Book #10: The Stranger in the Woods

 

Title: The Stranger in the Woods

Author: Michael Finkel

Have I read this book before? Yes.

How obtained: Borrowed from local library.

Why this book? A few years ago my wife and I listened to this book on Cloud Library.  Last month I saw it in our library in the book club section.  I dove into it right away.

Fun Fact: The book is about a man named Christopher Knight.  Christopher Knight is also the name of the actor who portrayed Peter Brady on the Brady bunch.  I'm not 100% sure , but I think it's possible that the reason he went into the woods in the first place was to get people to stop singing the Brady Bunch theme to him whereever he went.  If he ever does go back into seclusion, I have one suggestion: marshland, marshland, marshland. 

                                                                    Before

After

Quote from the book: Knight lived in the same campsite for nearly his entire time in the woods. The site is in a surprising spot. Maine itself, the cork atop a fizz of small states crowding the American Northeast, contains vast realms of uninhabited woodlands, mostly owned by timber companies, but Knight chose to disappear well within the bounds of society. Towns and roads and houses surround his site; he could overhear canoeists' conversations on North Pond. He wasn't so much removed from humanity as sitting on the sidelines. From the nearest cabin to his hiding spot is a three-minute walk, if you know where you're going. 

page 53 from the 2017 edition

What others are saying about this book: Aaron Sommers wrote this review of the book for Ploughshares at Emerson College.

What did I think:

I enjoyed reading this book as much as I enjoyed listening to it a few years back.  Knight is a hard figure to write about because we try to do it through our own lens. Wikipedia in their entry about him refers to his years active as 1986-2013, the 27 years he was anything but active.  Finkel does a credible job telling Knights's tale (sorry, Heath Ledger)  from many different angles. 

I finished this book on July 4th, the 37th book of my Summer reading program. This put me on schedule to read 27.03 books during the challenge.