Beach Reads

Summer weather arrived on schedule on July 4th, but between my work schedule and the bureaucratic hassles required to stay on good terms with the Employment Security Department, which pays a bit of unemployment comp. sometimes, and DSHS, which reloads my EBT card, I still haven't had a chance to do anything very fun so far this summer. I'm working on plans, though.

In the meantime, here are some good summer reads by two bicycle-riding women named Heather - which I actually read over the winter, but any time is good.

Take Good Care of the Garden and the Dogs, by Heather Lende, gets the prize for literary merit and redeeming social value. The author lives in a small town in Alaska and writes obituaries for the local newspaper. While out for a first-of-spring bike ride, she was run over by a truck driven by a local boy running a stop sign. She was almost killed, but was airlifted to Seattle for a long period of rehab. Then she receives word that her mother is dying of leukemia. She writes about the deaths of other close friends in her small town, and touches on the unevenness, or possibly injustice, in our health care and social service systems, raising the question of whether this is sometimes a matter of choice. There is one very dark passage about a bear hunt, but mostly the book is surprisingly cheerful and uplifting.

I Never Intended to Be Brave is written by Heather Andersen, a former Peace Corps worker. During her two years in Lesotho she was told not to travel alone or go out at night, and continually warned about areas that weren't safe and towns or neighborhoods she should avoid. But when her time with the Peace Corps was over she wanted to see more of Africa. After trying to organize a group bicycle tour, she ended up travelling with only one man. When personality conflicts arose, they split up and she continued alone, discovering that most of the fears for safety instilled by the Peace Corps were exaggerated. The book provides a good description of her route and the camps and hostel accommodations she found along the way, but it's a little sketchy in other ways. Sometimes she just lists animals she sees along the way, or describes people without really making them vivid characters, and I didn't really understand the conflict with her riding partner. Late in the book she makes mention of finally understanding something from his perspective, but doesn't reflect on it much. But otherwise it is a good account of a challenging adventure, one I wouldn't be brave enough to attempt.