15/08/19: Haruki Murakami – What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (2007)

Gently philosophical meditations on being a runner and a writer.

Murakami listens to the Lovin’ Spoonful and ponders the meaning of tackling marathons and triathlons as he grows older.

I found the following passage the most interesting:

“I’m often asked what I think about as I run. Usually the people who ask this have never run long distances themselves. I always ponder the question. What exactly do I think about when I’m running? I don’t have a clue.

On cold days I guess I think a little about how cold it is. And about the heat on hot days. When I’m sad I think a little about sadness. When I’m happy I think a little about happiness. As I mentioned before, random memories come to me too. And occasionally, hardly ever, really, I get an idea to use in a novel. But really as I run, I don’t think much of anything worth mentioning.

I just run. I run in a void. Or maybe I should put it the other way: I run in order to acquire a void. But as you might expect, an occasional thought will slip into this void. People’s minds can’t be a complete blank. Human beings’ emotions are not strong or consistent enough to sustain a vacuum. What I mean is, the kinds of thoughts and ideas that invade my emotions as I run remain subordinate to that void. Lacking content, they are just random thoughts that gather around that central void.”

12/01/16: Crystal Zevon (ed.) – I’ll Sleep When I'm Dead: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon (2007)

A fascinating oral history told in subtly interwoven recollections by Warren Zevon's friends, girlfriends, family and professional associates. He emerges as a deeply troubled character – at various points an alcoholic, wife-beater and womaniser. These issues are further complicated by his severe OCD and superstition. It's not a pretty picture that emerges, but before his death Zevon had apparently given his blessing that this full, unvarnished story of his life should be told.

If there's a criticism, it's that there's not enough detail about the music. You hear of his records being made, but because this story is told by others there is very little about the writing of the songs or how it felt to play them. The book does, however, include snippets from Zevon's own diaries – sometimes extremely personal, as when relaying intimate details of his affairs with various girlfriends (the addiction that replaced his addiction to alcohol). If you are prepared for the harrowing reality, this is a must-read book. It might not make you like this complex and brilliant man, but it will help you to understand him a little better.

29/09/14: Jason Bitner – Found Polaroids (2007)

Found Polaroids is an interesting anthology of pictures picked up and sent in to Found Magazine. Each left-hand page contains a brief caption: where the photo was found and perhaps a few thoughts about the origins or meaning of the image. The right-hand page is the photograph itself. The format is very simple and seems to have disappointed reviewers, but I found this to be a rewarding book. The best pictures are deeply mysterious: who are these people and places? Why were the polaroids taken and why were they later lost?

23/08/13: Michèle Roberts – Paper Houses: A Memoir of the '70s and Beyond (2007)

Not many books could contain all of these sentences:

1. "All my life as a writer I have loved the semicolon."

2. "I had seen Suzy Seven-Up in a bar on Patpong smoking seven cigarettes through her c*** at once: I showed Bertie that I could do the same."

3. "I was so terrified I shat my trousers."

4. "Goodness: I'd become a lesbian."

5. "I could watch the sunset melt into blue-grey night, pick out the coiled lazy snake of the motorway, creased and glittering with cars, the oblongs of tower-blocks pitted with gold. Above me, jets trailed jewels."

The author writes nicely, whether it's on the wonders of working as a librarian at the British Museum or detailing her various London flats and the people she shared them with, and there are some very evocative passages: "In summer, people kept their long fron windows open to the night, rectangles of gold releasing the hot clatter of jazz."

She takes herself very seriously – not necessarily a bad thing. As an insight into life in London in the 1970s, this is a fascinating and rewarding read.

11/08/13: Ian McEwan – On Chesil Beach (2007)

Edward Mayhew and Florence Ponting have just been married and are honeymooning in a hotel at Chesil Beach, Dorset, in 1962. But on their first night together they are separated by class and expectations, and the physical consummation that Edward so craves is repellent to Florence.

How this very English scenario plays out – and the events that led up to this evening, and those that lead away from it – are played out in McEwan's ultra-focused, almost clinically precise prose over 166 pages. It's compelling stuff.

05/01/13: Nicola Barker – Darkmans (2007)

“Beede was the original architect of the unflinching stare. Beede’s stare was so steady he could make an owl crave Optrex.”

Shortlisted for the 2007 Booker Prize, this is a seemingly chaotic sprawl of characters and situations that somehow starts to fit together. The characters are particularly strong. It's funny, too. Nicola Barker has a real gift for language and phrasing that at times recalls (early) Martin Amis. It's a long book and is best read in big chunks so that you can digest the hugely imaginative scope of it and become totally immersed in the world it creates.