Book review on the run: The Blind Masseuse

A couple of weeks ago I received a preview copy of a new travel memoir, The Blind Masseuse: A Traveler's Memoir from Costa Rica to Cambodia, by Alden Jones...

I raved about it in an earlier blog post:

It's FANTASTIC. (And I'm not just saying that because the book was free. I've received many free books over the years, and if they're horrible, I either don't post a review or I tell it straight that the book sucked.)

... but this book was, indeed, fantastic. And I promised that I'd write an actual review.

The Blind Masseuse is a well-crafted travel memoir, but the book is also a deeper reflection on culture, travel, and tourism, and how those concepts intersect and conflict. (But that somewhat scientific explanation of the book's themes hardly do it justice.)

One of my favorite quotes comes early on in the book and set the tone as I hurried through the pages:

"While tourists spend their time away from home seeking out the comforts of home, travelers risk - even cultivate - discomfort, because what they want is the thrill of a new perspective."

That sentence stopped me in my tracks: Am I a tourist? Or am I a traveler?

As I followed Jones' trips around the world, which she admittedly makes both as a traveler and as a tourist, I kept returning to that question. And perhaps that's why the book was so compelling. Certainly Jones' writing style is engaging, and her travel adventures are at times humorous and at times poignant, but what sets this book apart from other travel memoirs is that it kept me thinking not only about the adventures of the narrator, but also about the larger context in which we explore our world (and in which I explore the world).

If we are tourists, we are merely brushing by the culture and humanity of a new or foreign place. We cling to the familiar and take photos of the foreign. We return with a scrapbook, but with no larger understanding of the world than we had when we left, ticket in hand.

If we are travelers, we immerse ourselves in all of the discomfort that comes with being out of our element. We delight in getting lost in a city, and then finding our way. We revel in learning a new word, trying a new flavor, or living on a different schedule. But eventually the unfamiliar becomes familiar. Ultimately it becomes our new reality. It's no longer foreign. And then, perhaps, we go off in search of a new adventure. Or, perhaps, we leave sooner than we might... afraid that the mystery of a favorite place will wear off if it becomes home instead of a destination.

And, try as we might, maybe even the most dedicated traveler has tourist moments. Jones writes:

"There is no disarming all of what we know, no matter how much touching and kneading and feeling we do, no matter how much we think we're trying. What makes us blind is what we think we see."

I can think of times in my own travels (both the short-term vacation kind and the lived in 5 different states and 4 different time zones kind) when no truer words could describe how I felt... thrilled at the prospect of a new adventure, but - at first - still filtering all of that new information through my old lens. It felt thoroughly reassuring, reading Jones' book, to know that even the most dedicated globetrotter has tourist moments, too.

Lest you think that the philosophical musings overwhelm the book, I assure you that the travel memoir is brilliantly written. Jones' history of her time in Costa Rica begins with the pleasantly disorienting title "Lard is Good for You." Her time in Bolivia is enlightening, if somewhat less than welcoming (picture getting caught in the middle of massive, and sometimes violent public protests over water prices). And her cruise around the world... well I'll let you read that for yourself.

So whether you're a tourist or a traveler, whether you've circumnavigated the world or you explore via the Travel Chanel from the comfort of your armchair: read this book. You will not be disappointed.

Book blogger love

Happy Book Blogger Appreciation Week!

What? This is a running blog?

Well, let's be honest: book reviews are part of the fun here at yes, folks. I read as much as I run, and have written a review or three. So I signed up for the BBAW "interview swap." My partner in crime the interview swap is McKenna, the blogger behind Young at Heart.

McKenna may be young, but puts me to shame with the volume of books she reads. And her review policy is one of the most detailed I've seen!

McKenna (right) with her mom and brother

YF: So, McKenna, I see you've got quite a long list of books you've read already this year. (60!!!) How many books do you typically read each month?

