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I've been interested in Fastest Known Time records since my first long-distance hike on the Appalachian Trail in 2015. On my 50-somethingth day on trail, Scott Jurek passed me on his day 11. It was completely unfathomable to me, who was struggling to hike ⅕ of the same miles every day. To watch in the following years as men’s records fell to women was an inspiration that led me to wonder if I myself could set a record. After a few years of training and the support of women in the community, I finally got my name on the board. Stories like the ones in these books are what pushed me to believe I was capable of big things, too.
I loved Mud Rocks Blazes because Heather is not just an amazing athlete who writes beautifully about the outdoors. She is also somebody who suffers from imposter syndrome and speaks in a way about her accomplishments that feels so relatable.
Like “Did I really do that?” and “Does it count if I’m not sure I could do it again?” I won’t lie, when I picked up this book, I wondered if it would be a rewashed-rerinsed version of Thirst—but was surprised and delighted to find such an evolution in Heather’s story.
Despite her success setting a self-supported Fastest Known Time record on the Pacific Crest Trail in 2013, Heather “Anish” Anderson still had such deep-seated insecurities that she became convinced her feat had been a fluke. So two years later she set out again, this time hiking through mud, rocks, and mountain blazes to crush her constant self-doubt and seek the true source of her strength and purpose.
The 2,180 miles of the Appalachian Trail, from Maine to Georgia, did not make it easy. Anderson struggled with its infamous rain, humidity, insects, and steep grades for 54 days. But because she…
Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!
On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…
I've been interested in Fastest Known Time records since my first long-distance hike on the Appalachian Trail in 2015. On my 50-somethingth day on trail, Scott Jurek passed me on his day 11. It was completely unfathomable to me, who was struggling to hike ⅕ of the same miles every day. To watch in the following years as men’s records fell to women was an inspiration that led me to wonder if I myself could set a record. After a few years of training and the support of women in the community, I finally got my name on the board. Stories like the ones in these books are what pushed me to believe I was capable of big things, too.
I loved To The Gorge for a lot of reasons, one of which was that Emily’s story resonated deeply with me for personal reasons.
I too lost my mother to cancer, and I too grieved on trail. But in as many ways as I felt our stories to be parallel, they were also disparate. Running was something she and her mother had had in common, and she went out to set this record in her mother’s honor, which I just thought was so beautiful and powerful.
I loved the way she told the story, which carried her mom’s memory so thoroughly, but which felt like it brought joy to that intention, something that can be hard to do during loss.
I've been interested in Fastest Known Time records since my first long-distance hike on the Appalachian Trail in 2015. On my 50-somethingth day on trail, Scott Jurek passed me on his day 11. It was completely unfathomable to me, who was struggling to hike ⅕ of the same miles every day. To watch in the following years as men’s records fell to women was an inspiration that led me to wonder if I myself could set a record. After a few years of training and the support of women in the community, I finally got my name on the board. Stories like the ones in these books are what pushed me to believe I was capable of big things, too.
I loved Thirst because it rebuts the common criticism in the trail-recording-setting world, “You can’t enjoy the beauty of a place when you’re moving that fast.”
Heather’s descriptions of the natural world beg to differ. She writes as poetically about stunning landscapes, wildlife, and foliage as she does about her screaming feet and her innate desire to push herself to extremes. As a reader, I felt like I was right there with her for the beauty and the pain.
National Geographic 2019 Adventurer of the Year "Beautiful and deftly written and intimate and searing in its honesty, Anish's is a quest to conquer the trail and her own inner darkness."-Foreword Reviews "Filled with ruminative self-reflection, soaring natural descriptions and delightful accounts of the gracious, life-sustaining 'trail magic' of hiking culture, Thirst is a testament to human endurance, inspiring to hikers and non-hikers alike."-Shelf Awareness By age 25, Heather Anderson had hiked what is known as the "Triple Crown" of backpacking: the Appalachian Trail (AT), Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), and Continental Divide Trail (CDT)--a combined distance of 7,900 miles with…
Katie's Gamble is an unexpected, unique story about a young woman who's trying to support her younger siblings by keeping her family's confectionery shop open.
In order to do that, she has to take on her older brother, who's a notorious gambler in Louisiana. Additionally, she has to outsmart Rowdy…
I've been interested in Fastest Known Time records since my first long-distance hike on the Appalachian Trail in 2015. On my 50-somethingth day on trail, Scott Jurek passed me on his day 11. It was completely unfathomable to me, who was struggling to hike ⅕ of the same miles every day. To watch in the following years as men’s records fell to women was an inspiration that led me to wonder if I myself could set a record. After a few years of training and the support of women in the community, I finally got my name on the board. Stories like the ones in these books are what pushed me to believe I was capable of big things, too.
This book stands apart from the rest of my selections because it isn’t a personal memoir, but a history of the sport—specifically a history of records held on the Appalachian Trail.
