2007: #111 – A Walk in the Woods (Bill Bryson)
Book #111 was A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson. The back of the book reads:
God only knows what possessed Bill Bryson, a reluctant adventurer if ever there was one, to undertake a gruelling hike along the world’s longest continuous footpath—The Appalachian Trail.
The 2,000-plus-mile trail winds through 14 states, stretching along the east coast of the United States, from Georgia to Maine. It snakes through some of the wildest and most spectacular landscapes in North America, as well as through some of its most poverty-stricken and primitive backwoods areas.
With his offbeat sensibility, his eye for the absurd, and his laugh-out-loud sense of humour, Bryson recounts his confrontations with nature at its most uncompromising over his five-month journey.
An instant classic, riotously funny, A Walk in the Woods will add a whole new audience to the legions of Bill Bryson fans.
I’m starting to become a real Bryson fan. I enjoy his tone and sometimes dry humor, and I enjoy that he sneaks in informative tidbits without you hardly realizing it. Having lived within a half hour of the Appalachian Trail most of my life, I felt an extra connection with this story. My great uncle hiked the trail solo from Maine to Georgia a few years ago at the age of 62, and I feel like this gave me a little insight into what his journey was like. I’ll definitely be consuming more of Bryson’s stories.
Page count: 352 | Approximate word count: 105,054
2006 – Storm Front (Jim Butcher)
When I had the book in my hands, I didn’t have time to read it. Too many readers have enjoyed this book. I have it on my list to read.