Thru-Hiking Will Break Your Heart: An Adventure on the Pacific Crest Trail
Astonishing--this travel tale had almost none of the elements that make me love a travel tale, and I still loved it. The daily journeys were relayed in a plain, sequential narrative, and in present tense. The present tense was annoying at first, but after a couple of pages it pulled me in and swept me along--
I close my eyes, listening to the sound of the freeway in the distance. Turning the wheel of life, as they say.
or
I eat my rehydrated instant pinto beans from my plastic peanut butter jar. They taste amazing.
I quoted a couple of mundane passages on purpose--this gives you the idea of the simple, no-nonsense narrative of the journey. It's simple, but by no means mundane. One doesn't hike over two-thousand miles through desert and mountains without experiencing enervating heat, grinding weariness, aching cold, and gnawing hunger. In dizzying intervals she is literally on the top of the earth and in the depths of despair, and it's good being there with her.
Not as good as doing it yourself might be...but then, not as tiring.
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