Kiss The Sunset Pig by Laurie Gough

It's a good thing I give myself a fifty page allowance to get into a book because otherwise this one would have hit the DNF files after the first few pages. That opening chapter where she is at the US/Canada border-crossing is overdone and silly. Okay, so you've been delayed. We get it. I'm also not a fan of silly book titles and naming one's car. But, ehn, there's a story behind it all that reflects, somewhat, her youthful wanderlust.

Gosh, I don't mean to sound so grinchy. Perhaps I was just thusly primed after a recent run of disappointing DNFs. I did like this book, though. Really.

Kiss The Sunset Pig grew on me more and more as it moved along. The author is driving across the US from Ontario to California believing the West Coast to be her true home, and as she is driving, she reflects on all that she has learned from her more exotic backpacking travels around the world. Every second chapter is devoted to one of these trips which made for a surprisingly enjoyable format of travelogue within a travelogue, and by the time I was halfway through, I couldn't put it down. Her writing is sensitive, funny, brash and thoughtful. I enjoyed it in much the same way as I enjoyed Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat Pray Love so many years ago.