YaH: I try to sit down and read at least 30 minutes each day, but sometimes that doesn't happen due to my hectic schedule. I can usually average 6-8 books a month, but when I have extra time (like around Christmas) I can usually read about 10. By no means am I a fast reader though. It can take me 6-8 hours to read a 300 page book.

YF: What made you want to start blogging about the books you read?

YaH: I have always loved reading and have always been encouraged in my love. My friends and family, though, do not share my love so I never had anyone to talk to about the books I was reading. I had been following a few book blogs for a while when I finally decided that I would take the plunge. I set up a domain and a few hours later I had my first review up!

YF: You have a very clear review policy. How did you decide what to review and how you would review it?

YaH: Since I started my blog, my review policy has evolved quite a bit due to events in the blogging world, discoveries of genres I like/dislike, etc. Being a teenager, it was pretty much a given that I read YA books. I am a somewhat picky person, so I knew it was important to state EXACTLY what I liked so the publisher/author knew up front what I liked.

YF: Have you ever received a book to review that you really did NOT like? How did you deal with the review on your blog (and how did you deal with breaking the news to the author)?

YaH: Being a newer blogger, I haven't quite gotten to the point where I am recieving a huge amount of review requests. The requests I have gotten and accepted have been for books that I have enjoyed (so far). I am sure that one day in the near future the day will come when I have to take actions, but for now that has not happened.

YF:& What do you do in your free time when you're not reading?

YaH: I love to hang out with my friends, bake (especially cookies!), play volleyball, and watch trashy TV. Oh, and sleep :) The best time of day is when I can settle down on the couch and relax with and episode of The Bachelor/Bachelorette/Bachelor Pad!

YF: Last, but not least, if you were stuck on a deserted island, what three books would you want to have with you, and why?

YaH: I would probably say the first or last three Harry Potter books. I have been meaning to re-read the series for a while now and they are pretty large so I figure they would tide me over at least for a little while. Plus, I would probably never get bored reading about Hogwarts.

For the record, with an average of 6-10 books a month, I can hardly believe McKenna says that she's not "a fast reader." I suppose, as in running, it's all about perspective. Heck, even Kara Goucher sometimes doubts her speed...

Dear readers, how would you answer these interview questions, especially that last one:
What book(s) would you want if you were stranded on a deserted island?

Weekend reading

With no runs on the schedule, I've done more reading this weekend than usual (which is saying something given that I devour about a book a week).

In an attempt to "do the right thing" in treating my plantar fasciitis, I swapped this morning's planned 12 mile run for almost 2 hours on the stationary bike.

(Have we talked about how boring it is to spend 2 hours on a stationary bike? No? Well. It's boring. By the time I was done, doing laundry sounded like an exciting change of pace.)

Fortunately I had a stack of good books in easy reach. The one (only?) benefit of equipment-based workouts over being outdoors is that I can catch up on my reading. Balancing a book while running would elicit funny looks from my neighbors. Plus, I'm not coordinated enough to pull off reading-and-running. I'd trip and break something.

But I'd have to be awfully drunk to fall off a stationary bike. Even while reading a book.*

So here's what I've been working on while pedaling away this weekend:

Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time is my book club's next book. I am not sure I would have picked this up otherwise, but I'm halfway through and so far I really enjoy both the science and the storytelling.


I just finished Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, death, and hope in a Mumbai undercity. This was definitely not a beach-reading book. The issues are complex, and the book is beautifully and compellingly written, even when it chronicles tragedy and loss. Fortunately my stationary bike is in my living room, so no one but Peanut notices when I make shocked faces/noises about my reading or my eyes well up with tears... If I were in a gym I'd just pretend it was sweat.


Also, last month author Liana Chin contacted me to let me know that her book Mom's First 5k would be available (for a limited time) on Amazon for free. I downloaded a copy, and finally started reading it this weekend. While I'm no longer in the beginner ranks, I recall some of the struggles Chin talks about. (I will post a full and detailed review once I finish.)

