I cannot believe it is my last week at Beaufort! In my first blog post I wrote about wanting to discover the type of book that I enjoy most, and finishing books even if I am not a fan of them from the start. While the later is proving to be more difficult, I definitely think I took a step in the right direction and did some experimenting with different genres this summer.
Memoirs, unless written by Bill Bryson or David Sedaris and filled with laugh out loud jokes, have never been a section of the bookstore I had felt inclined to explore. This summer however, I worked on creating media contact lists for our author Jennifer Pharr Davis’ book tour centered around Called Again: A Story of Love and Triumph. About two weeks ago I decided, that after spending so much of my internship promoting Jen’s unbelievable hiking memoir, and of course after meeting her and her beautiful daughter Charley at BEA, that I should read Called Again. Being obsessive about reading books in order, this required reading Becoming Odyssa first.
Let me tell you, if you haven’t read either of these books, especially as a young female, you are missing out! Picture a 5-foot tall female who can’t run more than 3 miles without having an asthma attack, attracts mosquitoes like it’s her job, and loves curling up in a blanket, on the couch with a cup of hot tea more than anything else. Now picture this person actually contemplating hiking the Appalachian Trail in its entirety, all 2,180 miles, as a thru-hiker. If Jen’s books can move my lazy self – with my far from athletic stature – to even consider a day hike, much less a four month journey, then she has quite possibly performed a miracle.
All jokes aside, both books give a beautiful look at her journeys through the Appalachian Trail, their expected hardships, and their unexpected joys – all of which will make the reader wish they had been right alongside Jen for the experience.
I came into my internship at Beaufort with expectations of learning about the publishing industry, both from the publicity side and the editorial side. While I’ve learned so much more than I could have imagined about the industry, it also allowed me to determine my answer to the popular question “What is your favorite kind of book to read?” I no longer feel pressured to have a distinct genre in mind, but can take pride in my answer: I like a little bit of everything, and am still exploring my options.