I am excited to announce that we will be studying Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed over the next three months.

If you haven’t yet seen the movie version of Wild, starring Reese Witherspoon, I recommend waiting to watch it until we have completed our book study.

Please obtain a physical copy of the 2013 version of Wild. If you must use an e-book, ensure your settings allow you to view the actual page numbers at the bottom of each screen. It is too difficult to conduct a discussion when people have different versions and cannot identify the page numbers they are referring to. Here are instructions on how to turn on the page number display in Kindle.

We have much to learn from Cheryl Strayed.  She does a brilliant job of moving between the front story of hiking the Pacific Crest Trail and using backstory to help the reader understand her decisions and actions.

I recommend you make notes and identify the front story and the backstory in your book.

This book has a host of minor characters. Pay attention to how Strayed characterizes them.

They come on for a very short time, and then leave, but she describes every last one of them. Minor characters are not insignificant. They are one-dimensional, but they serve a purpose, an important one. They deserve some attention on the page, and Strayed does a fabulous job of giving them their due. Try to figure out why she includes them in her story.

Wild will be a great book to study, and I look forward to doing that with you.