I have a couple of book suggestions for you. I am hooked on Memoirs and that is exactly what both of my recommendations are today. I didn’t actually read Wild, I listened to it on audio book.
So convenient, you can listen while you go for your morning walk or while you do all of those boring household jobs.
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
All I can say is – WOW! I stumbled upon this book without trying. I was just searching the highly recommended books on Audible and this one jumped out. I have never even thought about hiking before or had the desire to go hiking but after listening to Wild it is all I can think about. This is the story of Cheryl Strayed. She hiked the PCT. What is the PCT I hear you ask… good question. I had never heard of it either. It is the Pacific Crest Trail and runs from the Mexican border in California USA up through Oregan and Washington State to the Canadian border. Wild takes you on Cheryl’s journey along the PCT. She had no clue what she was doing and did it all solo. Look, instead of me trying to explain it too you, here the little blurb from her website…
At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother’s death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life. With no experience or training, driven only by blind will, she would hike more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State—and she would do it alone. Told with suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, Wild powerfully captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her.
{Image Credit: www.cherylstrayed.com}
I really want to go hiking after listening to this book – now that is a sentence I never thought I would type! I have even been googling “Hiking Trails in Australia” … the Larapinta Trail looks like the go – one day. Maybe I could hike from one side of our station to the other… it may not be 1,000 miles but it is about 160km I think, baby steps.
Turns out I really do live under a rock (well we all know that don’t we!) because I was telling the girls here about this book and Bobbie said “yes, i’ve seen the movie” – what the hell… it’s a movie? This just gets better and better and then she told me that she even has the movie. Bonus! Has anyone seen it or read the book? I highly recommend it. Just a fascinating journey. I watched it on the weekend and it was just as good as the book, well of course the book was better and had way more information but the movie was pretty spot on.
You can buy the paper back HERE from Booktopia. It is only $13.90.
Or you can get the audio book HERE form Audible. If you aren’t already a member of Audible then your first book is free! There is no commitment to keep buying either, if you don’t think you will be needing another book you can just suspend your account until you do. Too easy!
You can buy the kindle e-book HERE from Amazon for just $3.99.
Is this my beautiful life? by Jessica Rowe
I really enjoyed this book and had it finished in no time at all. A very easy read – thanks for the loan Anne! I love Jess’s honesty. She keeps it real and it makes you realise that those people behind your tv screen are in fact real people, with real feelings. To tell you the truth I was never really a huge fan of Jessica Rowe. However, after listening to her interview on the I Don’t Know How She Does It podcast and now after reading this book I have a new found respect for this lady. Jess keeps it real and says it as it is. She had me at #shithousewife!
Jess takes you on her IVF journey, through the tears and triumphs and then through her dreadful experience with Post Natal Depression and her struggle with being home alone with 2 young children. I am hearing you Jess!
You can buy this book in paperback HERE from Booktopia for $22.50 or download it on e-book/kindle HERE for just $3.29 from Amazon. Here is the description over on Booktopia…
The fairytale I had dreamt up saw me still blazing ahead with my career, sharing the cooking and cleaning duties with my husband and having neat, tidy and well- behaved children who had beautifully brushed hair. But that was not my life.
Journalist, celebrity, television presenter, author, ambassador for beyondblue and patron of its work on post-natal depression, Member of the Order of Australia, risk-taker, social commentator, charity worker, public speaker, passionate mother and wife, Jessica Rowe is all of these things, and more. And in this extraordinary memoir, Jessica reveals herself as a woman who thought it would be easy to have it all, to do it all. But what was supposed to be her beautiful life derailed in the very public collapse of her television career accompanied by astonishingly hurtful public trolling, her long struggle to conceive, her fears and what she believed to be failings as a mother and in her professional life, and the diagnosis of post-natal depression.
Thankfully, with proper medical help, and that of her beloved husband and family, Jessica ultimately rediscovers her ‘sparkle’.
Deeply honest, funny, gut-wrenching and touching this book will be treasured by women who don’t feel they fit the mould of the perfect woman; women who understand that in life, ‘having it all’ may develop a different meaning; and women suffering from post-natal depression, who will be encouraged that it’s okay to ask for help.
So there you have it. As you can see my weekend was non eventful and all I have to share with you is a couple of book reviews… what is going on? Busy week ahead though as we get things sorted here on on the homefront/office front because at the end of the week we head off. First to Barkly Women’s Day which I organise twice a year then the kids, Miss Bobbie and I head into Mt Isa for the week for School of the Air Home Tutor Seminar and Sports day. Best go and get my skates on.
