S12:Ep255 - Six Walks with Guest Ben Shattuck + Books Recs for Walking - 4/9/25

2025-04-09

Our website - www.perksofbeingabooklover.com.Instagram - @perksofbeingabookloverpodFacebook - Perks of Being a Book Lover.To send us a message go to our website and click the Contact button. You can find Ben Shattuck at his website https://www.benshattuck.com/ or on IG @Benshattuck_ This week we chat with Ben Shattuck, author of Six Walks: In the Footsteps of Henry David Thoreau published by Tin House Books in 2022. Amy knew this book would appeal to Carrie because she is nothing if not a literary weirdo, and she has bee...

Our website - www.perksofbeingabooklover.com.
Instagram - @perksofbeingabookloverpod
Facebook - Perks of Being a Book Lover.
To send us a message go to our website and click the Contact button.

You can find Ben Shattuck at his website https://www.benshattuck.com/ or on IG @Benshattuck_

This week we chat with Ben Shattuck, author of Six Walks: In the Footsteps of Henry David Thoreau published by Tin House Books in 2022. Amy knew this book would appeal to Carrie because she is nothing if not a literary weirdo, and she has been since high school when she quoted from Thoreau in her senior yearbook. Despite her hopes that Ben would, like her, have a high school infatuation with Thoreau, he explains that his interest began much later. Even if you don’t know anything about Thoreau, if you're a walker or a hiker, you have experienced the unique meditative impact of this activity and can appreciate Ben’s insights on it. Ben also has a book of fiction out titled The History of Sound that is a finalist for the Pen/Faulkner prize so we are just really thrilled to have him with us today.

And this week, for our recommendations section, we didn’t just pick a random topic like asparagus or comas to share books about—we actually continue with the theme of walking. We each share at least 3 books that feature walking, hiking, or being in nature in some meditative way. We have literary fiction, memoirs, essays, and even a romance.

Books mentioned--

1- Six Walks: In the Footsteps of Henry David Thoreau by Ben Shattuck

2- The History of Sound by Ben Shattuck

3- Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World by Christian Cooper

4- A Paris Year: My Day to Day Adventures in the Most Romantic City in the World by Janice Macleod

5- Dear Paris by Janice Macleod

6- The French Ingredient: A Memoir by Jane Bertch (La Cuisine French Cooking School)

7- Teaching a Stone to Talk by Annie Dillard

8- Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard

9- The Journals of Henry David Thoreau by Henry David Thoreau

10 - Matrix by Lauren Groff

11- Year of Wonder by Geraldine Brooks