These books will get you going—perhaps inspiring some walks in the woods or allowing you to travel the world from your armchair (or beach chair). I shared them this month on Good Day Alabama on WBRC Fox 6.
By Diana Helmuth with illustrations by Latasha Dunston
I have a group of female hiking friends, and I’m recommending we all read this funny, informative beginner’s guide to hiking and backpacking. It’s a National Outdoor Book Award Winner in the Instructional Outdoor Adventure Guide category, and it made the list of Backpacker Magazine’s “50 Best Hiking Books of All Time.” We’ve just started our shared adventure, and some of us are more experienced than others, but this book offers lots of practical knowledge for all ages and experience levels. Diana shares her trail wins and failures and offers some great advice to stay safe and healthy on hikes without breaking the bank. So far, we’ve enjoyed our excursions and the resulting camaraderie much more than we’ve suffered. We’ve been venturing close to home—Ruffner Mountain and Red Mountain Park—but we’re eager to keep this going and venture farther afield. And I believe we will. We’ll read She Explores by Gale Straub next.
By Alka Joshi
This new historical novel spans continents, which I love, so it’s a bit of a travelogue, but it also explores friendships and cultural identity. Set mostly in India as the country was on the verge of independence from Great Britain, Sona is a nurse in Wadia hospital. She’s also of mixed race (her mother is Indian; her father was a British army officer). Over six days, she cares for a renowned painter named Mira who is recovering from a miscarriage and who also shares Sona’s mixed-race heritage. Sona has always yearned for a larger life, and listening to Mira’s stories makes her even more aware of the world beyond India. When Mira dies suddenly, Sona is under suspicion. But her upended life opens a door to more. The key to proving her innocence lies in a cryptic note and four paintings left behind by Mira. Delivering these paintings to Mira’s friends and lovers across Europe puts Sona on a journey of self-discovery that takes her to Prague, Florence, Paris and London and opens her mind and her world.
By Kimi Cunningham Grant
This is a beautifully written, atmospheric novel of family secrets set in the remote Appalachian Mountains. For eight years Cooper and his daughter, Finch, have lived in isolation in a cabin in the woods. No electricity. No family. No connections at all apart from an old army buddy who delivers supplies once a year and a rather unsettling local hermit. Finch came to the cabin as an infant when Cooper was on the run. She’s grown up sheltered from the world, educated by Cooper and the books in the cabin, but Finch is starting to rebel against the isolation. When Cooper’s friend Jake fails to show up with supplies one year, it sets off a chain of events that shows just how precarious their situation really is. Then a young woman goes missing in their woods and suddenly they are not alone anymore. And Cooper has to decide to keep his secret hidden or face his past.
I link to Amazon to show you exactly what book I’m talking about, but I love to shop locally at Church Street Coffee and Books, The Alabama Booksmith, Little Professor, and Thank You Books in Crestwood. And I visit my local library often in person and online!
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