How was your weekend? Hopefully it was more interesting than mine!
Got any book recommendations for us? Or hiking trails!
Have a great week lovely people.
Chards – it might sound a bit intense for a Monday morning, but check out “The Top 5 Regrets of the Dying” by Bronnie Ware (she’s an Aussie). This book has definitely changed my life x
Oh thanks Steph…. I am always up for a life changing book!!! And likewise to you – check out WILD – it is seriously amazing. Off to see if I can get your suggestion on Audio Book!! Thanks. How are things over there? Are you still in the US?
Great post love your work
Thnaks 🙂
I adore Jessica Rowe and have done for a few years 🙂 but I wasn’t aware that she had written a book, definitely one to look out for!
Mind you I don’t really watch any TV these days, except occasionally we will stream and binge watch a whole seasons of something or the other …
Our public holiday weekend was rather wet here in Brisbane, so we focused on house stuff on Saturday, a party Saturday night, Church Sunday morning, down south to visit a friend Sunday afternoon/night and then more house stuff on Monday – yup party animals we are too!
Total party animals, ha ha ha. Sounded like a good weekend actually and way more exciting than mine! You will love Jess’ book I think. She has one or two other books too I think. We are the same with TV and have been binge watching stuff too. But we have just started watching Masterchef with the kids… now I think we are hooked.
I really want to get my hands on Jess’ book. I have been reading Lisa Genova (Still Alice, Inside the O’Brien’s, Left Neglected, Love Anthony) and Josephine Moon (The Tea Chest & The Chocolate Promise) at the moment both are fiction writers but I am enjoying that for now.
My weekend was pretty nice, my birthday not so much (Monday) I spent 36hrs in hospital after hubby found me unconscious in the bathroom and the ambos couldn’t get a BP reading! Home now and time to plan the twins birthday tomorrow!
xo
Oh Kit… that is terrible, hope you are feeling ok now. Far out. I think you would love Jess’ book! I have “The Tea Chest” on loan from a friend but haven’t read it yet. Hope the twins have a good birthday.
I loved Wild too…. I walked the Camino from France to Santiago de Compostela in Spain in late 2014 (about 800kms all up), and it was hands down the best experience of my life! Cannot recommend long distance walking enough 🙂
Oh wow!!!!! I can’t even begin to tell you how fascinated I am now with hiking. I have just rolled another 2 audio books about hiking – A Walk in the Woods and Into the Wild. No where near as good as Cheryl Strayed’s Wild!!! Now I am off to google the Camino!!! Thanks. 🙂
Ooh I’m on the waiting list at the library for A Walk in the Woods – you know it’s been made into a movie too? Came out at the end of last year… oh boy you’re gonna have very itchy feet after all this reading/listening! Haha 🙂
Hi there Jacq – to be honest I wasn’t all that fussed over A Walk in the Woods, not after Wild and Into the Wild, was a little boring I thought. Let me know what you think. I will have to check out the movie.
I wasn’t sure I’d stick with reading ‘Wild’ Chards, after the first couple of chapters. Being a bit of a planner and quite an organised person I felt exasperated with her – how could someone take on the trail not having put their new hiking boots on, filled their pack up, and gone for even a 5 km walk with it on their back? But I was glad I stuck with it, and have so much admiration for people with that level of determination. Speaking of which, I went to see Eddy the Eagle at the movies today – another terrific ‘triumph over adversity’ story. A Walk in the Woods is a good movie too Chards. There’s also one on walking the Camino called ‘The Way’.
Hi Jo, I was a bit the same but I think sometimes if you overthink things you would never end up actually doing them. I reckon if you thought too much about the PCT you would think it was all too hard and never ever start. I take my hat off to her. I would be like you – I would at least have to break in those boots and yes – go for a little practice run with the backpack. I am hearing you!! Wasn’t it an amazing story – and the people she met, so fantastic. I have since listened to another 2 audiobooks – A Walk in the Woods (so funny you mention that one) and Into the Wild. But I think WILD was still the best. Didn’t realise A Walk in the Woods was a movie too, I know Bobbie told me Into the Wild was a movie. I am definitely going to check out The Way. One of my readers commented the other day and she has actually hiked the Camino!!!! Fascinating people in this Chardy community I tell you!!!! 🙂