Curling Up With A “Wild” Book

This past weekend, in addition to watching the Olympics, I hibernated due to the cold and snow and read a book that I could just not put down. Some of my favorite books are tales of people who turn their lives around after tremendous loss, especially if they're about women. In "Wild" Cheryl Strayed writes that at age 22 she thought she had lost everything. Her mother had died of cancer leaving her essentially an orphan (her father had disappeared much earlier) and she divorced her husband. She was working as a waitress, having a series of affairs and using heroin. Four years later, at 26, she impulsively set off to solo hike more than a thousand miles of the rugged and beautiful Pacific Crest Trail, from the Mojave Desert through California, Oregon and Washington. She and no experience or training, no cell phone or credit card. She was driven by sheer will alone. Against all odds the long walk healed her an leads to this inspiring story of determination, grit, heartbreak and strength. She found herself one step at a time: a remarkable journey.