Lassoing the Sun

July 1, 2016

Woods (columnist, Florida Times-Union) received a grant to write about the future of national parks. His goal was to visit one destination a month for a year and then write a book about his travels. He hoped to revisit some of the parks that his family had traveled to when he was a child, and to bring his mother, wife, and daughter with him on parts of his journey. But shortly after he starts, his mother is diagnosed with cancer and given months to live. Woods intertwines the story of coming to terms with his mother's death and the legacies families inherit and the ones left behind. The author's original plan to travel with her cancelled, he attempts to pass on his love of the outdoors to his eye-rolling preteen daughter. VERDICT This travel memoir will appeal to readers who love the outdoors. Those who would rather stay inside with a good book will be touched by the story of a mother and son saying their goodbyes.--Susan Belsky, Oshkosh P.L., WI

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2016
Newspaper columnist Woods set out to spend a year visiting U.S. national parks in an effort to reinvigorate his childhood love of the outdoors and get out of a bit of a rut. He decided to go to 12 parksone a month, each symbolizing a different issue facing the national parks in the next 100 years. With trips planned from Acadia in Maine to Saguaro in Arizona, Yellowstone, Cumberland Island National Seashore, and Haleakala in Hawaii, he envisioned a chronicle blending history, geography, and nature. But then Woods' mother received a devastating diagnosis, and his hoped-for delightful, insightful exploration of America transformed into a narrative about family and memory that puts trite notions of quality time to shame. As he doggedly continues his project while seeing his mother at every turn (and struggling with guilt when he is not with her), Woods makes a clear case for the significant power of the parks on our collective and personal psyches. A deeply heartfelt story about why the national parks remain so integral to the American story.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)