The Appalachian Trail covers 14 states, and over 2,000 miles. It stretches along the East Coast of the United States, from Maine in the north to Georgia in the south. It is famous for being the longest continuous footpath in the world. (Compare this with the Pennine Way, which is a mere 250 miles long.) It snakes through some of the wildest and most spectacular landscapes in America, as well as through some of its most poverty-stricken and primitive backwoods areas - Redneck country - Moonshine, Lil' Abner, there's bears in them thar hills. Remember the film Deliverance? God only knows what possessed Bill Bryson, a reluctant adventurer if ever there was one, to undertake this gruelling hike. Perhaps it was just a long-held ambition to lose weight: he has lost two stone so far. As he recently wrote from the trail to his publisher: 'Speaking of vigorous exercise, boy have I just had some. Maine was a bitch. I want you to come back and walk it with me so that when you die if you go to hell you will be able to say: "Call this hell? Try walking across Maine in August."' Reared in the tradition of Mark Twain, James Thurber and S.J. Perelman, Bryson used his many years in Britain to soak up a peculiarly English sense of irony and humour and to hone a laugh-out-loud style that is uniquely, hilariously, his own. -- WHSmith.co.uk
Posts: 1564 | From: Emirates Stadium | Registered: Apr 2007 | Site Updates: 0
| IP: Logged |
Lovers with Cassie
Remembering when Mel Gibson was young....
Member # 7794
Des Moines, Iowa born writer Bryson's first success was the travel book "The Lost Continent". After living in England for several years, he wanted to go back to the USA to find the perfect little US town of his past, he lovingly called Amalgam. More travel books followed, in the form of "Neither Here Nor There" (where he travels through Europe), "Notes From A Small Island" (where he travels around the United Kingdom, before returning back with his to the USA to live there for good) and "A Walk In The Woods" (where he walks the Appalachian trail). After moving back to the States, Bryson started to write a column for "The Mail on Sunday Night and Day" magazine. This is a collection of these column entries. Bryson writes about everything from everyday chores, to sueing people, the beach, TV, movies, air conditioners, college, Americana, injury dangers, wasting resources and holiday seasons. -- WHSmith.co.uk
Posts: 1564 | From: Emirates Stadium | Registered: Apr 2007 | Site Updates: 0
| IP: Logged |
Lovers with Cassie
Remembering when Mel Gibson was young....
Member # 7794
posted
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. A bunch of hackers go on a quest for a fortune in a virtual reality world of the near future.
Rewinders attention!!! This is THE sci-fi book for lovers of the 80s. Every page has wonderful references to 80s culture, from Deloreans to Better Off Dead to Cindy Lauper to TRS-80 computers to Glenmorangie, the Scotch of choice of The Highlander himself. You know that you are in the hands of a genius writer when one of the quest challenges is knowing every line in the movie WarGames. (I wonder if the author lurks here?) Anyway, if you read one book this year, this is it, sure to become a beloved classic by those in the know. I am stunned at how entertaining this book is.
[ 13. January 2012, 21:50: Message edited by: Crash ]
Posts: 2008 | From: Dixieland | Registered: Oct 2008 | Site Updates: 0
| IP: Logged |
oneyedwilly
The Dread Pirate Rewind....
Member # 8730
This book was converted to cinema as No Escape starring Ray Liotta. Whilst I did enjoy the movie, it did take many liberties with the story, starting with the central character (movie = American ex special forces, book = English office worker).
The Nomsal Colony Posts: 2517 | From: Living in oblivion. Third floor up. Nice views from the window.... | Registered: May 2004 | Site Updates: 4
| IP: Logged |
posted
J2ME, I love Bill Bryson books, have you read the Australian one yet? I'm reading Stephen King's new book "221163" about a guy who travels back to 1958 and prepares to stop the Kennedy assasination.
Posts: 3839 | From: Wangaratta, Vic, Australia | Registered: Jun 2004 | Site Updates: 0
| IP: Logged |
Lovers with Cassie
Remembering when Mel Gibson was young....
Member # 7794
posted
I need an e-book reader soon after finally finding ton's of great books on line in the epub format I have actually been reading a lot lately.The latest one:Pale blue dot by Carl sagan.For my much needed sci fi kick,i have read almost the complete work of Asimov
Here is a short story by Andy Weir highly recommended.
The eggPosts: 362 | From: Third rock from the sun | Registered: Nov 2007 | Site Updates: 0
| IP: Logged |
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Cool]](cool.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
after finally finding ton's of great books on line in the epub format 
