Dear Friends, Colleagues, and Fellow Writers,
Happy New Year, one and all! After a brief overview of one writer’s life in 2024, I’ll share some of my best reads of the year and What Others Are Saying.
The Guatemala Reader Extraordinary Lives & Amazing Stories reached “Best Seller” status, received excellent reviews, and the BestBook Award for Nonfiction Travel: Self Discovery and Travel Journals. A successful Kickstarter campaign brought together friends and readers to support my work, and they pitched in to fund most of the publishing and marketing expenses. Although I produced a series of “incentives” and offered deluxe copies of the book, most participants just donated. The Guatemala Reader by Mark D. Walker — Kickstarter
The Yin & Yang of Travel Series was expanded with my latest essay based on a trip in June that inspired “Traveling in Guatemala with Granddaughters.” I’ll add it to the second edition of My Saddest Pleasures: 50 Years on the Road, as some of the stories of traveling with 9 and 22-year-old granddaughters represented some of the miscues, disasters, and disappointments that make us better travelers and families. Traveling Through Guatemala with Granddaughters – Wanderlust
Last year, I read and reviewed 15 out of the 85 books I’ve reviewed over the last six years. One of the reasons the title of my column includes “What We’re Reading and Why” is that there are so many options—over 2.2 million books are published in the world each year, according to UNESCO. Where to start? I start by reading a book for one or two hours per day and reviewing one monthly.
Obtaining professional reviews is one of the most important hurdles facing an author when publishing a new book. The authors also want credible testimonial statements for the back cover. They want a reasonable number of “likes” or ratings for their books, which indicate they’re being read and appreciated.
I use a variety of review platforms to reach the broadest audience possible, starting with this column in the Arizona Authors Association Digest. I also publish them on my website, in my Million Mile Walker Review newsletter, my Midwest Review Bookshelf, Amazon, Goodreads, several digital publications like Literary Yard, and most recently, the newly formed “Greatest Writers You Should Be Reading,” a digital magazine at The Authors Show.
One of the advantages of reviewing books is that you’re constantly reading and critiquing other writers, which enhances your style and effectiveness as an author. But the best part of reviewing is getting to know the authors whose books you’re taking the time to review. These authors will form an invaluable support team to provide the most heartfelt, compelling testimonial comments about your next book.
Although I’m drawn to international themes and travel writing, I always take time to review the books of my fellow Arizona authors, which I meet with at literary events and occasionally over a drink. Last year, I reviewed three books by Earl Vincent de Berge, a local author and co-founder of SEEDS for a Future. We share a common passion for the desert southwest and Guatemala, so I reviewed a book of poems called Allegro for Life. I also reviewed A Finger of Land on an Old Man’s Hand: Adventures in Mexico’s Baja Wilderness, and his most recent book for children, Big Ears Jack and Friends. Big Ears Jack and Friends by Earl Vincent de Berge, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker – Million Mile Walker
The Dean of Travel Writing, Paul Theroux, has influenced my writing and inspired my next project. I’ve reviewed several of Theroux’s books, including this one, which introduces us to a young George Orwell best known for Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. Orwell is a British Raj officer on a journey in Colonial Burma, where he’s transformed from Eric Blair to Orwell, the anti-colonial writer. Theroux, like Orwell, was an astute observer of the nonsense of the class system and racism of the Raj empire. They both held a resentment, instinctive insubordination, and a nascent antipathy to the nuances of rules and bigotries of British rule. Theroux has spent most of his lifetime recording and detailing the reality of colonial and post-colonial outposts, which he puts into the world of young Eric Blair. Follow the link here or go to my website under “Library” for the entire review: Burma Sahib by Paul Theroux, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker – Million Mile Walker
I met the author through his podcast, Personal Landscapes: Conversations on Books About Place, which included interviews with some of my favorite authors: Paul Theroux, Thomas Swick: Life in Cold War Poland, Nicholas Shakespeare on Ian Fleming, Barnaby Rogerson: The making of the Middle East and Jeremy Bassetti: Pilgrims on Bolivia’s Hill of Skulls.
His description of a travel writer assured me that this was the author I wanted to follow, “Every traveler is, in a sense, an anthropologist- a bridger of cultures, a recorder of customs, a fieldworker immersed in the incredible diversity of human life, searching for understanding and experience.” Although he just published a book on living in Malta for six years, I chose Vagabond Dreams because it takes place in my favorite part of the world, Central America. It was the beginning of wanderlust for both of us. Murdock started his journey in 2000 when he was 28, and I was 23 when I entered Guatemala with the Peace Corps in 1971 – similar ages, but very different times, and yet I recognized and felt a connection to many of the places he visited. Follow this link for the entire review of my website at “Library.” Vagabond Dreams: Road Wisdom from Central America by Ryan Murdock, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker – Million Mile Walker
But truth be told, there is nothing like a good review of one’s book. This is from the Reader’s View. “…this compelling collection of essays shines a light on a country many of us in the Western world know little about. Through these essays, Guatemala emerges as a complex nation shaped by diverse ethnicities and a painful history of exploitation. Yet within these realities, a vital and intelligent people also emerge, bringing much beauty, passion, and inspiration to the world.” Follow this link for the entire review on my website or “The Guatemala Reader” by Mark D. Walker – Reader Views Book Reviews
What Others Are Saying
Hey Mark. I have already ordered and received copies (of my new book) through Ingram Spark and it is currently on the shelf. Happy holidays! Troy, the owner of Antigua Bookstore in Antigua, Guatemala.
Mark, Many thanks for this excellent review. A great Christmas present. Merry Christmas! Mark Wentling for my review of Seven Times Falling, his latest book.
Thank you Mark for your glowing review!!! An Angel must have sent you my way!!! I appreciate it so much. Hope 2025 is a wonderful one for you and your family. Jody Sharpe, author of the Mystic Bay Angel series for my review of The Dog Who Came for Christmas.
You can find my 85 book reviews and 28 articles, plus several videos and photos, on my website, including a reduced price for my new book if you read it and pass it along to your local library: http://millionmilewalker.com. “Follow” me on Blue Sky—at (2) @millionmilewalker.bsky.social — Bluesky, Substack- Mark D Walker | Substack – and Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/millionmilewalker/ for the latest international affairs and literature. And please share the link to the sign-up page to the Dispatch for any friends you think will enjoy it. Million Mile Walker Newsletter – Million Mile Walker.
And, as always, if you’ve read Different Latitudes: My Life in the Peace Corps and Beyond, My Saddest Pleasures: 50 Years on the Road, the Best Travel Book according to the Peace Corps Writers, and, of course, my most recent book, The Guatemala Reader, please review and rate them on Amazon and Goodreads.
Shalom!
Mark D. Walker