Weekly Reads: The Terrible and Wonderful Reasons Why I Run Long Distances

Almost everyone knows of The Oatmeal blog, and nearly every runner does as well with the explosion of his comics "Running Your First Marathon" and "The Blerch" and the race series that has come from the blerch. So being an avid blog reader and runner, I had to get my hands on a copy of The Terrible and Wonderful Reasons Why I Run Long Distances. It did not disappoint. There were some familiar cartoons from the blog, and there were new comics I hadn't seen before, but familiar LOLZ all around. This would make an awesome gift for an running fiend, and is great for non-runners to read to better understand their insane running sibling/partner/friend/etc./etc.

And bonus: The book comes with two stickers for your car. Since I had my library's copy, I didn't take them, although I really really really really wanted to.

My rating: 4.5 stars

Summary from goodreads:

"All runners wonder, at some point or another, why we do what we do. Mr. Inman's explanation is the best I've ever seen. And the funniest. Because he is clinically insane."
-Mark Remy, editor at large, Runner's World, author of The Runner's Rule Book

"He runs. He sweats. He heaves. He hates it. He loves it. He runs so hard his toenails fall off. He asks himself, why? Why do I do this? Here, gorgeously, bravely, hilariously, is Matt's deeply honest answer."
-Robert Krulwich, NPR

"Finally! A voice that sings with the Blerches of angels!"
-Christopher McDougall, author of Born to Run

Weekly Reads (Listens): One More Thing

One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories is The Office's B.J. Novak's first novel. I picked up the audiobook version after failing to listen to Mindy Kaling and Tina Fey's books on audio instead of reading them. NEVER AGAIN will I make this mistake. This one was narrated by B.J. along with many guest narrators. The stories are all short stories, although there are some themes that run through several stories. I listened to this while running and there were moments when I was actually laughing out loud. And then there were times that the stories were just...okay.

Definitely worth a read or a listen.

My rating: 3 stars.

Summary from Goodreads:

From an actor, writer, and director of the hit TV comedy The Office (US version): a story collection that was "workshopped" at comedy clubs and bookstores on both coasts.

B.J. Novak's One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories is an endlessly entertaining, surprisingly sensitive, and startlingly original debut collection that signals the arrival of a welcome new voice in American fiction.

Across a dazzling range of subjects, themes, tones, and narrative voices, Novak's assured prose and expansive imagination introduce readers to people, places, and premises that are hilarious, insightful, provocative, and moving-often at the same time.

In One More Thing, a boy wins a $100,000 prize in a box of Frosted Flakes - only to discover that claiming the winnings may unravel his family. A woman sets out to seduce motivational speaker Tony Robbins - turning for help to the famed motivator himself. A school principal unveils a bold plan to permanently abolish arithmetic. An acclaimed ambulance driver seeks the courage to follow his heart and throw it all away to be a singer-songwriter. Author John Grisham contemplates a monumental typo. A new arrival in heaven, overwhelmed by infinite options, procrastinates over his long-ago promise to visit his grandmother. We meet a vengeance-minded hare, obsessed with scoring a rematch against the tortoise who ruined his life; and post-college friends who debate how to stage an intervention in the era of Facebook. We learn why wearing a red t-shirt every day is the key to finding love; how February got its name; and why the stock market is sometimes just... down.

Finding inspiration in questions from the nature of perfection to the icing on carrot cake, from the deeply familiar to the intoxicatingly imaginative,One More Thing finds its heart in the most human of phenomena: love, fear, family, ambition, and the inner stirring for the one elusive element that might make a person complete. The stories in this collection are like nothing else, but they have one thing in common: they share the playful humor, deep heart, inquisitive mind, and altogether electrifying spirit of a writer with a fierce devotion to the entertainment of the reader.