One of my goals this summer is to get back into reading! It always seems to happen that I get enraptured with a book, only to finish and then never start a new one. In my quest to relax and enjoy the summer with a little less screen time, I am trying to keep reading at the top of my priority list. Awhile back I had asked my Instagram followers for some book suggestions and the comments were amazing, I’ve slowly been making my way through the recommendations and loving each and every book. This past weekend I spent a few rainy days up north at the cabin reading on the couch (in between naps, card games, and food, because, well, that’s what you do when it rains.) I finally finished “Wild : From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail” written by Cheryl Strayed and I loved it. It’s a tale of an amazing woman who journeys 1,100 miles on foot in an attempt to accomplish not only an impressive feat but to find herself.
First off, Cheryl has a crazy story of love and loss and her adventurous spirit shines through the book. She shares the tale of her life and what led her to hike the Pacific Crest Trail alone. 1,100 miles is a lot to walk over the course of years so the fact that she wants to do this journey, something she’s never even considered reminds me of chasing dreams (as crazy as they are) with reckless abandon. It’s wild, turning, endearing, and inspiring. Second, her childhood story was set in a tiny town in Minnesota where I grew up, so all of the Minnesota references were amazing and I was able to picture exactly what was being written. From the little farm towns to Duluth, Minnesota references, I loved reading a story that was set in places that I know. So fun! Lastly, her writing really sucks you in, you want to know what’s going to happen. You want to know if she is coming to complete her goal. You become her cheerleader. You feel like you are with the other characters and fall in love with the people she meets on the trail. It’s a story about a crazy journey and how she not only changed on the outside but on the inside as she continued the hike from California to Portland! I would definitely recommend this read and hope to read a few more of her books this summer! This one was also on a number of best seller lists and was a part of Oprah’s book club, duh, just pick it up and read it!
“It was all unknown to me then, as I sat on that white bench on the day I finished my hike. Everything except the fact that I didn’t have to know. That is was enough to trust that what I’d done was true. To understand its meaning without yet being able to say precisely what it was… To believe that I didn’t need to reach with my bare hands anymore. To know that seeing the fish beneath the surface of the water was enough. That it was everything. It was my life – like all lives, mysterious and irrevocable and sacred. So very close, so very present, so very belonging to me.
How wild it was, to let it be.”
CURRENTLY READING: Gone Girl
Photo by: Cassidy Brooke in Red Rock Canyon National Park – Colorado
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Just started Wild yesterday! Summer reading is a must-do this summer.
You’ll finish Gone Girl so quickly! Just finished it, and you won’t be able to stop turning pages! So good!!