One of the best memoirs I've read in recent decades. I appreciate May's honesty and vulnerability as she navigates her diagnosis. I have recommended this to the AP Language teachers as a potential course text.

Katherine May is a wonderful writer and this book shines! She gives us honest recounts of her life and herself and I appreciate both the honesty and the openness in this book. I enjoyed following her along her journey. I can't wait to see what else she writes in the future!!

In this memoir Katherine May takes on walking the 630-mile South West Coast Path National Trail in England. She accomplishes this goal on weekends during which her husband drops her off, takes off with their three-year-old son, and picks her up later at an agreed-upon point. Personally, I find that time spent walking alone in nature can be quite restorative and revelatory, and the latter ended up being true for the author. Upon randomly hearing a piece on the radio about Asperger's Syndrome, the author begins to realize her own neurodivergent tendencies and ultimately finds a path to help self-manage the prickles of life's irritations.

I enjoyed the internal dialogue of this book, although Wintering, also by the author, is a particular favorite, as is her podcast.

I appreciate the opportunity to have read this release in an ARC from #NetGalley.

A memoir by the author of the excellent, Wintering. Here, she recounts her coming to understand that she may be autistic (she is diagnosed affirmatively by the end of the book) and her experiences. The book is framed by a goal to hike a trail which I found a good grounding point and a way for her to highlight her autistic tendencies. I know I’ll be recommending this one often.

I enjoyed May's other book, Wintering, very much, and found the same deep insightfulness and introspection in this one. It is part memoir, part travelogue, and part science with some history thrown in for good measure. It was interesting to read about someone discovering and naming parts of herself that she was previously unaware of, and equally fascinating to read about autism itself. I have a friend who is autistic and this book helped me to understand her a little better. At times I felt there was way too much detail about the actual walks and the walking and where she/they spent every night... but when May honed in on descriptions of nature, and of her self-awarenesses from time to time, that is when (for me) the book really sang. I also especially liked the scene where she got to "fly the falcons!"

Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

In this memoir, the writer is diagnosed with autism, and in order to cope, decides to take on a challenging walking program. Many people who are diagnosed as adults are surprised (many are often relieved or feel vindicated), but I felt little sympathy for the author, who isn't at all prepared for her various hiking trips, is prone to a lot of self-pity, and seems to think that her diagnosis means she doesn't need to work at connecting with her partner or child. She's confused and jumps to a lot of erroneous conclusions about autism, uses outdated terminology and ideas, and I fear that this book may do more harm in perpetuating autism stereotypes than it helps anyone else who is diagnosed as an adult.