As an avid traveler and recreational runner, Amy Swope covers a lot of ground with her first book, Running With Paper Wings. Her personal essay writing style lets the reader see into the mind and heart of a runner who is on a journey of personal discovery and self-mastery. While living in Japan, Swope is able to step outside of her previous life and see the road ahead with new vision and inspiration. With poetic and expressive writing, this book dances between realism and existentialism as Swope plays with the idea that both coexist, and running is the meditational catalyst through which life can be understood.