Tori Murden McClure is amazing--and not (only) because she rowed alone across an ocean. This book should be required reading. ( )

Story of something I would never consider doing but admire her for tenacity ( )

FROM AMAZON: In this thrilling memoir by the first woman to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean, Tori McClure finds that what she is looking for lies not in a superhuman show of strength, but rather in embracing what it means to be human.

"In the end, I know I rowed across the Atlantic to find my heart, but in the beginning, I wasn't aware that it was missing."

In June 1998, Tori McClure began rowing across the Atlantic Ocean solo in a twenty-three-foot plywood boat with no motor or sail. Within days she lost all communication with shore but decided to forge ahead -- not knowing that 1998 would turn out to be the worst hurricane season on record in the North Atlantic. When she was nearly killed by a series of violent storms, Tori was forced to signal for help and head home in what felt like disgrace. But then her life changed in unexpected ways. She was hired by Muhammad Ali, who told her she did not want to be known as the woman who "almost" rowed across the Atlantic. And at thirty-five, Tori fell in love.

I loved reading this book and hope to see more from this writer. I enjoyed how she wove the strands of her physical adventure with her psychological struggle and her emotional growth along with sprinkleings of her intellectual prowess. ( )

I highly recommend this memoir by Tori McClure. Sailing solo across the Atlantic is not for the faint of heart. Tense and page-turning, the reader is with her the entire way...even through the hurricane and the rescue it precipitates. Excellent. ( )