Today is Take a Walk in the Park Day. The weather is certainly nice enough for a walk in the park, especially compared to what it was like last week during Spring Break (it figures). Even if you can’t get out to a park for a nice walk, you can read about some remarkable walkers:
- The things a brother knows by Dana Reinhardt (FIC Reinhardt) – Although they have never gotten along well, 17-year-old Levi follows his older brother Boaz, an ex-Marine, on a walking trip from Boston to Washington, D.C. in hopes of learning why Boaz is completely withdrawn.
- Planetwalker by John Francis (921 Francis, J.) – John Francis, a man inspired by an oil spill in San Francisco Bay in 1971 to give up using motorized vehicles and take a vow of silence, discusses the reasons why he embarked on his long, silent walk, and explains the meaning of the experience for him and society.
- The deserter’s tale: the story of an ordinary soldier who walked away from the war in Iraq by Joshua Key (956.7044 Key) – Tells the true story of Joshua Key, an American soldier who refused to return to Iraq and fled with his family to Canada because of the things he saw and did in Iraq.
- Daniel’s walk by Michael Spooner (FIC Spooner) – With little more than a bedroll, a change of clothes, and a Bible, 14-year-old Daniel LeBlanc begins walking the Oregon Trail in search of his father who, according to a mysterious visitor, is in big trouble and needs his son’s help.
- Wanderlust: a history of walking by Rebecca Solnit (796.51 Sol) – Discusses walking as a political, social and aesthetic act, exploring its history and how famous walkers such as Wordsworth, Socrates, and Jane Austen’s characters used it, and explains the necessity of walking instead of always driving and hurrying.
- Going after Cacciato by Tim O’Brien (FIC O’Brien) – An American soldier in Vietnam decides to leave the war and simply walks out of the jungle, with the intent of going to Paris.
- Cold mountain by Charles Frazier (FIC Frazier) – Inman, a wounded Confederate soldier, leaves the hospital where he is being treated and determines to walk home to his sweetheart Ada, only to find the land and the girl he remembers as changed by the war as he.
- Into the wild by John Krakauer (921 McCandless) – Tells the story of Chris McCandless, a 24-year-old who walked into the Alaskan wilderness on an idealistic journey and was found dead of starvation four months later.
Here is a question for you: why do you think so many of these books are about young men and/or soldiers? Something to think about while to take that walk in the park …