Two Appalachian Trail Books

Ever notice how you can go through life without reading a book on a particular subject, then suddenly find yourself reading several books on that subject in a short period of time? I've been doing that with books about the Appalachian Trail; more specifically, books by people who have walked the A.T.

Several years ago, I'd read a short article about someone who'd walked the A.T. and was immediately intrigued. Since then, I've periodically thought, If only... Many of us have dreams of what we'd do if only we didn't have a full-time job, mortgage, etc. That is where books come in; we can live vicariously, whether through a good novel, an interesting memoir, or whatever genre we've chosen for our next read.

Recently, I finished reading AWOL On The Appalachian Trail, by David Miller. I'd stumbled onto it while trying to find books for a Kindle, then started reading it when nothing else grabbed my attention. After finishing AWOL, I was excited enough about the whole A.T. experience to jump into reading Three Hundred Zeroes, by Dennis Blanchard. (My next read will probably be A Walk In The Woods, by Bill Bryson; it's been sitting on one of my book shelves for a while...) But getting back to AWOL and Zeroes...

In 2003, David Miller walked away from a job as a computer programmer to hike the Appalachian Trail. "...I broke the news to my boss. He said, 'If you need to have a midlife crisis, couldn't you just buy a Corvette?'" According to Miller, several thousand people decided to walk the Appalachian Trail (the AT) in 2003; eighty percent didn't make it. The trail's length (2,172 miles) undoubtedly had something to do with that.

Miller left Florida the end of April, 2003 to walk the trail, leaving his wife and three daughters for several months. Throughout the book, the reader learns many things about hiking the AT. First off, there are several kinds of hikers on the trail: thru-hikers, who walk the entire length of the trail at one time; section hikers, who walk a particular section of the AT; and day hikers, who simply walk a day's-worth of trail. Miller spent a good portion of 2003 as a thru-hiker.

Another thing one learns is that most hikers end up with trail nicknames. Miller nearly chose Corvette as his trail name (after his boss's comment), but decided on AWOL. (Apparently, there were other AWOLs at other times on the AT.)

Throughout, the book, AWOL/Miller describes his trip in descriptive detail; the reader gets a sense of travelling with him, experiencing what he experiences...except, maybe, the blisters which threaten to end his hike about half-way through it. Fortunately, a visit to a doctor, followed by a round of antibiotics and several days' rest (known by hikers as zero days, since they put zero miles on the trail). Miller also introduces the reader to other thru-hikers: Superman and Torch, Stretch, Tipperary, Elwood, Doc and Llama, Ken and Marcia, as well as several people in different towns and hostels who interact with thru-hikers.

There are many reasons why AWOL On The Appalachian Trail is the perfect AT book. At the beginning of each new section, Miller has a map showing the section of trail included in the chapter ahead so that the reader has a clear idea the section he's describing. He has also included numerous photos throughout the book, giving us a better look at the area. His descriptions of the trail, his exhaustion, the side trips into different towns, the other hikers, the entire experience, give the reader the distinct feeling of being there with Miller.

The second book, Three Hundred Zeroes by Dennis Blanchard, is also a very readable book, though not without a few minor problems.

The first problem - and the one that probably worked my last nerve - was Blanchard's habit of reducing people to objects. "I met a woman that was a thru-hiker; she was married to a man that was only a day-hiker." Objects are that or it; people are who or he/she.

Another problem was that Blanchard started the book by describing hooking up with an Appalachian Trail group in Florida, then wrote about the meeting, buying gear, how much some of the gear cost...While it was nice having a little background, this section seemed to slow the book down a little.

Also, where AWOL seemed to go in depth into the experience and nuances of hiking the Appalachian Trail, Blanchard seemed almost to skim through places. But that may simply be that I'm comparing two different styles of writing.

At first, I had wondered about the book's title (Three Hundred Zeroes). Part-way through Blanchard's hike during 2006, he had to head home; it turned out he needed artery bypass surgery, which lead to 300 days of recouperating before going back to complete his hike, hence 300 zero-miles days.

While some of Blanchard's book seems to wander away from the trail, giving the reader too much non-AT information (as well as the whole "that" rather than "who"), there are good points to Three Hundred Zeroes. First of all (I loved this from a personal point of view), Blanchard's home base is from Florida, and does write about places I'm familiar with. When he and a friend flew back in 2007 to finish the hike he'd started the year before, they flew out of St. Pete/Clearwater Airport. It was here that one of the funnier episodes in the book took place. (Blanchard's writing - at least in this book - shows off his sense of humor.)

