While reading, I imagined Robert Redford in the role of Bill Bryson and Nick Nolte as his friend Stephen Katz (even though the characters in the book were only in their forties and Redford and Nolte are much older). I can't wait to see the movie!
FYI: The book is narrated in first person by Bill Bryson.
First Paragraph:
Not long after I moved with my family to a small town in New Hampshire I happened upon a path that vanished into a wood on the edge of town.
A sign announced that this was no ordinary footpath but the celebrated Appalachian Trail. Running more than 2,100 miles along America's eastern seaboard, through the serene and beckoning Appalachian Mountains, the AT is the granddaddy of long hikes. From Georgia to Maine, it wanders across fourteen states, through plump, comely hills whose very names--Blue Ridge, Smokies, Cumberlands, Green Mountains, White Mountains--seem an invitation to amble. Who could say the words "Great Smoky Mountains" or "Shenandoah Valley" and not feel an urge, as the naturalist John Muir once put it, to "throw a loaf of bread and a pound of tea in an old sack and jump over the back fence"?
In my Teaser (from 48% on my Kindle), Katz and Bryson have been awakened by a noise. Bryson looks out his tent flap, clicks on his flashlight, and sees two eyes glowing about twenty feet away. Here's a snippet of their conversation.
"Stephen," I whispered at his tent, "did you pack a knife?"
"No."
"Have you got anything sharp at all?"
He thought a moment. "Nail clippers."
Genre: Travel/Memoir/Humor
Length: 305 Pages
Amazon Link: A Walk in the Woods
Author's Website: Bill Bryson
Synopsis:
Back in America after twenty years in Britain, Bill Bryson decided to reacquaint himself with his native country by walking the 2,100-mile Appalachian Trail, which stretches from Georgia to Maine. The AT offers an astonishing landscape of silent forests and sparkling lakes—and to a writer with the comic genius of Bill Bryson, it also provides endless opportunities to witness the majestic silliness of his fellow human beings.
For a start there's the gloriously out-of-shape Stephen Katz, a buddy from Iowa along for the walk. Despite Katz's overwhelming desire to find cozy restaurants, he and Bryson eventually settle into their stride, and while on the trail they meet a bizarre assortment of hilarious characters. But A Walk in the Woods is more than just a laugh-out-loud hike. Bryson's acute eye is a wise witness to this beautiful but fragile trail, and as he tells its fascinating history, he makes a moving plea for the conservation of America's last great wilderness. An adventure, a comedy, and a celebration, A Walk in the Woods has become a modern classic of travel literature.
Link at ADailyRhythm.com