And last, but not least, I thought I knew most of the craziest Olympic history stories. But there are a few I missed...

*PS - Hardcore HIIT devotees will probably roll their eyes at my reading-while-working-out. I figure weekends are for long slow distance (running) so that translates to long slow (boring) biking for me right now. A variety of paces, distances, and intensities is key to a well-rounded training program.

Do you ever read while you work out?
What type of reader are you: one-at-a-time or multiple books going at once?
Any reading recommendations to share?

Book review on the run: AWOL on the Appalachian Trail

I have been on a bit of a hiking-reading kick lately. Immediately after reading Wild, I ordered AWOL on the Appalachian Trail by David Miller.

Much like a thru-hike itself, the book has brilliant high points, and slow and plodding lows.

Miller, feeling stuck in a rut at his job, talks with his wife, forms a plan, then quits his stable, work-a-day, engineering job to spend a summer hiking north from Springer Mountain, Georgia to Katahdin, Maine.

At times, the plodding sections of this Appalachian Trail memoir read like a blogger's bullet-pointed workout-and-diet post.

These pages turn into a litany of brief, uninspiring statements along the lines of: I walked 6 miles. It rained. I stopped to eat some trail mix. It continued raining. I walked 5 more miles. I realized the sleeping shelter was full. The rain slowed to a drizzle (or poured so hard I couldn't see). I walked 4 more miles and camped at another trailside hut. (Note: I've taken some creative license here, but a few sections had about this much charisma.)

But, to be fair, it would be difficult to chronicle day after day of travel on foot, over 2,180 miles and across 14 states, without having a few lulls.

The high points in this book made every slow page well worth the wait.

The text glows when Miller talks about his motivations for the hike and how hard it was (initially) to make the allegedly "crazy" decision to go AWOL from work for a thru-hike. Miller's tale sounds familiar, like the echos of a debate that has been raging in my own head.

"I'm no maverick. Upon leaving college I dove into the workforce, eager to have my own stuff and a job to pay for it. Parents approved, bosses gave raises, and my friends could relate. The approval, the comforts, the commitments wound themselves around me like invisible threads. When my life stayed the course, I wouldn't even feel them binding. Then I would waver enough to sense the growing entrapment, the taming of my life in which I had been complicit.

Working a nine-to-five job took more energy than I had expected, leaving less time to pursue diverse interests. I grew to detest the statement 'I am a...' with the sentence completed by an occupational title..."

The section continues on, highlighted and double-underlined in my book, but I will spare you further spoilers and recommend that you read it for yourself.

Another section that stood out:

"Not everyone needs to be a hiker, but using 'not my thing' is too convenient. Activities that even momentarily cause discomfort, that don't provide immediate positive feedback, are subtracted from the realm of experience. We are outraged when we are constrained by others, but willfully, unwittingly put limits on ourselves."

In addition to inspiring passages, I should note that also Miller offers excellent technical advice throughout the book. Unfortunately he also makes a rookie mistake late in his hike. He "slack packs" for a day (leaving his pack with a friend, with plans to hitchhike back to retrieve it later) and leaves his jacket behind in his pack.

It goes without saying that a hiker should never, ever hike without warm clothes - not even in the desert, and certainly not on a mountain. (Maybe in Fiji it might be ok?) Weather can change from bad to deadly in the blink of an eye. (I speak from experience after getting caught in a freak snowstorm on Mount Whitney several years ago.) Miller only gets chilled, but the situation could have been much more dire.

Miller also has a few run-ins with bears, but manages those all without incident.

I'm not going to tell you whether or not he completed the trek. Instead I'll leave you with this...

"I do think of how regrettable it would have been if I had ignored the pull that I felt to hike the trail. A wealth of memories could have been lost before they had even occurred if I had dismissed, as a whim, my inkling ot hike."

