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bookwoods's review against another edition
2.0
I probably should have known that this book wouldn’t be to my taste, but I really wanted to believe I could adore historical biographies. Because that’s what Wanderers essentially is: a collection of biographies about women who walked and wrote, the first feeding the latter. Kerri Andrews has chosen people from the 18th all the way to the 21st century. Most names sounded familiar, but there wasn’t anyone I had actually read something from. And I’m sorry to say Wanderers didn’t make me want to change that.
The writing, although concise and fluent, felt boring and filled to the brim with quotes. Just so many quotes. Andrews ends each chapter with her own summaries and experiences trying to retrace the writers’ steps in some way, yet I didn’t care. And I guess that’s the main issue. Maybe I feel slightly more inspired to take walks, but the central message of how instrumental walking is for writers, men and women alike, didn’t offer anything particularly new.
“For some women walkers, the pedestrian body becomes a conduit through which past, present and future are connected. The physical self is a medium through which time, stories, lives, all intersect.”
sarahswarbrick's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
Lovely look at women writers and walkers throughout history. Rich in detail and settings it is as much about where the women walked as how it was important to them.
laurenw22's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
What an absolute pleasure this was to read. Wanderers is a history of women walking and the relationship it had with writing for them. Honestly, I love this so so much. It was amazing to read about how to simple act of putting one foot in front of the other was a political act, and one that represented the momentum of change, for a a lot of these women throughout history. I truly felt I could identify with them all in some way and it was a lovely way of learning more about the spaces women taken that they were often not welcome originally. If you have an interest in walking, and female history I really recommend this one!
carolinemcquistin's review against another edition
3.0
I wanted to love this book a whole lot more than I did. It did however have some really lovely aspects to it and a very informative read if that’s what you’re looking for.
erinreadstheworld's review against another edition
4.0
As human beings, walking defines us. We're walkers and we're talkers. Walking can be both a social and introspective pursuit. I know I'm not alone in saying that I get some of my best thinking in while walking.
Walking is something both men and women can do. Yet there's so many things that can prohibit women from walking. That doesn't stop many of us though;; we walk the trails or pound the pavement. But, if you look at the literature of walking, women's experiences are vastly underrepresented.
This is where Wanderers: A History of Women Walking by Kerri Andrews comes in. It's attempting to fill some of the gaps. In Wanderers we gain an insight into the lives of ten women who walked and wrote it. Kerri Andrews also peppers the book with our own experiences walking in the UK, often the same places as our ten women, who span back to Dorothy Wordsworth in the 18th Century to Linda Cracknell in the present day.
Some of the chapters read like an academic text. Which given Kerri Andrews is a university lecturer, and this is a non-fiction book that frequently references other written works, I guess it's just part and parcel. Some of the chapters though, buzzed and the trodden landscapes brimmed with life. I especially liked the chapters on Sarah Stoddart Hazlitt, Virginia Woolf, Nan Shepherd and Anaïs Nin.
I know the book is not trying to represent the history of every woman walker, but the women in the book are all very noticeably white and are mostly British. It does discuss the privileges that allow women to walk (namely money, social privileges and a lack of familial responsibilities - especially in the 18th and 19th) and the fact that the women included in the book are all known for their writing is a privilege in itself. But I would have liked to have heard about more women who weren't from the UK.
I adored the insight into walking and the human experience of walking from the female perspective. I had hoped to like this book more than I did, but some bits felt a little bit too academic for me. Although it did further ignite my love of a long walk in the mountains.
Walking is something both men and women can do. Yet there's so many things that can prohibit women from walking. That doesn't stop many of us though;; we walk the trails or pound the pavement. But, if you look at the literature of walking, women's experiences are vastly underrepresented.
This is where Wanderers: A History of Women Walking by Kerri Andrews comes in. It's attempting to fill some of the gaps. In Wanderers we gain an insight into the lives of ten women who walked and wrote it. Kerri Andrews also peppers the book with our own experiences walking in the UK, often the same places as our ten women, who span back to Dorothy Wordsworth in the 18th Century to Linda Cracknell in the present day.
Some of the chapters read like an academic text. Which given Kerri Andrews is a university lecturer, and this is a non-fiction book that frequently references other written works, I guess it's just part and parcel. Some of the chapters though, buzzed and the trodden landscapes brimmed with life. I especially liked the chapters on Sarah Stoddart Hazlitt, Virginia Woolf, Nan Shepherd and Anaïs Nin.
I know the book is not trying to represent the history of every woman walker, but the women in the book are all very noticeably white and are mostly British. It does discuss the privileges that allow women to walk (namely money, social privileges and a lack of familial responsibilities - especially in the 18th and 19th) and the fact that the women included in the book are all known for their writing is a privilege in itself. But I would have liked to have heard about more women who weren't from the UK.
I adored the insight into walking and the human experience of walking from the female perspective. I had hoped to like this book more than I did, but some bits felt a little bit too academic for me. Although it did further ignite my love of a long walk in the mountains.
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