Now I’m reading it again

I don’t often reread books which I only recently read; usually rereading comes a considerable amount of time after i first looked at it – sometimes I’m very disappointed, sometimes it’s a real pleasure, sometimes it’s between the two. The only book I regularly reread is ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,’ by John le Carré. I finished a book on Monday (having started it on Saturday) and I’ve started rereading it today. Quite often I’m a careless reader, hurrying from page to page; with this one I read almost every word – I say almost, because I’m sure my eyes glossed over some occasionally! I had heard about this book a couple of years ago on the radio, and it didn’t appeal at all. It seemed as if it was a true story but the way it was described made it sound fanciful and exaggerated, sentimental, unappealing. I saw this written about it ‘an honest and life-affirming true story of coming to terms with grief and the healing power of the natural world’, and that put me off it even more, but I was totally wrong.

Staying with friends over the weekend, I picked up a book while they were talking about football and within a couple of pages I was completely hooked. The book was ‘The Salt Path’ by Raynor Winn which I wrote about briefly in my 100/100 challenge blog yesterday. I’m sure many people know it as it was published in 2018. This is what Wikipedia says of it:

Raynor Winn is a long-distance walker and writer; her first book The Salt Path was a Sunday Times bestseller in 2018. Winn and her husband Moth, who was diagnosed with a terminal illness called corticobasal degeneration, became homeless after a bad investment and decided to walk the 630-mile (1,010 km) South West Coast Path.

It’s a long time since I shed a little tear over a book, but on a couple of occasions, my eyes pricked, however, I also chuckled out loud – Winn is a wonderful writer and she tells her amazing story so engagingly, so cleverly, her descriptions of everything, herself, their situation, their journey what they see, and think and do, the adventures they have, the trials the undergo… I’m actually finding it difficult to put into words what  great book this is. It’s so interesting, there’s no self-pity, only bewilderment and anger at the injustices they’ve suffered which brings them to undertaking this tremendous challenge. It’s a gripping book, I found it difficult to put down, and Saturday and Sunday nights I had to force myself to close it and try to go to sleep.

So now I’m reading it again, and perhaps I’ll write more coherently when I finish it this time and review it properly. In the meantime, I thoroughly recommend it!

https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-salt-path/raynor-winn/9781405937184