Rating: PR

Recommended for: Anyone contemplating a major life change - career change, major move, the beginning or end of a relationship, or anything that is not on the "accepted track" of school, work, partnership, house, kids.

The book would also be a good starting point for anyone contemplating a through-hike of the Appalachian Trail, Continental Divide Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, or any other many-months trekking adventure.

Rating system:
BQ = best quality (or Boston Qualifier)
PR = pleasant read (or Personal Record)
DNF = did not finish (or Did Not Finish)

For more book reviews and other recommended reading, see Book Reviews on the Run.

Book review on the run: Memoirs of a Gas Station

In my quest to read as much intellectual non-fiction many travel memoirs as I can this summer, I picked up Memoirs of a Gas Station: A Delightfully Awkward Journey Across the Alaskan Tundra by Sam Neumann.

The premise of the book seemed promising. Sam, the author, spends a summer working at a gas station in Denali National Park in Alaska. Between the stunning scenery, opportunities for backcountry adventures, and slightly oddball seasonal workers, the book should have been a roaring success.

Unfortunately, despite the fact that Neumann pokes fun at frat boys early in the book, winds up sounding an awful lot like one.

When he is upset about something, he describes it as "I sound like a gaping vagina." He disses the WNBA as being valuable only for "comedic value," and he regularly refers to himself and male friends as "women" in a derogatory way.

Had I not been on a long cross-country flight, I would have put the book down.

(Ok. Perhaps that's not entirely true. At one point I realized the train wreck was too spectacular to look away. And the more I read, the more examples I had to share of the blazing ignorance on display in this memoir.)

Neumann might be the most un-likeable person I've ever "met" in a memoir. At first he reminded me of guy friends I had in college. But just when I'd start to think he might be alright after all, he'd admit to another breathtakingly vulgar or insensitive act. Case in point: Sam describes an afternoon bushwhacking with his best friend in the world...

"I pushed back an especially cumbersome branch and stepped through the opening it created, and instead of holding it for Jim to walk through - as is common courtesy in the bush - I allowed it to snap back into his face."

(Who does that? Who does that to their best friend?)

On another hike, Sam's friend Jim winds up with soaking wet shoes - a serious problem on the Alaskan tundra. Sam's reaction is "I delighted in his pain, for he was my friend, and that's what friends do."

If that's what friends do, Sam, I hope we're always enemies.

I'll spare you further details about heavy drinking and glorifying buzzed driving as "fun." What this young writer needs is not another Alaskan adventure. He needs a class in kindness.

Rating: DNF

Recommended for: Readers who think sexist jokes and drunk driving are funny.

Rating system:
BQ = best quality (or Boston Qualifier)
PR = pleasant read (or Personal Record)
DNF = do not finish (or Did Not Finish)

For more book reviews and other recommended reading, see Book Reviews on the Run.

Book review on the run: I Run, Therefore I am Nuts

A few weeks ago Bob Schwartz sent a copy of I Run, Therefore I Am--Nuts! to me to read and review. I've been slowly chuckling my way though the series of essays.

Schwartz's self-deprecating sense of humor is amusing. I found myself nodding along knowingly with passages such as "The Runner's Better Half" about the trials and tribulations runners' spouses endure. Likewise I laughed at "Send in the Clowns" about the increasingly ridiculous antics and entertainment at every mile marker of major distance races.

Schwartz also pulls no punches in the range of topics he covers. He admits that runners' sense of decorum drops as soon as we put on wicking material. Smearing vaseline or bodyglide on in front of hundreds of other people? Sure! Sniffly nose? Skip the tissue and blow a snot rocket! And what runner hasn't had an intense and detailed conversation about bathroom functions?

While the writing style is too conversational to win any Pulitzer prizes, the book is entertaining and a worthy addition to any crazy runner's collection.

I particularly liked the short essay format of the book. I could read a chapter or two on my lunch break without feeling like I was going to lose the train of a story when I had to put the book down and return to work.

