Torch by Cheryl Strayed

I just reread Torch, Cheryl Strayed's first novel. I had read this book at some point since it was published in 2005 and didn't realize it till I was about one-third of the way into it. I mean, parts sounded familiar but I'm glad I kept reading it. Like her memoir Wild, this novel is well written and draws you into the story of a step family, a mom and her two kids and their stepdad who have to face adversity.

This book is somewhat autobiographical because Cheryl Strayed lost her mother when Strayed was a young adult like the character of Claire in Torch. She says though that that's where the similarities end. She invented the characters and what happens to them.

I'm looking forward to seeing the movie of Wild:  From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail that comes out later this year. Have you read Wild or Torch?
     

Book Read:  Torch
Author:  Cheryl Strayed

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed

Okay, I finally read Wild by Cheryl Strayed, and it was as great as everything I'd heard about it.

If you haven't yet read this memoir, just do it. Today, tomorrow, any time is good. But this book reads like a good friend telling you about her deepest secrets and thoughts. It's funny. It's sad. It's painful. (All those missing toenails. Ugh.) 
 
Even if you're totally not athletic and have never hiked in your life, you can relate to this story of one woman's tale of hiking the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) for 100 days alone from Mohave, California to the Washington border.

One line near the end of the book is telling of her conversational style:

"The tumbler made its way slowly back to me; I took a sip and handed it back to Rick, and so on, like we were smoking a gigantic liquid joint."

Read more about this wrenching tale.

Book Read: Wild:  From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

Author: Cheryl Strayed
ISBN:  978-0-307-59273-6