Or better yet, go for a saunter. June 19 is World Sauntering Day, a time to skip the power walk and take a leisurely stroll. You may not get your cardio workout, but it will be good for your psyche. Here are a few titles to inspire you.

Whether wandering at Walden Pond or meandering through the Maine woods, Henry David Thoreau was, without a doubt, the quintessential saunterer. If you don't have time to wade through the entirety of Walden, try his short essay entitled Walking. The pocket-size edition published by Harper fits perfectly in a small pack.

Speaking of Thoreau, D. B. Johnson has written and illustrated a charming book for children called Henry Hikes to Fitchburg. Henry (Thoreau) agrees to meet a friend in Fitchburg, some thirty miles away. He decides to walk while his friend works all day to earn fare for the train. Can you guess who makes it to Fitchburg first?

Like Tolstoy's War and Peace, The Canterbury Tales is much revered but seldom read. Even if you haven't read Chaucer's classic, you can still enjoy Walking to Canterbury by Jerry Ellis. The first person in modern history to walk the 900-mile Cherokee Trail of Tears (a journey he chronicled in Walking the Trail), Ellis sets out to recreate the pilgrims' 60-mile journey from London to Canterbury. It's full of fascinating historical tidbits and stories of people he meets along the way.

Another "interesting folks I encountered while walking" book is Bill McKibben's Wandering Home. McKibben, best known for his environmental classic, The End of Nature, chronicles a three-week hike he took from Vermont to his home in the Adirondacks. Along the way, he visits with a variety of innovative farmers, foresters, and environmentalists who are making a positive impact on their surroundings. It's a positive and hopeful book.

Walking is not always for pleasure or enlightenment; sometimes it's the only way to get home. The Rabbit Proof Fence by Doris Pilkington is the remarkable true story of three young Australian Aboriginal girls removed from their ancestral home for "assimilation" into white culture. Scared and homesick, the girls plot their escape across hundreds of miles of desert. This harrowing story was made into a movie by the same name. As Far as My Feet Will Carry Me is another book and movie based on a journey home - this time it's a German paratrooper captured by the Russians during World War II. Facing a 25-year sentence in a Siberian forced labor camp, he escapes and spends the next three years walking back to Germany.

More walking titles:
The Man Who Walked Through Time by Colin Fletcher
Remembering by Wendell Berry
The Walk by William DeBuys
Walk On, Bright Boy by Charles Davis
Wanderlust: A History of Walking by Rebecca Solnit

You can check out these books and more at any Jefferson County Public Library location. Talk to your librarian for more recommendations.