Welcome to Litsy!

My favourites of the year! I gave just three 5 star reviews out of about 30 books ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ These were books that I couldn‘t put down and I didn‘t want to end 🥰

This was a surprisingly interesting read. I did really enjoy the journey. But I can tell I'm getting older, because I was worried about her the entire book. 😅

What a ride. Emotional more than entertaining, not that a memoir sets out to entertain, but there are a number of moments that make it clear why someone saw how this could become a film - that I don't think I'll ever watch. The massive amount of hype surrounding this book means perhaps that it was doomed not to live up to overblown expectations. As I more often find with graphic novel style memoirs, I think this works best 1/?

One well-worn boot on the cover of “Wild“. Still need to read this...so many books so little time!

#CoverLove
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
@Eggs

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Great short memoir about the death of her mother-in-law (only 31 pages). Cheryl Strayed writes beautifully. I was a huge Dear Sugar fan and it‘s been really interesting to get to know more about the person behind the column.

Got this as an Amazon short or something, possibly for free? We love free books!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5

Such a good story, compelling narrator and narrative. Inspiring and steeped in nature and humanness

1️⃣2️⃣ I miss reading this already, I loved it!

#SpringSkies @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs
#Lost

This was such a fantastic audio book (although I wish Cheryl read it herself)! I had the pleasure of going to see Cheryl speak at our county library yearly event and she was wonderful, I loved hearing the story in person even more. I felt like I was with her on the trail, in the hospital room with her mother and at all the life events in between. What a life she lived before she was 30. Such an inspiration and a beautiful writer.

Alone in the wild
A woman finds her true self
Makes me want to hike
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Also, the most meaningful/relatable quote I found in the book:

"That's what fathers do if they don't heal their wounds. They wound their children in the same place."

#poignant #haikureview #memoir #nonfiction

The most wild thing about this book is that I'm reading something I actually own 😅

#onmyshelf #dinosaurtbr #finallyreadingthis #nonfiction

There is something about this story that really gets me and I‘m not quite sure what it is. I think both the film and the book tell the tale very well, and dispute Cheryl making mistakes in life, she is such an endearing, strong, likeable person. She owns her mistakes and doesn‘t shy away from the things she‘s done. The book is really raw and she shares so much. It is also so uplifting and inspirational how she decided to turn her life around.

There were parts I couldn‘t relate to, but through it all, Strayed‘s vulnerability drew me into her adventures.

I listened to this on audio, narrated by Laurel Lefkow.

The narration was amazing, and the book itself I found interesting (though maybe not inspiring as I won‘t be walking the PTC anytime soon!).
I don‘t think I really related to Cheryl, but props to her for realising she needed to take a step back from how her life was and go out and do something new and amazing to reset that!

All I knew when I picked up this book was that Lorelai Gilmore was inspired by this book when she felt a little lost, and I can totally see why!

I think I‘m having my midlife crisis, so I feel like I need to read books about women doing something bold to change their lives. I wonder which one of these authors‘ footsteps I‘ll follow in (spoiler alert: it definitely WON‘T be Strayed‘s solo hike on the PCT).

Any recommendations for books in this vein you can share?

After Cheryl‘s mom died, her profound grief drove her into a spiral of self destruction and agony; a cycle that was self perpetuating in its grief and anger. She dropped everything and challenged herself with a long solo hike - for it was not to reap forgiveness from others but to forgive herself.

#ThemedThursday @dabbe

Knew about this one but never really planned to read it—even though I‘ve read others about the Appalachian trail and Pacific Crest Trail. Mostly because it was relatively well known (IDK?) I enjoyed it and read it quickly. I couldn‘t relate to everything she shared but really appreciated her and her story. Amazing honesty throughout the book. Thankful that she shared her story.

