Book Number Two

"Not long after I moved with my family to a small town in New Hampshire, I happened upon a path that vanished into a wood on the edge of town"-A Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson


Henderson Libraries is starting October's book from the Not-So-Grown-Up Book Club. You may pick up a copy of the book at Gibson Library's Reference desk. We will be meeting on November 2nd @ 6:00pm. Here is a brief summary of the book we are currently reading:

A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail By Bill Bryson

"Follwing his return to America after twenty years in Britain, Bryson decided to reacquaint himself with his native country by walking the 2,100mile Appalachian Trail, which stretches from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine. The AT, as it's affectionately known to thousands of hikers, offers an astonishing landscape of silent forests and sparkling lakes-and to a writer with the comic genius of Bill Bryson, it also provides endless opportunities to test his own powers of ineptitude to witness the majestic silliness of his fellow human beings.

For a start there's the gloriously out-of-shape Stephen Katz, a buddy from Iowa who accompanies the similarly unfit Bryson on the trail. Katz's modus operandi is a simple one: jettison everything from his backpack and head for the nearest town, where there are cozy restaurants filled with waitresses called Rayette. But eventually Bryson and Katz settle into their stride, and it's not long before they come across the fabulously annoying Mary Ellen, whose disappearance ruins a perfectly good slice of pie; a gang of Ralph Lauren-attired yuppies from whom Katz appropriates a key piece of equipment; and a security guard in Pennsylvania who, for no ascertainable reason, impounds Bryson's car. Mile by arduous mile these latter-day pioneers walk America, along the way surviving the threat of bear attacks, the loss of key provisions, and everything else this awe-inspiring country can throw at them.

But A Walk in the Woods is more than just a laugh-out-loud hike. Bryson's acute eye is a wise witness to this fragile and beautiful trail, and as he tells its fascinating history, he makes a moving plea for the conservation of America's last great wilderness. An adventure, a comedy, a lament, and a celebration, A walk in the Woods is destined to become a modern classic of travel literature." -BOOK JACKET

To discuss this book, come to the Gibson Library on Thursday November 2nd @ 6:00pm. For more information contact Elizabeth at 564-9261 or Nicole at 564-9287.