I loved getting a holistic top-down look at how records have been set and fallen in the last 40 years or so on one of the [now] most competitive trails.
I’ve always been fascinated by the cultural obsession with the AT, and it was my first trail love, so it was so interesting to read about legends of the trail whose names will surely have crossed your awareness if you’re a fan of BNOTs (Big Name on Trail) past and present.
National Geographic Adventurer of the Year Jennifer Pharr Davis unlocks the secret to maximizing perseverance--on and off the trail
Jennifer Pharr Davis, a record holder of the FKT (fastest known time) on the Appalachian Trail, reveals the secrets and habits behind endurance as she chronicles her incredible accomplishments in the world of endurance hiking, backpacking, and trail running. With a storyteller's ear for fascinating detail and description, Davis takes readers along as she trains and sets her record, analyzing and trail-testing the theories and methodologies espoused by her star-studded roster of mentors. She distills complex rituals and histories into easy-to-understand…
In my early 50s, I thru-hiked the Ice Age Trail, one of just 11 National Scenic Trails in the U.S. The experience was so rewarding—in many different ways—that I vowed to hike the other 10. To date, I’ve thru-hiked six of the 11 and am in the midst of section-hiking two more. My enthusiasm for long-distance hiking and its numerous benefits also inspired me to transform my freelance writing business to one centered around hiking, whether that’s penning fitness articles for CNN, giving talks on long-distance trails, or writing articles I hope will inspire others to lace up their hiking shoes.
An advance copy of this book appeared in my mailbox one day, courtesy of a publishing company hoping for a book review. Unfortunately for the publishers, my freelance writing gigs didn’t include book reviews. I didn’t pitch it in the trash, however, because I’d long been intrigued by the book’s subject matter—thru-hiking a long-distance trail.
This book gave me great insights into what such a feat would entail, both in preparation and on the trail, plus showcased experiences I could expect along the way, especially as a woman hiking solo.
After graduating from college, Jennifer isn't sure what she wants to do with her life. She is drawn to the Appalachian Trail, a 2175-mile footpath that stretches from Georgia to Maine. Though her friends and family think she's crazy, she sets out alone to hike the trail, hoping it will give her time to think about what she wants to do next. The next four months are the most physically and emotionally challenging of her life. She quickly discovers that thru-hiking is harder than she had imagined: coping with blisters and aching shoulders from the 30-pound pack she carries; sleeping…
In 1997, I was hired by the Northwest Youth Corps as a trail crew leader. That season, and across five more seasons, I built trails across the Pacific Northwest and Desert Southwest, including in many national parks. Since then, I have been in love with backpacking trails (including hiking the Long Trail and Colorado Trail), building trails, and writing about trails (Crosscut: Poems). I now live in Vermont with my wife and daughter. We have a trail we built that weaves through our woods.
On Trails: An Exploration is a completely different style of book. Rather than exploring trails through the lens of trail building, Moor, an Appalachian Trail thru-hiker, examines trails from a variety of angles. In a book that spans from the beginning of animal life to today’s digital age, Moor examines the world’s oldest trail, learns how to build trails, and even thinks about roads and the internet.
New York Times Bestseller • Winner of the National Outdoor Book Award • Winner of the Saroyan International Prize for Writing • Winner of the Pacific Northwest Book Award • “The best outdoors book of the year.” —Sierra Club
From a talent who’s been compared to Annie Dillard, Edward Abbey, David Quammen, and Jared Diamond, On Trails is a wondrous exploration of how trails help us understand the world—from invisible ant trails to hiking paths that span continents, from interstate highways to the Internet.
While thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail, Robert Moor began to wonder about the paths that lie…
Papyrologist Lisa Emmer's world flips when the Sûreté detains her at her Metro station with news of the savage murder of the esteemed Paris historian Dr. Raimond Foix, her friend and mentor in the study of ancient documents.
Horrified, Lisa finds clues at the crime scene left behind for her…
Keith Foskett has hiked around 15,000 miles on classic hiking trails including the Pacific Crest Trail, El Camino de Santiago, and the Appalachian Trail. He has written four books, and contributes to various outdoor publications. Having once been described as an anomaly (it was apparently a compliment), he now divides his time between walking, cycling, and delving into the merits of woollen underwear.
One of the first thru-hiking books I read, and the first about the Appalachian Trail. Chronicling Brill’s 1979 hike of the Appalachian Trail, it doesn’t show its age, but reveals that the reasons we hike, and the adventure never really change. It’s poignant, honestly written, and a classic.
When David Brill's now-classic account of his 1979 thru-hike of the 2,190-mile Appalachian Trail was released in 1990, it immediately struck a chord with veterans and aspirants of one of the world's longest continuously marked footpaths. Over the years, the book has continued to sell through multiple printings.