Rating: PR

Recommended for: Runners who enjoy commiserating over 4am race-day wakeup calls, black toenails, and other "crazy" runner stuff. You can get a sample of Schwartz's writing on his blog.

Rating system:
BQ = best quality (or Boston Qualifier)
PR = pleasant read (or Personal Record)
DNF = did not finish (or Did Not Finish)

For more book reviews and other recommended reading, see Book Reviews on the Run.

Recommended (and not) travel reading

I read quite a lot of travel/memoir.

Image source

I recently filled you in on how much I enjoyed Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail. As for other travel/journey/memoirs, some are equally entertaining and some are... well...

Let's be honest, sometimes there's a dud.

Last week I wasted 5 bucks on LIVING LIKE A LOCAL: Stories of Our Life in France. Reading that "book" was like reading a diary. A poorly written diary. A poorly written diary in which the phrase "couldn't be better" pops up often. (Really, are there that many things that "couldn't be better?") And the passive voice pervades the text: "There were posters around town..." "The movie was shown..."


The CAPS LOCK in the title should have been my first clue...

That said, there are plenty of excellent tales to be read. A couple of travel books I've loved:

• Chickens, Mules and Two Old Fools is the tale of a couple that packs up and moves from London to Andalucia, managing to chuckle their way through linguistic and cultural barriers while adopting half a dozen chickens along the way.
• I'm not an Alcoholic, I'm just European! is the story of a widower who leaves his housebound life behind to move to Madrid. The book benefits greatly from the author's sense of wonder as he opens up to a world he once only watched on television.

Combined, those two books made me want to pack my own suitcase and move to Spain.

What books have you loved (or loathed) lately?

Book review on the run: Wild

Last weekend two full days of flash flooding kept me indoors. It probably comes as no surprise that I like to be outside. I get cabin fever if I am cooped up for more than a day, so I needed a good book to help me maintain some semblance of sanity.

I mentioned my dilemma, and a friend recommended Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail. The timing couldn't have been better. Another friend is through-hiking the PCT right now, and I've been following his progress through scheduled email "newsletters." Needless to say, I've got a bit of PCT-envy this summer. (I've hiked sections of the trail, but never more than day hikes.)

I finished the book in less time than it took the author to get through her first 20 miles on the trail. Wild was one of those tales that kept me up well past my bedtime, so I could read "just one more chapter."

In an attempt to avoid spoilers, I will not go into vivid detail, but I will say that the author Cheryl Strayed makes some very poor life choices before starting her trek. I started the book wondering whether I wanted her to finish the hike or not. Thankfully, unlike so many other authors, Strayed takes full responsibility for her bad behavior (or at least doesn't try to blame anyone else).

I should warn readers that Wild is nothing like sappy-happy Eat, Pray, Love. There is no upper-middle-class ennui. There are no superficial-seeming spiritual experiences. While divorce kicks off both books, and both authors go on a journey, the similarities end there.

That is not to say that fans of Eat, Pray, Love will dislike Wild. In fact, I think Wild takes the elements of EPL that everyone loved (travel! adventure! life changing journeys!) and ups the ante with a lead character who is at once both more frustrating and more lovable (not to mention more believable).

One of my favorite passages:

... and then there as the real live truly doing it. The staying and doing it, in spite of everything. In spite of the bears and the rattlesnakes and the scat of the mountain lions I never saw; the blisters and scabs and scrapes and lacerations. The exhaustion and the deprivation; the cold and the heat; the monotony and the pain; the thirst and the hunger; the glory and the ghosts that haunted me as I hiked...

In my humble opinion, Wild is every bit as gritty and compelling as a backcountry trek should be.

But don't just take my word for it... Read it yourself and let me know what you think!

What book has kept you awake at night to read "just one more chapter?"
What did you think of Eat, Pray, Love - love it or hate it? I thought EPL was an entertaining "beach" read, but I didn't particularly like it.

Thursday thanks

Quiet morning: Kindle and coffee...

