Book # 4 "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson

Boy, can Bill Bryson tell a story. He made me want to hike the Appalachian Trail(AT) and to never hike a day in my life.

After coming back from living in England for 20 years Bill Bryson decides to hike the AT. All 2100 plus miles of it. An old high school friend decides to go with him even though he's overweight, out of shape, and not a hiker at all. Neither is Bryson and think that's why I found it accessible and enjoyable. At times it's laugh out loud funny and almost always fascinating. The amount of research on this history and details of the AT are amazing.

I didn't enjoy the second section of the book as much as the first. After splitting up for a while after finishing their first section of the hike, Bryson goes on several day hikes to complete more of the trail and seems to lose some of the charm of the first section. He also seems to be really effected by a horrible crime committed on the trail during the first part of his hike. So, there's a lot of depressing statistics of the down side of hike the AT in the second section. But, it is the smaller section and doesn't bring down the rest of the story.

All and all a great read and I think I'll be looking for more of Bryson's books