Category Archives: Book Reviews

Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods is an engaging tour of the Appalachian Trail and its history as well as a humorous account of two woefully unprepared men attempting to through-hike the trail in one summer. The book appealed to me because I live on the East Coast and enjoy hiking and therefore have hiked portions of the trail myself; I have neither the time nor the inclination, though, to attempt a through-hike. It also came highly recommended by my in-laws, who listened to the audio book years ago. I finally picked it up after the publisher rereleased it to coincide with the movie release.

If you are looking for entertainment, the book does not disappoint. Bryson imbues the entire book with a light-hearted levity teetering on the edge of just being over-the-top. He makes fun of himself and others with equal ease as he recounts his hiking adventures; indeed, this is where Bryson is at his best. The most engaging part of the book is the story, and Bryson never takes himself too seriously. The reader watches him prepare for and begin hiking the trail, decide not to through-hike after all, but then doggedly continue the trek as he hops from place to place along the trail. I found myself admiring his perseverance, and I can’t be disappointed that he doesn’t finish the hike—did I mention that I don’t even want to try it? Near the end, he reports his final tally: 870 miles, “just” 39.5 percent of the trail. I nodded in complete agreement and awe as he concludes, “If I had hiked that against almost any other measure, we would all be feeling pretty proud of me now” (273).

The next strongest and most interesting part of the book is Bryson’s recounting of the history of the trail itself and his commentary on conservation (or lack thereof) along the trail. As I mentioned previously, I have hiked portions of the trail, mostly in Virginia and West Virginia, and so learning about its development and building was very interesting for me, as were brief histories of places in the Virginia area through which the trail passes; Shenandoah National Park and Harper’s Ferry were of particular interest. I was less interested in histories of areas outside the trail in Pennsylvania coal country; these felt tangential to me, but that could be because I have no personal connection to the area. In terms of conservation, the book is full of statistics and species-specific information, which mostly seems impartial. Bryson does get a little heated in his apparent disdain for the National Park Service, which he seems to think inept, admitting, “now you might conclude from this that I don’t much admire the Park Service and its people” (93).

Though I enjoyed the book overall, I do feel the book disappoints in one glaring way: the statistics sprinkled throughout the book are very outdated. Bryson hiked the trail in 1996 and the book was originally published in 1998. His story and the history portions, of course, are still relevant, but his conservation statistics are outdated. Neither he nor the publisher made any attempt to update the information; there isn’t even a foreword in the new release explaining this fact. It left me feeling like the rerelease was pure commercialism – a chance to sell more books as the movie hit theaters. This may, in fact, be true and there’s nothing objectively wrong with it, but I wish the information had been updated.

Overall, I found the book very entertaining and definitely worth reading. I enjoyed it, and I think anyone who enjoys hiking, nature, or the Appalachian Trail would like it. I give it 3 stars!

Additional information and links:

Penguin Random House links:

• Purchase directly from publisher
• Author bio

Bill Bryon’s website

*Note: I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

Kabul Beauty School by Deborah Rodriguez

Summary: Deborah Rodriguez uses her cosmetology degree and experience to help open and run the Kabul Beauty School, where she seeks to empower Afghan women by teaching them the skills to open their own beauty salons and serve as future teachers at the school. She learns and shares the stories of these remarkable women and accomplishes her own self-discovery in the process.

What I liked and what I learned: The author’s work in Afghanistan and her service to the women she taught is admirable and showed real courage. She presents a more human Afghanistan–physically and culturally–than we often have the opportunity to see in the news and security-related stories. Much of her book takes place before I started to pay attention to Afghanistan at all and before the security situation deteriorated drastically after 2007, and provided a glimpse of how ordinary Afghans and foreigners lived day-to-day.

I learned a lot about women in Afghanistan, how their roles and opportunities changed as Afghan leadership and security shifted over time. Deborah does a fantastic job of sharing these women’s stories–their burdens and their successes alike–and how they navigate personal empowerment within cultural constraints. I found myself continually reflecting upon the true freedom American women are afforded and the blessings I have in my own life in terms of personal freedom, education, and a loving, supportive marriage.

What I didn’t like: The first chapter of the books seems like it was written to hook the reader and sort of draw you in with a dramatic story, but it actually had the opposite effect on me. I found it a little overly dramatic, I was displeased with the dishonesty displayed, and I rapidly (and perhaps unfairly) decided I didn’t like the author. I almost stopped reading. Additionally, I found the follow-up to this first chapter a little disjointed and buried in a later chapter. I  expected it to be tied up neatly at the end, but it felt like it was just sort of stuck in there because it had to be. I also had some difficulties reading the story because the author and I disagree on some major moral issues – dishonesty and polygamy in particular.

My rating: Ultimately, I’m glad I decided to give the book a chance after the first chapter. It’s worth a read, but hardly blows me away. My rating: 3 stars out of 5.