Rain on the windowpanes.
Hot cup of coffee.
No early workout scheduled before the workday begins.
And a fresh new book waiting to be read...

I'm thankful for good books (because, you know, sometimes I need things to do when I'm on an airplane, resting after a long run, or just enjoying a quiet morning).

Here on the blog, I generally only review books on sports or travel (in keeping with the blog theme). But don't let that fool you: I am an omnivorous and voracious reader.

Over the past couple of months I've finished:

• Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
• Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
• The Bitch-Proof Suit by De-ann Black
• Two Old Fools - Olé! Another Slice of Andalucian Life by Victoria Twead
• The Jade Rabbit by Mark Matthews

Of those, Cold Comfort Farm was a book I could not put down. The heroine was completely adorable. (It's no surprise Gibbons' book makes the BBC's top 100 list.) Things Fall Apart was similarly compelling, but for entirely different reasons. Achebe's book is dark where Gibbons' is light, but both are excellent reads.

On the other side of the intellectual spectrum, the Bitch-Proof Suit was little more than a beach read (but an entertaining one at that).

Two Old Fools is the second non-fiction memoir of a British couple that packs up their life and moves to the Spanish countryside. (My desire to go to Barcelona last year was in no small part fueled by books like "Old Fools.")

Sadly, of the five, the only one I did not gush over was The Jade Rabbit. The main character is a female marathon runner struggling to overcome some serious life challenges. By all accounts, Jade Rabbit should have been a book I loved. But the text was littered with grammar errors. Moreover, a key theme was the main character's struggle to get pregnant, and the writing on that topic felt stilted at best. (Maybe because the author, a man, has never tried to get pregnant?)

But now I'm on to other pages...

Cutting for Stone has totally sucked me in... So now, please excuse me while I go read a few more pages before work.

What types of books do you "usually" read?
What are you reading right now?

Door prizes! (upcoming blogiversary giveaway)

Has it been a year already?
I tentatively dipped my toe into the blog waters in February 2011, and much like running, I got hooked.

To thank you all for your wonderful comments (this blog thing would be boring without you!), I'm hosting a self-funded giveaway. No corporate sponsors. Just a good, old fashioned door prize, to be announced on Superbowl Sunday, February 5th.

The Prize: The best book I read last year was The Long Run: A New York City Firefighter's Triumphant Comeback from Crash Victim to Elite Athlete, so I will send a copy (your choice of hardcover, paperback, or Kindle edition) to one lucky reader.*

How to Enter: You get an entry into the door prize drawing for each of the following (post a separate note in the comments section for each entry):

• Follow using Google's "connect" feature -- see the "let's run (subscribe)" link in the sidebar (+1)
• Follow on Facebook (+1)
• Re-post about this giveaway on your blog (+2)

*Entries close at noon Pacific time on February 4th. I will draw a door prize winner at random, and will post the results on Superbowl Sunday (Feb 5th). To claim your prize, you must contact me within one week. If I do not receive a response by 11:59pm on Sunday, Feb 12th, I will choose another winner (also at random). There is (obviously) no cash redemption value for this prize.

Book review on the run: The Long Run

I just finished The Long Run by Matt Long and Charles Butler.
This is, without a doubt, the best book I read in 2011.

Matt Long's account of his young years as a New York City firefighter, brother, son, and endurance athlete sets the stage for this tale. Long has a smartass northeastern sense of humor that comes through clearly in the text. His apparent zest for life makes it all the more tragic that in 2005 he was hit by a bus and left with 5 percent chance of survival. His list of internal injuries would make even the most stoic reader wince in empathy.

As can be expected after an accident so traumatic, Long's path to recovery is, at times, uncertain. The reader follows Long through the shock of learning the extent of his injuries to the humiliation that he feels living with a colostomy bag. His voice is so strong in the tale that the reader (at least this reader) finds herself near tears when bad news is delivered by well-intentioned doctors.

