These Boots Are Made For Walking... Something Wild and the Law of Attraction — Part two

A few days after I found my “new” walking boots, I was searching my book collection for something to read. I say ‘collection’; it’s not that large, perhaps two to three hundred books. They are the ones that have survived the years. Books that I have read, or am unlikely to read, I often give to charity shops.

Books can take up a lot of space.

When I was a young boy, a neighbour of mine had a large book collection, all in book cases that covered the walls of their house. They could have opened a bookshop. I wondered if I would ever have the same — not a bookshop, but a house with a room or a study with lots of books.

The answer has turned out to be no. The books I have are housed in different places, some on show, some stored away. Truth is, they are often neglected, but just occasionally, I would remember to pick one to read.

This time I settled for one that had been sitting in a pile of books, hidden away for so long they were gathering dust. It was in used condition, probably picked up at a charity shop or a car boot sale. It was a book that I had looked at many times and put down, never quite being in the mood to read it.

It was a book by the author Cheryl Strayed called Wild.

Part memoir and part travel adventure, it tells of her journey to walk the Pacific Coast Trail. I thought, It’s about time I read this, or at least a few chapters, to see if it is worth reading. I enjoy reading books by people who have faced a major challenge in life and done something different. The risk of adventure, taking a chance, the not knowing of what will happen next, and the trust that you have to believe that everything will turn out alright.

I settled down to read the book.

It begins with a prologue, something that you don’t see that often in books these days. A few pages long, but it stood out straight away. A prologue is written with the intention of telling part of the story that pulls the reader in.

A cliffhanger, so to speak.

Wild recalls a story of how she loses one of her walking boots over a cliff edge. In frustration, she then throws the other one away. The Pacific Coast walk is a long one, and with both boots gone, you are drawn into the story to see how she coped walking barefoot, or did she? I would have to read on to find out.

A cliffhanger in more ways than one.

But as I read the prologue, I also realised that of all the books I could have selected to read, I had picked one that, in the first pages, writes of a lost pair of boots.

Having just found a pair of walking boots that looked like they had been thrown away, I couldn’t help but think how strange life can be.

 

 

Edited and updated, June 2026.