Book Club: Wild by Cheryl Strayed (and an Oprah moment!)

Before I chat about this weeks review, Wild by Cheryl Strayed, I need to tell you a little story first! So last month we reviewed Captivating by John and his wife Stasi Eldredge and at the end of the meeting Anika (my spiritual momma) made an announcement: She had tweeted at Oprah’s Book Club about our very own South African book club and guess what:
OPRAH SENT US BOOKS!!!  AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCK! Yes, we literately all went: AAAACK! in the coffee shop.

Signed by Oprah and the author

The book was this very same WILD, by Cheryl Strayed – hand picked for us by the wonderful Oprah. Wild is an autobiography written by Cheryl about her experiences while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail during the Summer of 1995. Yes girls, she did this all on her own some! See write up here:

A powerful, blazingly honest memoir: the story of an eleven-hundred-mile solo hike that broke down a young woman reeling from catastrophe—and built her back up again.

At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother’s death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life: to hike the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State—and to do it alone. She had no experience as a long-distance hiker, and the trail was little more than “an idea, vague and outlandish and full of promise.” But it was a promise of piecing back together a life that had come undone.

Strayed faces down rattlesnakes and black bears, intense heat and record snowfalls, and both the beauty and loneliness of the trail. Told with great suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, Wild vividly captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her.

Now, as Christian, Lord-loving gals, we obviously found the Jesus in this book 🙂 and I must say that it totally brought us back to: Spending time alone with God. I mean, I woulda totally had some holy spirit moments if I were to hike any trail by myself, without seeing anyone for DAYS! Cheryl says she discovered herself on that trail…  proof that it’s such a recipe for uncovering the deepness of God, getting to know Him and who YOU are in Him and just totally surrendering to Him.

Oh btw, we had breaki at The Blue Orange, in Walmer. It was a windy day and the only seating they had available for us was outside. So it was a bit chills. Breakfast wasn’t that amazing. The coffee, however, made my day! While taking pics outside (like proper weirdos), one lady asked us what we were taking pics for. We then explained our book club to her, and showed her our wonderful Oprah book. Yes, she also totally AAAACKED.
Especially when we gave her a spare copy of the book! She literally almost cried 🙂