Review: One Year Lived by Adam Shepard

One Year Lived by Adam Shepard

Description (From the back of the book):

"I'm not angry. I don't hate my job. I'm not annoyed with capitalism, and I'm indifferent to materialism. I'm not escaping emptiness, nor am I searching for meaning. I have great friends, a wonderful family, and fun roommates. The dude two doors down invited me over for steak or pork chops--my choice--on Sunday, and I couldn't even tell you the first letter of his name. Sure, the producers of The Amazing Race have rejected all five of my applications to hotfoot around the world--all five!--and my girlfriend and I just parted ways, but I've whined all I can about the race, and the girl wasn't The Girl anyway.

All in all, my life is pretty fantastic.

But I feel boxed in. Look at a map, and there we are, a pin stuck in the wall. There's the United States, about twenty-four square inches worth, and there's the rest of the world, seventeen hundred square inches begging to be explored. Career, wife, babies--of course I want these things; they're on the horizon. Meanwhile, I'm a few memories short.

Maybe I need a year to live a little."

My Thoughts:
This is a series of essays that give us the story of his trip, musings from his life that relate to his travels, lessons he learned, and some history of the places he visited. He is quick to point out his own shortcomings and poke fun at himself. It is all done with humor, in a style that is very readable. I very much enjoyed this. Had me contemplating my own travels and making me want to plan more. Made me think. I highly recommend this book, even if you're normally a fiction reader.

My Rating: *****
Steam Factor: !!
*Notes: Some swear words and some rather vivid descriptions.

My Source: author

Where to get it:

Where to find the author:
Website

**Adam on Travel. Guest post at WiLoveBooks. Find out how to get the book FREE through Sat. April 27.