Tue, Jul 3 2007 - TOC Book Club meeting (View Original Event Details)
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First of all, thank you to Jenn P. for hosting this month's book club! And thanks to everyone who brought camping snacks (especially Betsy who brought the Bannick!!). This month we discussed Bill Bryson's "A Walk In The Woods". I really enjoyed the book and thought parts of it were hysterical. Alternatively, Betsy and Jenn P. did not like the book much at all; Betsy found Bryson to be rather loathsome and cruel and found she couldn't respect him at all while Jenn P. wondered why Bryson even bothered to walk the trail. She was suspicious if he'd even walked as much as he said he did! So needless to say, we were off to a good start in our conversation. Like me, Elliott, Bernadette and Liz enjoyed the book and thought it was a light, funny read. Liz found the "maleness" of the writing style to be refreshing. We agreed the factual components of the book were sobering and well researched but also agreed the flow of the book seemed interrupted and choppy. Jenn P. commented the book really didn't go anywhere. Without Katz, Bryson's adventure wasn't nearly as interesting or humourous. And I was disgusted by their steady diet of Snickers bars, cola and pre-packaged cakes called "Lil Debbies". Something tells me they did not endeavour to pack all their trash out! Bryson judgementalism toward his fellow hikers is remarkable. He and Katz were ill-prepared hikers, but it was this unpreparedness they mercilessly criticized other hikers for. We all agreed there was little sense of comraderie and helpfulness that is ordinarily present amongst hikers; Katz and Bryson seemed to be nothing short of irrititated by nearly every hiker they encountered! Of course, they were probably just jealous. This is certainly not a serious "how-to" guide to the Appalachian Trail but rather non-fiction that reads like a novel. It gives some excellent historical context of the Trail and its surrounding areas and towns. But it needs to be read as a satire. The next selection we'll be reading has been chosen by Elliott. It's called "In Patagonia", written by Bruce Chatwin. We'll reconvene in September on Tuesday the 4th. -- Alana
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