SIX WOMEN WALKING

Danger and harassment have too often kept women from joining the ranks of long-distance walkers.  For a century or more, no books on walking were written by women, but the last decade has seen a welcome change.  Here are six books by women about walking.

1. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, by Cheryl Strayed.  This modern classic, made into a movie, may be the women’s walking book that opened the door.  Strayed (gotta love the name in this context) overcame a bad marriage, drugs, and despair by hiking America’s less-traveled mega-trail.  

2. Flaneuse:  Women Walk the City in Paris, New York, Tokyo, Venice, and London, by Lauren Elkin.  The French have a word for it.  Flaneur — a person wandering through a city absorbing its street culture.  Lauren Elkin follows six female walkers on strolls through the world’s great cities.

3. To the River: A Journey Beneath the Surface, by Olivia Laing.  Walking the River Ouse from Sussex to the sea, the British writer discovers herself, the river’s history (Virginia Woolf drowned herself in the Ouse) and the role of rivers in human culture.

4. Tracks:  A Woman’s Solo Trek Across 1,700 Miles of Australian Outback, by Robyn Davidson.  Another modern classic made into a movie, this wild journey features dingos and digiridoos, plus the soul-searing journey of a lifetime.  Bring water.

5. On Looking: A Walker’s Guide to the Art of Observation, by Alexandra Horowitz.  The neuroscientist and best-selling author (Inside of a Dog) walks through NYC with assorted experts.  An artist.  A geologist.  A doctor.  A sound designer.  A child.  A dog.  Seeing the world through each companion’s eyes, she opens yours.

6. Wanderlust: A History of Walking, by Rebecca Solnit.  “Hope’s Rising Star” eulogizes walking in this early work that blends brief accounts of her own treks with a thorough survey of walking and its impact on thought, meditation, and culture.