The Memory of Running, a novel By: Ron McLarty

This post is a part of blog series on my 2015 tech, anthro, and business reading list

“I think you’re on a quest.”…“I know it sounds silly, but every now and then great men have gone on quests to find answers to the big questions. There have been books written about men who search the whole world for answers” – Norma

This quote for me sums up the premise of this novel. It is a story about a man on a quest. But in some ways, it isn’t about finding answers to the big questions, it is more about asking himself the little questions. The questions that for so long he has denied himself to ask. Instead, he has spent much of his adult life working at a job he hates, drinking and eating to much, and despising himself every minute for it.

That is until his parents die suddenly. And then for him everything changes.

Smithy lets go and just starts riding, Going on many adventures and meeting many people along the process. He is haunted by images of his tragic sister Bethany, and the events of her past. He bike rides across the country, and finally begins to realize that the trip is not just about getting out, but about finding himself, and putting some things to rest.

Norma remains his rock, and the line that keeps him tethered to reality and his own honesty and humanity. She accepts him as he is, and helps him among his journey.

“If I were a person who felt sorry for myself, I’d say it all the time…that’s why I don’t say it…That’s life Smithy, we can’t get away from that. We have to go on and be strong, and the best way to be strong is to rely on people and be brave enough to trust them”

–Norma

This is a heroic story about a man who is not a hero. He is a commonplace everyman that exists everywhere, doing some of the small acts of bravery that most of use are too scared to do. This book is a reminder to be brave enough to trust, brave enough to love, and brave enough to forgive ourselves in order that we may be the strongest that we can be.

Check this book out: