s 26.2 Miles to Happiness: A Comedian’s Tale of Running, Red Wine, and Redemption has quickly ascended towards the top of my running book podium. It is, admittedly, a relatively small pile, as reading about running is still a newer habit of mine but, nevertheless, it is very good. Trust me. Although that pile… Continue reading Runners Book Club: 26.2 Miles to Happiness.
I don’t listen to a lot of audiobooks, but as I continue to step up the volume of books that I read I am finding Audible to be a useful and, more importantly, fun way to sneak an extra book into my roster. Towards the end of last year I read The Handmaids Tale this… Continue reading The Dutch House
This is a book about living hard. About trying. About how trying sometimes isn’t enough. In this his novel from 2014 author Smith Henderson pulls no punches as he paints a portrait of America as a hive of contradictions. In it he explores concepts of freedom and of anarchy and of social responsibility. It is… Continue reading Fourth of July Creek
With the New Year coming around the corner the time to make resolutions is upon us. But I’m not really one for patience. What I want to do, with this blog at least, is make it a little more focused, and a lot more full. Sunday Morning Stuff will continue as the place for me… Continue reading Lost Hills