When Blanchard describes getting to the St. Pete airport with his soon-to-be hiking partner, the reader is liable to laugh out loud. He describes "[going] through the usualy gyrations involving the Homeland Security shakedown...All we had were carry-on items. At the peek-a-boo bag inspection machine they found that Brendan had a serious terrorist weapon, a 20 oz. jar of unopened peanut butter. This was serious cause for alarm and it seemed that at any minute Brendan wouldbe whisked away to Guantanamo...As his accomplice, the staff took a dim view of me as well...[The] jar of peanut butter was a security risk...I was carrying my hiking pole, a potential deadly weapon...and nobody looked twice..." It gets even funnier before they get around to leaving the airport.

While I definitely found Miller's book more descriptive about the AT hike, both books had definite merits and are both worth buying. If, like me, you are unable to hike the Appalachian Trail, grab hold of these two books for the vicarious pleasure of hiking through them.

Brothers, We Are Not Professionals: A Plea to Pastors for Radical Ministry, by John Piper

Brothers, We Are Not Professionals: A Plea to Pastors for Radical Ministry by John Piper
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Disclaimer: This reviewer received this as a free Goodreads giveaway book.

Brothers, We Are Not Professionals: A Pleas to Pastors for Radical Ministry, by John Piper, is, no doubt, a much needed book got pastors leading their congregations. If not, it is unlikely that Piper would have come up with a new edition of his book were it not needed by many pastors. And while I'm not a pastor, but what would be referred to as a lay-person, I attempted to read this as a pastor.

That said, I had a rough time reading past the first two chapters. The first chapter begins

 "We pastors are being killed by the professionalizing of the pastoral ministry.  The mentality of the professional is not the mentality of the prophet.  It is not the mentality of the slave of Christ.  Professionalism has nothing to do with the essence and heart of the Christian ministry."

This explanation may be valid if one uses the argument that a professional is merely out for money, rather than acting as a spiritual guide for a congregation. However, according to World English Dictionary, one definition for profession is "1. an occupation requiring special training in the liberal arts or sciences, esp. one of the three learned professions, law, theology, or medicine.". If a pastor has not acquired the knowledge with which to lead his or her congregation, then the people of that church will be as leaderless as though the pastor were absent. One need not be looking for a quick dollar to be a professional paster; professional and pastor are not opposites.

The second chapter ("Brother, God Loves His Glory") starts out making God sound like an egotistical being, rather than a loving God who wants the best for His creation/children.

The chapters following the first two did have some good advice. However, if the new edition of the book was the first time one has read Piper, it might be easy to give up quickly and not get past the first two chapters. Add to that the fact that several denominations are allowing women in leadership roles, and the idea of call all pastors brothers may be a further turn-off.

The remainder of my disclaimer: having grown up in the Episcopal church - a denomination that tends to lean slightly to the left - this may have colored my views on reading this book. In all honesty, I believe that there is a place for this book, most likely in the more conservative Christian denominations. But for those of us who tend to be a little more liberal, this may be a bit difficult to read.

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Moonlight Masquerade, by Jude Deverau

Moonlight Masquerade by Jude Deveraux
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Reading Jude Deveraux's Moonlight Masquerade, my first thought was that this isn't your Grandma's romance novel.

Romance novels are not something I normally gravitate toward. My Aunt Elsie, my grandmother's sister-in-law, used to devour romance novels, then frequently pass them along. As a teen, I could never get into them; everything was too predictable. The heroine was usually naively sweet, the hero frequently border-lined on bad boy status. The hero had been hurt and needed a good woman whose love would somehow heal him; of course, Miss Naive was that woman.

Moonlight Masquerade was on Goodreads' giveaways link recently. Since I'd never read any of Jude Deveraux's work, I entered to win a copy. Technically, I didn't win, but several copies were sent to non-winners, which is how I got a copy.

Ms. Deveraux spins an enchanting tale. Sophie Kincaid has been jilted and runs to Edilean, a town that her friend Kim Aldredge describes as heaven on earth. Once in town, Sophie's car dies; as she walks away from the car, she is nearly run over by someone in a sports car. Of course, she must seek revenge against the driver, even if it is only by dumping a pitcher of beer over his head.

Of course, it turns out that Sophie has just dumped beer over the head of Kim's brother, the bitter Dr. Reede Aldredge...and Sophie's new employer.

Of course, things get more interesting...If you're a fan of romance novels, this one is a sure hit. And for those of us who tend to steer clear of the genre, Jude Deveraux's handling of the story still makes for an interesting read, the one to read on a lazy day at the beach.

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Alas, Babylon

When Randy Bragg receives a telegram from his older brother, Mark, the words Alas, Babylon jump out at him. As boys, the Braggs used to listen outside Fort Repose's African-American church and listen as the Preacher would utter those same two words throughout his sermons to warn the congregation of horrible things waiting those who went astray.