But these periods of grief are peppered with tales of firehouse pranks and family humor that make you want to laugh out loud.

And ultimately this book is not a tragedy. It is a story of triumph over adversity. It is the story of how Long pulled his post-accident life back together (with the help of family, friends, and some excellent doctors and physical therapists) to run and race again.

If there ever was a tale of inspiration, this is it.

If you want to read an excerpt before you commit to buying it (or to borrowing it from your local library), Runner's World offers a sizeable chunk of the text on their website. Or watch the video from the Daily Show:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Matt Long
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

If you have read the book, what do you think?
If you haven't read it, what are you waiting for?

Book review on the run: Unbroken

I just finished reading Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand, of Seabiscuit fame. I am aware that I am in the minority in not loving the book, but I cannot lie. I did not love the book. I appreciated the book. I am glad I read it. I did not love it.

But that is my beef with the storyteller.
I was completely enthralled with the story itself.

Louis Zamparini's life story -- childhood mischief, training for the Olympic trials, running the 5000 at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin (and being greeted by Hitler as "the boy with the fast finish!"), joining the Army Air Corps to fight in WWII, surviving a plane crash over the Pacific and subsequent weeks of drifting at sea without food or water, being captured by the Japanese, spending years in a POW camp, suffering PTSD, and eventually turning his life around -- is a tale for the ages.

Zamperini's biography is inspiring, humbling, and even the hardest-hearted reader is likely to gasp in horror at the conditions in the prison camps. I found myself pausing to appreciate the comforts in my own life. (A bed with blankets! And no vermin! What a joy!)

As a runner, it is impossible to miss the parallels between Zamperini's single-minded determination on the track in his youth, and his single-minded will to survive the POW camps. And he did survive and overcome the ravages of war.

Ultimately this is an amazing-but-true story of the triumph of the human spirit over atrocities that are almost unspeakable.

Unfortunately I found Hillenbrand's writing to be a less than compelling vehicle for this amazing tale. To her credit, the biography was meticulously researched. Hillenbrand's attention to details is incredible. However, to me the story at times felt stilted, as though the intent was a documentary film on war crimes, not a biography.

I felt like I was watching Zamperini's suffering and salvation on a black and white screen, not that I was seeing it through his eyes. Hillenbrand reportedly interviewed Zamperini seventy five times (according to the NY Times) during the writing of the book. Given her access to the hero of the story, some first-person quotes would have helped the text greatly. (Perhaps if I had not just finished The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, a science/biography told in compelling detail, I would not have found the detachment so jarring.)

But I am just one reviewer.
TIME called Unbroken the best non-fiction book of the year in 2010 and the LA Times loved it.

So please read it. And come back to let me know what you think.
And if you've read it already...
What did you think of the book?

Sunday superlative

This week a San Diego legend passed away.

I'm not talking about a rock star or a politician.
I'm talking about a community college teacher.

In addition to his day job, Jerry Schad opened up the southern California backcountry to hikers and trail runners through a series of books, guided hikes, and a column in the local weekly rag.

To say that Schad's books are well-respected would be an understatement. His "Afoot and Afield in San Diego County" is considered the bible of backcountry and beach trails. (If you think I'm exaggerating, check out the LA Times article.)

My personal copies of Afoot and Afield are dog-eared, water-stained, and filled with notes in the margins. In short, the books have been often-used and well-loved. Without those books as a guide, I would never have found even half of the amazing places that I've hiked and trail-run over the years.

The collection of photos below represent just a handful of the treks I wouldn't have taken without Schad's tireless work to document trail locations, distances, elevation change, and other useful pieces of information.

Area M-5, Trip 4: Three Sisters Waterfall

Area M-8, Trip 2: Garnet Peak (yes people, it snows in the San Diego mountains!)

Area D-2, Trip 8: Hellhole Canyon

Schad will be missed.
San Diego's backcountry won't be the same...