As Far as the Eye Can See: Reflections of an Appalachian Trail Hiker, now in its fifth (thirtieth-anniversary) edition and eighth printing, was recently released by the University of Tennessee Press. The new edition features a new preface on Brill's 2019 40th-anniversary reunion in Maine with his AT buddies, as well as…
I had always wanted a grand adventure and I’ve always loved reading about epic journeys. When I was a teen, I read an article in National Geographic about walking the Appalachian Trail and thought, I need to do that. I grew up in an outdoorsy family and married a man who loved the outdoors even more. But we never got to an adventure until we were empty nesters. In our late fifties we decided to walk 1400 miles from the cold North Sea to the warm Mediterranean on the legendary long-distance trail the GR5. After finishing our epic journey, I needed to share my love of European walking with others.
I love this adventure travel memoir about hiking across Corsica, a French island in the Mediterranean, because the author and her husband who just turned sixty, inspire me to keep walking and adventuring for as long as possible.
The GR20 is one of the toughest trails in Europe and the author shows us with her determination and honesty how to persist. After reading this book, I’m excited to add the GR20 to my wish list of walks or at least dream about it.
Great for fans of: Suzanne Roberts's Almost Somewhere, Juliana Buhring's This Road I Ride.
Marianne Bohr and her husband, about to turn sixty, are restless for adventure. They decide on an extended, desolate trek across the French island of Corsica-the GR20, Europe's toughest long-distance footpath-to challenge what it means to grow old. Part travelogue, part buddy story, part memoir, The Twenty is a journey across a rugged island of stunning beauty little known outside Europe.
From a chubby, non-athletic child, Bohr grew into a fit, athletic person with an "I'll show them" attitude. But hiking The Twenty forces her…
I love books and movies that contain paranormal, supernatural, or Sci-fi elements. I also enjoy a good romance, especially when it contains “forbidden” elements or some major obstacles. However, I don’t always appreciate work that is too graphic. As a person of Christian faith, I have often found it challenging to find books and movies that pique my interests but that aren’t preachy or full of pat answers, especially if they come from a Christian worldview. I’ve listed some of my absolute favorites that meet all the criteria: suspense, thrills, a bit of edgy content without being too graphic, and a touch of the unexpected.
This thriller has residents reeling from multiple unexplained murders. Gore at the crime scenes along with other factors have people afraid that it’s something supernatural. The book has an unexpected outcome, and even highlights some possible creationist vs evolutionist debate. Peretti keeps readers on the edge of their seats with his unconventional setting, characters, and outcomes while maintaining a Christian worldview. It is one of my all-time favorite books.
The suspense is bone-chilling when you realize the monsters are real . . .
Miles away from the hectic city, Reed and Rebecca hike into the beautiful Northwester woods. They are surrounded by gorgeous mountains, waterfalls, and hundreds of acres of unspoiled wilderness.
During their first night camping, an unearthly wail pierces the calm of the forest. Then something emerges from the dense woods. Everything that follows is a blur to Reed-except the unforgettable image of a huge creature carrying his wife into the darkness.
Enter into deep wilderness where the rules of civilization no longer apply. A world where…
A poisonous maiden, a Daoist sex cult, and a violent insurgency.
The polyandrous Yan family in China's rural Shaanxi Province takes in two carpenter brothers. When one brother is convicted of murder after killing their neighbor in a dispute, a constable threatens to expose the family's rumored polyandry and extorts…
We are twin brothers that like climbing mountains and peakbagging around the world. Our goal is to climb the highest mountain in every country on earth, and we’ve so far gotten up the highpoints of 139 countries out of 196 total. We got started doing long bicycle tours in Europe climbing country highpoints on the cheap after graduate school at MIT. Recently we've climbed some of the most difficult country highpoints in the world like Pik Pobeda (24,406ft), the Kyrgyzstan highpoint, Noshaq (24,580ft), the Afghanistan highpoint, and K2 (28,261ft), the Pakistan highpoint.
This is a detailed guidebook for climbing the highpoints of all of the countries in Europe. The authors conducted extensive background research, and made great maps and route descriptions for each peak. We used this book as our primary resource for climbing the European highpoints, and brought it along during several long-distance bicycle tours in Europe. The book covers peaks ranging from glaciated climbs like Monte Rose in Switzerland and Mt Blanc in France/Italy to casual hikes like Halti in Finland and Moldoveanu in Romania.
A guide to reaching the summit of every country in Europe - driving, walking and climbing routes to the tops of 50 countries in Europe. Detailed route descriptions, sketch maps - advice on transport, seasons, grading and gear. Heading to the highest point of any European country is an experience not to be missed. The continent has a wealth of adventure and a huge variety of dazzling scenery awaiting the walker and climber. And each of Europe's 50 countries celebrates its national high point in a different way. This guide brings together detailed route descriptions for those seeking to get…
