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A Walk In The Woods

A Walk In The Woods

by Bill Bryson

4.50 out of 5 (2 ratings)

Format:
CD-Audio 
Publisher:
Random House Children's Publishers Uk 
Publication Date:
17 May 2004 
Category:
Travel Writing 
ISBN:
9780552152150 

Description

The Appalachian Trail covers 14 states, and over 2,000 miles. It stretches along the East Coast of the United States, from Maine in the north to Georgia in the south. It is famous for being the longest continuous footpath in the world. (Compare this with the Pennine Way, which is a mere 250 miles long.) It snakes through some of the wildest and most spectacular landscapes in America, as well as through some of its most poverty-stricken and primitive backwoods areas - Redneck country - Moonshine, Lil' Abner, there's bears in them thar hills. Remember the film Deliverance? God only knows what possessed Bill Bryson, a reluctant adventurer if ever there was one, to undertake this gruelling hike. Perhaps it was just a long-held ambition to lose weight: he has lost two stone so far. As he recently wrote from the trail to his publisher: 'Speaking of vigorous exercise, boy have I just had some. Maine was a bitch. I want you to come back and walk it with me so that when you die if you go to hell you will be able to say: "Call this hell? Try walking across Maine in August."' Reared in the tradition of Mark Twain, James Thurber and S.J. Perelman, Bryson used his many years in Britain to soak up a peculiarly English sense of irony and humour and to hone a laugh-out-loud style that is uniquely, hilariously, his own.

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Showing 1-2 out of 2 reviews.

  • Bill Bryson's narration makes his long funny tale even funnier. He's got a nice voice, well-suited to his outdoorsy story.

    5.00 out of 5

    pwilley

  • I first became acquainted with A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson through an audio book I was given by a dear friend of mine a few years ago. Later, after reading other books he has written and, listening to another awesome friend of mine rave with enthusiasm about the man, I've become a fan. Bill Bryson takes us along with him as he turns a dream into the actuality of hiking the Appalachian Trail; from his fumbling attempts at map reading to buying the proper gear, determining food needs and trying to reconcile himself to his inept and out of shape hiking partner/friend, all with his wry sense of humor and insight. At several points you can't help but think he's a numb-skull and he himself is fraught with self-doubt at times, yet he carries on with a determined spirit and always that sense of humor is present. Before you are through with the story, you have laughed, longed for a hot bath and warm bed, and cried along with him as he drinks in the beauty around him that is being destroyed by the thoughtlessness of man. This is the kind of story that will fire you up to get out into nature and enjoy it's fragile beauty and at the same time inspire you to endeavor to do better at preserving our wilderness so future generations may know what it is to take 'a walk in the woods'. I highly recommend this book!

    4.00 out of 5

    writernubbin

Reviews provided by Librarything.

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