Dear Great Book Guru,  I was at the annual Doherty-DiPietro-Heneghan-Voccoli-Garrett- Gurbo  Holiday Happening in Point Lookout, where I overheard a spirited discussion of everyone's favorite topic: "what good books have you read lately?" A few people mentioned a harrowing  memoir about a young woman's  month -long journey through the Pacific Crest Trail. Some liked it; others couldn't get past the first few chapters. What is your take on it?                     Point Lookout Partygoer

Dear Point Lookout Partygoer,  What a great party and, yes, I too, like some of the partygoers,  have mixed feelings about: WILD  by Cheryl Strayed.  Written in 2007, the book recounts the author's hike across  the deserts, mountains, snow, and rain of the Pacific coast from California to Washington in 1995.  It is a tale of mourning, addiction, fear, estrangement, and ultimately redemption. In the opening pages of the book,  Strayed's mother at age 45 is diagnosed with terminal cancer,  and we quickly become enmeshed in her last days and Strayed's anguished response. After her mother's death, she marries but cannot make a commitment to a man who obviously loves her. She slips into many untoward relationships and ends up with a heroin addicted lover and worse, a heroin addiction. Her response is to remove herself from her life as she knows it and begin a trek across the Pacific trail. She is challenged by nature and the many folk she meets along the way.  Her adversities are many and her rewards few, but she ends the journey with a strong sense of achievement and hope for the future.  I cannot say I enjoyed this book but I did empathize with Strayed's desire to make her life right. Recommended with reservations….