(no rating)
Love this book. And I've read and thoroughly enjoyed Joan's humorous but beautiful narratives in "Get off the Couch". At 26 pages, it is more a pamphlet than a traditional travel book, but the photographs are charming in tone with each adventure depicted.
I can confidently say I would buy this book in a bookstore, even though I rarely hike any trail except the well-worn carpet path to the bathroom. This collection of 10 newspaper outdoors/trail hiking essays are nothing less than a pleasure to read.
My favorite of Joan’s 10 adventures is this depiction in episode 4: “East of the Ozarks”, originally published July 4, 2009, Ludington Daily News:
“But hikers know that you rarely get more than one perfect element at a time. I had a hard time feeling that lovely air on my skin since it was coated with five layers of insect repellant, often topped with long sleeves and a head net. I don’t know how a scrap of gauze that weighs less than an ounce turns into a iron mask the minute it is placed over the face, but it does. Oh, did I mention that the mosquitoes had friends? With the reinforcement provided by deerflies, gnats, ticks, and biting ants I was diving into my tent before 7 pm every lovely evening– that little scrap of a tent– 2 pounds, 11 ounces. It’s great, except that I can’t sit up in it. Lying down for 12 hours out of 24 gets tiresome, even with a book. Two hundred mosquitoes lined up on the screen waiting for me and humming tunes they mistakenly believed to be seductive.”
At a digestable 26 pages, this ebook is dressed with some of the most beautiful photographs of the great outdoors amid the humorous and often poetic personal narrative. All hikers and nature lovers will adore this small but gorgeous volume. You will feel like you’re right there with Joan.
So get off the couch and buy this ebook.
(reviewed the day of purchase)