My Favourite Books

Number 9 - A Walk In The Woods - Bill Bryson Two years ago I was in a bookshop in Edinburgh when I saw a huge pile of Bill Bryson's 'A Short History of Nearly Everything' on display. Of course I'd heard of Bryson and I'd seen frequent newspaper and magazine references to such as 'Notes From A Small Island' etc. But I'd never read any of his books on the sound basis that if they were so bleedin' popular they must be horse-shit. But I browsed and found myself interested in 'A Short History'. Getting it home I devoured it inside two days. On recommending it to my friend Mike it turned out that he was a Bryson devotee and had all the earlier books. Happily I was just about to set off on holiday and Mike gave me a small pile of the books including 'A Walk In The Woods'. That appears here merely as a representative of Bryson's work, because it was the first one I read while on holiday. It is quite wonderful. An ideal introduction into the gentle but laugh-out-loud nature of Bryson's witty writing. Everything about it was perfect. In warm Somerset weather, under a beech tree, with a pint of Somerset cider to hand, and the only sound being (truly) the nearby thwack of leather on willow from an amateur cricket match, I began. Pausing briefly to revel in the detail of the annotated line drawing of the east coast of the USA which literally sets the scene on the introductory page, I then read, 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 grand-daddy of long hikes. I'm hooked already. When it becomes apparent that Bryson is going to walk the entire Trail I'm beside myself with excitement. As a bone-idle fatso I would never even contemplate doing anything so insane myself - but the thought of someone else doing it and telling me about it so that I can get the vicarious thrill is strangely stimulating. There's no point in me trying to quote anymore from this book. It recounts Bryson's adventures walking the trail in some of the most spectacular and elemental environments in the world. In some ways it is like a much larger and more dramatic version of the West Highland Way but the ever-present prospect of being eaten by a bear adds an element of danger which fortunately is not present in our version. It is hilariously funny. It started me off on a mad spree in which I read all of Bryson's books in two months. I envy you if you haven't read this book - because a major pleasure awaits you.