My coffee today is Counter Culture Apollo.  I used to drink this coffee a few years ago, and just recently picked up a bag after a long hiatus.  It’s still good.   A blend of several Ethiopian beans, it is self-described as “citrus, floral, and silky.”   I’ll describe it as smooth, light-medium body, and easy drinking.  It’s a good balanced light roast that doesn’t hit you with a overly powerful flavor punch first thing in the morning.    Here’s more info from the roasters: https://counterculturecoffee.com/shop/coffee/apollo

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This is an afternoon edition of the SMLR.  I slept in a bit this morning, and by the time I was starting to type away, Finley woke up and the morning stillness was broken.   I spent about an hour with her before taking off to work.

I needed the sleep though.   I am an early riser generally, but over the course of the week the 430 am wake-up regimen causes sleep debt to slowly accumulate.  I magnified that yesterday with a 340 am wake-up in order to get my long run done by 830, and by yesterday afternoon I was feeling the cumulative fatigue from the whole week.  So I went to bet at 9 last night and slept a bit longer than normal this morning.  The body and mind benefit, but the blog suffers.

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A book review review:

I read a book review in the Economist this past week that piqued my interest.  The reason I bring it up is not to call attention to the book (My Struggle: Book Six, by Karl Ove Knausgard), but rather to how the review was written, and its reverse-psychology effect.  It’s a lukewarm review at best, and the review writer is pretty conflicted about the book.  He or she can’t seem to discern whether it is a unique gem, or a train-wreck; as it shows signs of both.  Adding to the confusion is the fact that it reportedly has an almost cult-like following both within and beyond the author’s native Norway.  A few telling snippets from the review:

“My Struggle” is a phenomenon. In Mr Knausgaard’s native Norway one in ten people owns a copy of one of the volumes, but its popularity is global. “It’s completely blown my mind,” said Zadie Smith, likening her yearning for the next book to the crack-addict’s hunger for another hit.

It is also one of the strangest: ridiculously long, devoid of plot, hopelessly meandering. “My Struggle” just keeps coming at you, much as life does.

The trickier question is whether the series actually deserves its success. Is it a masterpiece, as its many fans maintain? Or is Mr Knausgaard a literary circus freak? Ostensibly he ignores most of the rules of great literature. His sentences are deliberately under-wrought; he writes in the same flat tone about lighting a cigarette and the essence of beauty. The structure can feel slapdash.

But at his best he is wonderful. The study of his relationship with his dysfunctional father—which forms the centrepiece of “A Death in the Family”, the first volume, and ripples through the other five—is unforgettable.

Okay….you’ve got my attention.

Although the author concludes the review on a bit of a negative note, saying that he/she was “relieved” to be done with it, it nonetheless is one of the more compelling reviews I’ve read, because it is so conflicted.   Most book reviews follow a generally predictable format:  hook –> topic overview –> strengths and weaknesses –> recommendation. That’s fine, but they don’t generally leave me wanting more, and therefore I usually just turn the magazine page and move on.   In this one there was an almost uncomfortable tension in the reviewers tone, which was transferred to the reader as unfulfilled intrigue and curiosity.   This is a different but effective – and perhaps inadvertent – way to market a book.

If I could paraphrase the entire review, it would be something like this :  “I don’t know what to think of this strange book, but there’s something there….and you’ll just have to figure it out for yourself.”

The review is online at:  https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2018/09/01/karl-ove-knausgaard-reaches-the-end-of-his-struggle

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Podcast of the week:  Trail Currents Podcast #11 – Running 200 miles.   Interview with Jamil Coury.

I wrote last week about the at-the-time ongoing Tahoe 200 mile trail race.  Well to follow-up:  Kyle Curtain won in 49 hours and change, and Courtney Dauwalter finished in 2nd about 20 minutes back.

Jamil Coury finished fifth in ~62 hours, and he talks about his experience and takeaways in this podcast.  He has a lot of 100 milers under his belt, so his thoughts are from someone with a pretty solid baseline of experience.   As I mentioned last week, the 200 miler is still kind of a side-show freak in the ultra-running world, so this level of insight is still relatively rare.   [as opposed to 100-milers….of which reviews (mine included) and interviews are a dime-a-dozen].  In this interview, he provides some interesting thoughts on sleep management, overall strategy, and the future of super-long races.  Added benefit is that the interview is in-person (I generally get turned off when I hear phone-interviews), the sound quality is high, and its only an hour long.  It’s available on Youtube or Itunes.