This is a great option if you’re on the road or commuting and want to listen as you go.Cheryl Strayed ( / ˈ s t r eɪ d/ née Nyland born September 17, 1968) is an American writer and podcast host. What’s your favorite travel memoir? I’m always looking for new books to check out!ĭon’t have time to sit down and read a book? Check out audible! You can sign up for a 30-day free trial and get two books free by clicking the banner below! If it’s not for you, you can cancel any time. I don’t intend to hike for months in the wilderness by myself, but I know I’m looking for more than just an adventure. It’s inspiring and heartbreaking all at the same time, and it solidified my thoughts about taking my own journey. Along the train she encounters animals, extremely unsettling men, and her own inner turmoil. She pushes through moments of boredom, rage, and fear. The first 20 miles are mostly her complaining about how sore she is and how she can’t figure out how to cook food. She doesn’t fluff it up or fill the story with things that didn’t happen. She flashes back to her old life and fills you in on her troubles as she goes. This book is somewhat anti-climactic in the sense that nothing really happens, and yet the pace of the book never slows down or bores you. After her life is literally in shambles, she decides to hike the Pacific Crest Trail with no training or experience with the hopes to turn herself into the person she used to be. Her exploits get her into trouble including ruining her once happy marriage. In an attempt to escape reality, she turns to sex and drugs which she is not shy about sharing. Her siblings split up and rarely spoke again. Her mother passed away from cancer in her senior year of college, her father was already out of the picture, and her step father disappeared shortly after her mother’s passing. In fact she made my problems look like child’s play. To be fair, her situation far exceeded mine.

After reading the excerpt it seemed that she was embarking on her own journey after everything else had gone wrong.

The cover, a simple hiking boot somehow caught my attention. I began reading Cherly Strayed’s “ Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail” after picking it up in a little bookstore in Brooklyn.

Wild by Cheryl Strayed