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• Literary walking

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  I am fascinated by the theme of walking. Could someone recommend good walking literature? This could be accounts of actual walks, fiction touching the theme of walking, poetry on walking or reflections on the (historical, social, cultural, political) significance of walking. Thanks.

  Ronnie started this discussion 5 years ago. ( reply | permalink )

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  dilwara 

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  A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson is about walking the Appalachian Trail.

  posted 5 years ago. ( permalink )

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  mjacobs 

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  The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin tells of his walking in Australia, and is a very nice mix of travel writing and philosophy, politics, and "la condition humaine". I read this from the library and bought it afterwards because it is a book to read and reread.
  Wild Wales by Borrow is an account of this very eccentric Englishman's walking through Wales in the early 1800s. Borrow was not an ordinary walker: he had learned Welsh by himself, and was always ready to start heated conversations in pubs etc, acting on the principle that everybody was entitled to his opinion. A strange but very interesting book.

  posted 5 years ago. ( permalink )

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    mjacobs 

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    Forgot another favourite: Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes, by Robert Louis Stevenson. Very entertaining and a classic in its own right.

    posted 5 years ago. ( permalink )

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  Zmrzlina 

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  Walking by Henry David Thoreau. Slim volume you could take with you on a walk and find a place to sit and enjoy it.

  posted 5 years ago. ( permalink )

• Fiona 

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  I stumbled across these two books while browsing on Amazon:
  
  "Walking Zero: Discovering Cosmic Space and Time Along the Prime Meridian" by Chet Raymo.
  The author is a science professor and the book is a guide through England along the zero-longitude line.
  I haven't read it but it sounds fascinating and I'm adding it to my wish list.
  If you hadn't started this discussion I would never have found this book. Thank you!
  
  "Wanderlust: A History of Walking" by Rebecca Solnit.
  I checked it out in Amazon Online Reader. The table of contents looks very promising but the writing seems a bit heavy handed.

  posted 5 years ago. ( permalink )

• Fiona 

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  I found more:
  
  "On Pilgrimage: Sacred Journeys Around the World" by Jennifer Westwood
  From Amazon Online Reader the books looks interesting. Not at all new-agily semi-mystical.
  
  "Bold Spirit: Helga Estby's Forgotten Walk Across Victorian America" by Linda Lawrence Hunt.
  In 1896, a Norwegian immigrant and mother of eight children named Helga Estby was behind on taxes and the mortgage when she learned that a mysterious sponsor would pay $10,000 to a woman who walked across America.
  
  Not about walking per se but useful if you get in trouble while hiking:
  "Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why" by Laurence Gonzales.
  I stumbled across it while looking for books about walking and had to add it to my wish list. Thank you again!
  
  

  posted 5 years ago. ( permalink )

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    Zmrzlina 

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    Bold Spirit! Of course! How could I have forgotten that one. Excellent suggestion!

    posted 5 years ago. ( permalink )

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    Weird Hikes by Art Bernstein
    "Walk to New York" by Charles Wilkins

    posted 5 years ago. ( permalink )

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  Doris T 

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  I Do, by Doris Trueheart, is about a journey through a wilderness.

  posted 4 years ago. ( permalink )

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