August 2012 Book Group – The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

Well book group had a longer than expected break! I’ll not make too many excuses, as I think it was just life that got in the way, and it is harder to get back to something the longer that time has passed. Anyway summer seems as good a time as any to get back to it, so I’m delighted to offer the newly nominated Booker Long List entry The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry as the next read. I’ve had a copy for ages and I’ve been saving it – not sure what for, but now it’s made the long list it seems a good time to see how it measures up. On Goodreads.com it has an average of 4.2/5 stars which is an amazingly consistent high scorer, so I can’t wait to start. Are you up for a read-along? We’ll have a discussion post at the end of August where you can either leave a comment or link your blog review.

From the jacket: When Harold Fry leaves home one morning to post a letter, with his wife hoovering upstairs, he has no idea that he is about to walk from one end of the country to the other.

He has no hiking boots or map, let alone a compass, waterproof or mobile phone.

All he knows is that he must keep walking.

To save someone else’s life.

This is the story of recently-retired Harold Fry, who sets out one morning to post a letter to a dying friend. Quite unexpectedly, in a moment of impulse, Fry finds himself at the start of a journey which will lead him to walk hundreds of miles from home, en route making chance encounters and reflecting on tragic events from his past which transform his life and in turn alter the lives of the people he meets.

You can read the first chapter of the book from Rachel Joyce’s website here.

The other Booker Prize long list nominations are here for 2012 and you can get extracts from them all here.

So who’s with me? You can log your progress at the Goodreads group.