"Dare to do" by Sarah Outen

Bought this kindle book (plus audible add on read by the author which is excellent!) after watching the film doco of Sarah’s journey last night (The film is called "Home" you can see a trailer HERE). The film was inspiring yet honest and raw so I think the book will make an impression too.
Started reading: 2nd October 2020
Finished: 16th October 2020

My thoughts: 10/10

Listened to the audio version, and it was awesome. Inspiring, honest, raw, fun in parts, challenging in others. I also appreciated reading/listening to an adventure like this by a woman, especially a queer woman, and found it very refreshing and powerful and I could really connect with the story in ways that I often struggle to with most adventure stories that more often than not seem to be from straight white men.

 Book stats: Genre: non-fiction, adventure, memoir. Female author. LGBTIQ+. 10/10

 

“Cadence - travels with music” by Emma/Eddie Ayres

Started reading on my kindle: 10th Sept 2020.
Finished: 15th Sept 2020
My score/review: 10/10 - One of the best, or even the best, memoir I’ve ever read. Beautifully written, inspiring story, and interesting intelligent and compassionate writer that I felt an instant connection with, easy to read, even made me wish I could read music and play an instrument. Impressive for one book.

Aussie author stats: Although born in the UK, Eddie has dual nationality from what I read online, so I think this counts as a book by an Aussie Author for the Aussie Author Challenge. 

"What I talk about when I talk about running" by Haruki Murakami

I picked up this book at my favourite second-hand book shop - Adelaide's Pop-Up Bookshop - currently at the Adelaide Central Markets. I haven't read any other books by Haruki Murakami before, but am aware he's a prolific and highly regarded author. I chose this book because it is about running, something I love doing when I can motivate myself to do it regularly, and although I don't consider myself particularly talented at it, it brings me a lot of positive experiences and a way to process my thoughts.

I really enjoyed this book as it is an insightful contemplation of training for and completing marathons (and triathlons) in various locations around the world. The way the author describes his meditative experiences of running really resonate with me, and I also have contemplated some of the same things he ruminates on while running. As someone who has also trained for and travelled to New York to participate in running events (the New York Marathon for Murakami, the 15km Ted Corbitt run in Central Park for me) I have also experienced similar feelings and scenes.

The book is well written and I really enjoyed Murakami's writing style. This particular book is translated from the Japanese by Philip Gabriel, I'm unsure if he has translated other books by Murakami, but it was a pleasure to read and I will be looking out for more books by this author/translator team. 

While I have not yet run a half marathon or a marathon, both are on my bucket list, maybe for 2020. I have had a break from running for most of this year - I struggle to find the energy during the heat of summer - but winter is here now and so I have recently started running 3-5km once a week again and once again am about to start building up a regular running routine. I find having a goal event to work towards and look forward to helps with starting or re-starting a regular running routine, but once habituated again I become addicted to running and feel out of sorts when I am prevented from running for some reason. Reading Murakami's thoughts and experiences of regularly running long distances while aged in his 30s-50s was encouraging, plus the way he planned for and travelled to specific places to run events contributed to motivating me to set some new running goals. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys long distance running, or is trying to find motivation for any kind of endurance exercise. 

Started reading: 11th July 2019
Finished: 21st July 2019
My score: 9/10

"Child of the Sea" by Doina Cornell

Started reading: 29 July 2016
Finished: 6 August 2016
My score: 8/10
I will write a review soon.

"Tsunami and the single girl" by Krissy Nicholson

I read this book as part of the Aussie Author Challenge. It's basically a memoir written by an Australian woman in her 30s about her life as an international aid worker for Oxfam combined with her search for "Mr. Right". In many ways I found it to be a book of contrasts, which is probably reflective of the authors life, one minute dealing with humanitarian emergency situations and the next some fairly shallow relationship or party situation. While at times the search for romance and social distractions were a bit annoying and seemed to be at odds with the more serious topics covered in the book, other times it did provide comic relief. It also perhaps makes this book appeal to a wider audience who might not otherwise choose to read a book about humanitarian disasters in Africa or Asia, and gives an insight into the cultures, differences, challenges of these different countries and communities and what is actually involved in aid work in these emergency situations. I had mixed opinions about this book, some aspects I really enjoyed and as I didnt really know much about how all these sorts of aid programs are run and what it must be like to be an aid worker I found this really interesting. However some of the more shallow, immature, selfish side stories often jarred with the professional, hard-working, aid worker stories. While in some ways this made the book more honest and 'real' it also detracted a bit from the overall enjoyment of the book for me personally. I score this book 6/10. That said, the book still inspired me to want to do more, especially for women, who don't have all the wonderful opportunities that we take for granted living in Australian cities, so if this book has a similar effect on other readers then that is a great achievement by the author.

Started reading on my kindle: 26th October 2013
Finished: 3rd November 2013
My score: 6/10