ReadDavidson, the town-wide reading program, has picked Bill Bryson’s 1999 book “A Walk in the Woods” as its 2010 selection. The choice came after voting by residents this spring.

The book is available for sale at Main Street Books, or through the Davidson public library branch. Residents are invited to pick up copies over the summer and begin reading, in preparation for events in the fall.

ReadDavidson’s planning committee will have a schedule of fall events finalized in a few weeks, according to committee leader Cristina Shaul. Those event are expected to include joint programs with Davidson Historical Society and Davidson Lands Conservancy as well as book discussions.

Formerly called Davidson Reads, the program has changed its name this year to ReadDavidson, to avoid confusion with Davidson College’s own reading program, called Davidson Reads.

ABOUT THE BOOK

More about “A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson:
From Publisher’s Weekly

Returning to the U.S. after 20 years in England, Iowa native Bryson decided to reconnect with his mother country by hiking the length of the 2100-mile Appalachian Trail. Awed by merely the camping section of his local sporting goods store, he nevertheless plunges into the wilderness and emerges with a consistently comical account of a neophyte woodsman learning hard lessons about self-reliance. Bryson (The Lost Continent) carries himself in an irresistibly bewildered manner, accepting each new calamity with wonder and hilarity. He reviews the characters of the AT (as the trail is called), from a pack of incompetent Boy Scouts to a perpetually lost geezer named Chicken John. Most amusing is his cranky, crude and inestimable companion, Katz, a reformed substance abuser who once had single-handedly “become, in effect, Iowa’s drug culture.” The uneasy but always entertaining relationship between Bryson and Katz keeps their walk interesting, even during the flat stretches. Bryson completes the trail as planned, and he records the misadventure with insight and elegance. He is a popular author in Britain and his impeccably graceful and witty style deserves a large American audience as well.