Wild by Cheryl Strayed

The final book in my Goodreads 2014 challenge of 12 in 12 months! Coming in two months late, but never mind...

I absolutely loved loved loved reading this story and couldn't put it down! I haven't yet seen the film, but as with Julia Roberts in Eat Pray Love, I think Reese Witherspoon is the perfect actress to play this part.

As I've also been planning and dreaming and scheming for the last couple of years to do something big travel-wise, it seemed appropriate to be reading how Cheryl prepared herself for the Pacific Crest Trail - or didn't - as in the case of the giant backpack and too-small boots. But who cares! That's all part of the fun and challenge of doing something amazing, and it makes for humourous reflection when you recount the tales from your travels. If you can laugh at yourself, good on you!

I enjoyed this story so much because I connected with the author and understood why she was trekking the PCT, not just to escape, but that deeper spiritual meaning. If you love travelling and you do it for yourself to "get out of the box" as I do, often it's therapeutic at the time, yet I don't fully understand how it's helped me until much, much later.

"It was all unknown to me then, as I sat on that white bench on the day I finished my hike. Everything except the fact that I didn't have to know. That it was enough to trust that what I'd done was true. To understand its meaning without yet being able to say precisely what it was..." (Page 311)

There are some great quotes in the book and one of my favourites is this:

" Tell me, what is it you plan to do
With your one wild and precious life? "

Mary Oliver - "The Summer Day"

Two year travelling dream

I'm coming to the end of Wild by Cheryl Strayed on my Kindle and it's seriously whet my appetite for some long overdue travelling adventures, so... after two years of dreaming and scheming, today I've finally booked the Central Americas trip I've had my eye on, and the flights to go with it!

It takes in five countries in almost three weeks - Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. I've added time in Canada either end to see my family to make it a 32 day trip in total. EXCITING!!!

Definition

Mission statement

Quote of the day

Good advice

Nella Last in the 1950s

With lots going on towards the end of 2014, my 12 books in 12 months Goodreads challenge has spilled over into 2015. This is the 11th...

It was so wonderful to have another installment of Nella's diaries to devour. Here are some of my favourite passages:

12th June 1950
Nella is admiring the crew and workers aboard a sailing ship that's come into the ship yard for repairs. She's pondering on colour and race and makes the comment: "It makes my theory that some day there will be one race with no warring element of barriers that fear and greed make, and understanding of each other's ways and thought."

19th August 1950
The war in Korea rages on, along with the threat of atom bombs and total destruction. Nella has cultivated "a feeling we are all in some great and intricate "Place", that "it's not life that matters, but the courage we bring to it"."

23rd January 1951
Nella is talking about her one extravagance being the football pools and the 1 shilling she spends on the postal order. This tickled me because I've been working in a Post Office for the last couple of years and still do postal orders for people's football pools - but it's a darn sight more expensive now!

30th May 1951
Arthur, Nella's eldest son comes to visit and he now has children of his own. The two of them are talking about the joy of children and grand children. A wonderful mother and son moment captured here.

15th September 1951
Nella is enjoying her low level gambling with the football pools and dreaming about what she would do if she ever won, how she could help her husband and her boys. She recalls Cliff, her younger son having this to say on the matter: "No, I don't think so. I'm sure any artist is better without security. I sometimes think it would be better if I had not even my (Army) pension." I believe there's truth to this. When your back is against the wall financially and the one thing you have is your talent - whether that be writing, sculpting, painting - to get you out of a hole, it makes you work harder than ever.

11th March 1952
Nella has been listening to the Tommy Handley Story on the wireless with her husband. He was a great comedian of the time. She remembers her days in the canteen during the war, quipping with soldiers who "went gaily off, never to return". The laughter and the nonsense was a shining light in the dark days of World War 2. She says: "I hope Tommy has met them now."