Surprisingly one of the more boring memoirs I‘ve ever read. Like it made me not want to read for pleasure. Happy that I finished it

The reviews of this book on Goodreads are all over the place, with many people calling Strayed self-absorbed. I didn‘t find that to be true at all and enjoyed her journey toward self-discovery and healing. She was brave, stupid, and lucky to walk the Pacific Crest Trail alone, but she found friendship and a new sense of herself while doing so. #audiowalk

I know she survives this trip because we have the book told in first person, and she‘s written other things since; however, some of the decisions she‘s making about the trail and the snow and her money are making me nervous for her! Japanese magnolias are starting to bloom. #audiowalk

More storms on the horizon. Grey days like this make me want to hibernate. #audiowalk

I read a book about walking the Appalachian Trail, so I figured I‘d try this one about walking the Pacific Crest Trail. I know it was popular several years ago, but I didn‘t read it then. It rained all weekend, so it was nice to see the sun today even though it was a little chilly. #audiowalk

I started listening to Wild tonight. I haven‘t decided whether it will be my night book or my walking book. It‘s narrated by Bernadette Dunne. Because my only experience with her is as the narrator of Donna Andrews‘ Meg Langslow series, I keep expecting Meg to show up. 😄

I liked this book. It gives you a drive to go out and do something, to really push your body to the brink. I saw a lot of people saying she was dumb or the reason she did what she did was stupid. But I don't think we can tell anyone how to grieve the loss of their mother. I would have gave this 5 stars, until the end bit about her mother's remains... wtf... 4/5

Not my usual fare, but I really enjoyed this one. #hike #NovemberNarrative @Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

#hike #novembernarrative @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

Check out Lindsay‘s book review of Wild by Cheryl Strayed on Book Interrupted‘s Manuscript Monday. https://www.bookinterrupted.com/post/manuscript-monday-wild

25 Sep-2 Oct 22 (audiobook)
I found Cheryl‘s story inspiring, as I often do when people achieve a great physical feat. Perhaps if something happened to my family, I would do something similar. The idea of hiking for that amount of time, much of it solo, seemed somewhat blissful, despite the lost toenails.
Could not help but picture Reese throughout (why I prefer to read the book first).

This was so good. Loved the book and the movie.

#AlphabetGame #LetterW
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Made me want to go explore!
#alphabetgame #LetterW @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Read this with my #bookclub this month. It was a very engaging story - she does some major soul searching on her trek across the PCT. It was a bit crazy everything she went through and the people she met along the way.
I picked up this copy used and found the pictured inscription in the cover. I didn't cry reading this, but it was very moving.

Wild is a memoir about a 20 something woman's journey of redemption, overcoming grief and finding herself while walking the Pacific Coast Trail. I read this because of my book club. Thank goodness for book clubs! I would never have picked it up otherwise and I am very glad I did. Strayed's descriptions of the trail were excellent and her description of her emotional struggles were intense. I recommend it.

Morning well spent at the pool ⛱️
#currentlyreading #bookclub

#ThoughtfulThursday @MoonWitch94 thanks for the tag @Eggs 1. Tagged an autobiography- I usually read fiction 2. 💚 💋 💃🕺🥂🍾💍 3.happily ever after endings 4 interesting title. Tagging everyone who wants to play

I am still processing this book! Decided to break in my book journal with it, and had room for a little doodle. For the “what did you learn from this book?” question I wrote:

“That in order not to destroy ourselves, it‘s important to forgive yourself and let go of the hurts. They‘re both heavy burdens. Also, avoidance can only take you so far!”

I am more than a little surprised that it took me so long to read this. At one point I owned it AND THEN donated it because the prologue didn‘t grab me. Since reading TRAILED, I‘ve wanted to read more about WOMEN in nature and the outdoors and those books aren‘t plentiful. Looking forward to a summer filled with more books like this. If you‘ve got recommendations, send them my way!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“I‘d loved books in my regular, pre-PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) life, but on the trail, they‘d taken on even greater meaning. They were the world I could lose myself in when the one I was actually in became too lonely or harsh or difficult to bear.”

—Wild, Cheryl Strayed

not the PCT but a week long camping trip in the cascades calls for a themed read

Some books just take up residence in your soul and will never leave. Strayed was not the most likable at this point in her life, least of all by herself. But her writing on grief, the crushing ways it can make us unrecognizable to ourselves, and the wild, stupid, and brave ways we must learn to accept things as they are to heal is so deeply moving. I had tears streaming down my face as I read the final pages. Transformative. 5⭐️

A sunny Spring day in Seattle calls for a crab roll and a book. #pnwforever #nomnom #wild #crabbyhour