A Walk in the Woods : The Book, Wild and A Walk In The Woods

The Book, Wild and A Walk In The Woods

This book was one of the most enjoyable reads of my life. I'm a painfully slow reader, when it comes to novels, and I tend to lose interest quite easily, but this one was brilliant. I think the books excellence set the bar so high, that there really wasn't any way for me to enjoy it, especially with the two mains, being well past the age of the characters in the book. This, coupled with movies like Wild, which was extraordinary, really hurt this "simple" tale. If there hand't been a novel or so many similar movies, I'd probably have liked it more, but this one didn't really even attempt to capture the essence of the novel or it's hilarious nature (pun intended).

Re: The Book, Wild and A Walk In The Woods

I agree, the book was a great read. Movies from books usually suffer, as this one did. But I was still able to enjoy this film nevertheless.

If you liked this Bill Bryson story, try more of his books. I can easily recommend the one about Australia (In a Sunburned Country). Most of his "travelogue" stories are very enjoyable and written with a hearty dash of humor.

Re: The Book, Wild and A Walk In The Woods

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll definitely try and find them

Re: The Book, Wild and A Walk In The Woods

Bryson is one of the most hilarious writers I've ever come across. He's one of the few that make me laugh out loud when I read him.

If you're a slow reader (as am I), check out "I'm a Stranger Here Myself". It's a collection of essays or columns he did for an British publication, so it's all bite-sized chapters on various things, mainly concerning the differences between the UK and US.

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Re: The Book, Wild and A Walk In The Woods

I'm definitely going to have to check them out. I've been so engrossed with movies over the past year and a half, I've not read a single novel. Well movies and this silly internet.

Re: The Book, Wild and A Walk In The Woods

lol jonhopper - me too.


But . . . I mean, we simply cannot possible read every book that's been made a movie can we.

I'm tryin' not to feel guilty about it. I'm amazed at the comments I read here about books that people read.

I typically abhor novels.
When I read I prefer art, travel & history ...
Since Bryson seems to touch on at least two criteria, I may check him out . . .

Re: The Book, Wild and A Walk In The Woods

Please, this book is not a novel! It is a travelogue, a work of non fiction. And Bryson's book are thoroughly entertaining!

Re: The Book, Wild and A Walk In The Woods

I watched this movie with a big grin on my face throughout. Can't understand all the grousing among message board commenters. Thank for the suggestions to other books Bryson wrote. Will definitely give them a look see.

Re: The Book, Wild and A Walk In The Woods

You might enjoy reading Grandma Gatewood's Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail by Ben Montgomery


From Amazon.com:


Emma Gatewood told her family she was going on a walk and left her small Ohio hometown with a change of clothes and less than two hundred dollars. The next anybody heard from her, this genteel, farm-reared, sixty-seven-year-old great-grandmother had walked 800 miles along the 2,050-mile Appalachian Trail. By September 1955 she stood atop Maine’s Mount Katahdin, sang “America, the Beautiful,” and proclaimed, “I said I’ll do it, and I’ve done it.”

Driven by a painful marriage, Grandma Gatewood not only hiked the trail alone, she was the first person—man or woman—to walk it twice and three times. At age seventy-one, she hiked the 2,000-mile Oregon Trail. Gatewood became a hiking celebrity, and appeared on TV with Groucho Marx and Art Linkletter. The public attention she brought to the trail was unprecedented. Her vocal criticism of the lousy, difficult stretches led to bolstered maintenance, and very likely saved the trail from extinction.

Author Ben Montgomery interviewed surviving family members and hikers Gatewood met along the trail, unearthed historic newspaper and magazine articles, and was given full access to Gatewood’s own diaries, trail journals, and correspondence. Grandma Gatewood’s Walk shines a fresh light on one of America’s most celebrated hikers.

Re: The Book, Wild and A Walk In The Woods

Absolutely could not stand the book. Bryson is a completely self-absorbed jerk, the kind of putz who within 60 seconds of meeting someone is ready to tell them everything they are doing wrong. He also can't resist the urge to run on incessantly about whatever random subject catches his fancy, whether it has anything to do with hiking or not. If you've ever seen The Trip with Steve Coogan, the idiot who won't shut up about limestone geology absolutely has to be based on Bryson.

Bryson is a more than capable writer, but he's deeply condescending and his wit mostly consists of nasty comments about other people's personal appearance. the occasional self-deprecating joke comes off as hollow and unconvincing. You know he doesn't mean it, to him, he's the smartest guy around and everyone else is an ignorant, in-bred hick. How he managed to hike 1000 miles without getting his ass handed to him, I have no idea. Bryson's unflattering commentary on American culture makes it clear that he subscribes to British/European cultural attitudes toward Americans, particularly Southerner stereotypes, rather than any attempt at discovery and understanding of what is, to him anyway, a very foreign land. Anyone who ever cringed at the ugly American tourist stereotype should easily recognize its Anglican variant in Bryson.

Bryson is pretty good when he can resist the urge to editorialize about strip malls and fast food joints and delves into history and statistics, he's obviously done his homework and manages to be thorough without belaboring his points or boring the reader. Unfortunately, he can't help but diverge into vicious and unfair personal attacks, far too much of his humor consists of cheap shot descriptions of the people he encounters in his travels. Mary Ellen in the movie was mere comic relief, in the book, she is the target of withering nastiness on the part of Bryson.

The book probably appeals to people most like the writer, over-educated, self-satisfied and slightly overfed intellectuals who can chuckle over its pages with a nice snifter of brandy. The film, fortunately, dispensed with most of Bryson's nasty witticisms and long discourses on acid rain and the tragedy of the American taxpayer failing to pony up $100 million a year to preserve every rock and bush on the AT. The end result is what the book could have been, a journey of discovery on the AT by two men, rekindling an old friendship.

It isn't a particularly great movie, simply 90 minutes of diverting entertainment, but many films achieve so much less than that. I like the film and thought the makers did very well to exclude the rougher edges of the source novel.

"You didn't come into this life just to sit around on a dugout bench, did ya?"

Re: The Book, Wild and A Walk In The Woods

I have to admit, what I loved about your comment is that it sounds like Bryson, pointing out all the facts and then simply slamming them as beneath him. I loved the book, but I actually agree with you. I think what I did like about it, was the fact he admitted fully, he could learn everything about the trail and the surrounding areas from books, but he needed to see it. The movies makes a mockery of his personal life and became distracting. I also think that part of my youth was spent taking 3-4 mile hikes on the trail made me a little nostalgic. I tend not to enjoy personal journey stories in print, because there is no way around being self absorbed.

Nice call on The Trip
Also, nice Bad News Bears quote!

Re: The Book, Wild and A Walk In The Woods

Thanks, but not sure I have the "thorough without belaboring his points or boring the reader" trick down. H/t.

"You didn't come into this life just to sit around on a dugout bench, did ya?"
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