Pat Frank's novel, published in 1959, tells of a world pushed over the brink of a war so horrible that it sets civilization back a thousand years. Yet this is no Mad Max or any other sci-fi appocalypse book; it was based on what could potentially happen had the Cold War heated up.

Meeting up with Mark, Randy learns a horrible truth: career military man Mark has reason to believe that the world is about to topple over the edge to a horrific war. Handing Randy a sizable check, Mark tells his brother that his (Mark's) wife and children are flying in to Fort Repose in an effort to survive.

The family is barely in Randy's house when the war begins. The book then takes the reader into a fast-paced tale of What If the unthinkable happens.

While the book is over fifty years old, it is well worth the time to read it.

Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake

Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake, by Anna Quindlen; 4 of 5 stars

Anna Quindlen has a knack for making the mundane interesting, letting the reader know that every day stuff is both universal yet individualistic. Her book Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake is no different. A former New York Times columnist, Quindlen has written essays here that explore different facets of women's lives.

In her essay Advice to My Younger Self, Quindlen writes, "It’s nothing short of astonishing, all that we learn between the time we are born and the time we die. Of course most of the learning takes place not in a classroom or a library, but in the laboratory of our own lives...[These lessons are] clear only in hindsight, frequently when some of its lessons may not even be useful anymore." That is how life is for all of us, yet it takes a true wordsmith to write this truth so succinctly.

While I've loved Quindlen's fiction since stumbling upon Black And Blue years ago, this was one of my first forays into her essays. As I read Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake, I found myself occasionly thinking, "Yes! That's it exactly!" In her essay Faith, she mentions that when we're kids, days seem to fly by while the years crawl but that when we're older, it's the reverse: the days crawl by as the years fly. While I'd instinctively known this, I'd never given it much thought. For most of us over a certain age - well beyond our teens - all we have to do is look back over our lives to realize how true this is.

Well worth the read.

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World Book Night

Did you know that today marks the annual World Book Night? If you answered No, don't feel bad; neither did I. But according to an article in USA TODAY, it is! According to the article, World Book Night happens on April 23 because it's Shakespeare's birthday. (And yes, I know: if you click on the link that says Pop Candy, you'll see a darkening globe with last year's date; no matter; the time on the article was posted this morning.)

On Saturday, April 20, USA TODAY published their weekend picks for book lovers. The list consists of: The Victory Season: The End of World War II and the Birth of Baseball's Golden Age, by Robert Weintraub, The Fever Tree, by Jennifer McVeigh, How to Be a Friend to a Friend Who's Sick, by Letty Cottin Pogrebin, Your Survival Instinct Is Killing You: Retrain Your Brain to Conquer Fear, Make Better Decisions, and Thrive in the 21st Century, by Marc Schoen with Kristin Loerg, and Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald, by Therese Anne Fowler.

So, celebrate World Book Night. If the books on USA TODAY's list don't sound appealing, pick another book - even if it happens to be Dr. Seuss's classic Green Eggs And Ham!

Operating Instructions:A Journal of My Son's First Year

Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year by Anne Lamott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Most readers I know - and I'm including myself here - tend to classify writers and books, even if it's on a subconscious level: there are writers we absolutely love, those we can't stand, and those we're neutral about.

Since discovering Anne Lamott's books maybe ten years ago, I've absolutely loved her writing. There are one or two of her books I couldn't get into, but that's fine, since most of what she's written is wonderfully quirky. She has this really funny, left-wing way of looking at things, not unlike my point of view, not to mention a touch of drama-queen-ness that I love.

That said, I'd been meaning to read Operating Instructions: A journal of My Son's First Year, her book about her first year as a single mom, for a while. I'm not sure why I hadn't read it completely when I first heard of it. Maybe it was the fact that my kids are grown, so it's been forever since I've dealt with a baby. But considering her son Sam is now an adult, with a child of his own, that argument was a little weak. So, I broke down and decided to give it a go.

Wow, what a book. Operating Instructions moves with the speed of a small brook, meandering slowly along, rather than with white-water-rapids speed. It was taken from the journal Lamott wrote during Sam's first year. We learn that Sam spends some time being a little colicky, which works his mother's last frayed exhausted nerve and we feel her frustration. (Fortunately, she discovers how to help Sam through this.) We see him roll from front to back for the first time. We see everything Lamott goes through, her family and friends helping out, her wonderful sense of humor and irony, her love for Sam...everything.

All in all, Operating Instructions is a good book to read for anyone who's ever had children, thought about having children, knows children, and loves funny, left-wing liberal parents. I have a feeling I'll be reading Some Assembly Required: A Journal of My Son's First Son, the book she wrote with Sam about his son. I'm looking forward to it.

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