Waddling slothfully through middle age, popular travel writer Bill Bryson decided one day that he could do with a walk in the woods—a lengthy walk, in fact: 2,100 rugged miles along the celebrated Appalachian Trail (AT), the longest continuous footpath in the world. Did Bryson dare? Well, not only did he dare, but so too did his old friend, the roisterous Stephen Katz, beside whom Bryson looked like a buffed triathlete (“[Katz] had always been kind of fleshy, but now he brought to mind Orson Welles after a very bad night”). The pair’s steps and missteps along the AT are hilariously recounted, as is only to be expected from one of our funniest writers. But there’s something more at work here, a quality of heart arising from the fact that there’s somebody else to look out for on these travels (despite Katz’s comically aggravating ineptitudes); it’s the depiction of their friendship that makes A Walk in the Woods the prolific author’s most affecting and satisfying book.
This book waddles slothfully, insult the south, stupid people, whine, complain. "AWOL on the Appalachian Trail" is a much more thoughtful, interesting and insightful travelogue. Sorry I wasted my time on this one.
I did love a Walk in the Woods, but having read all of Brysons other books, I think I prefer his autobio of growing up in Iowa (I was born and raised there as well) and Notes from A Small Island and the laugh out loud hilarious In A Sunburned Country.
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