Books I've read so far this year...

[nekosensei]

1. The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman
2. The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
3. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
4. The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett
5. The Once and Future King by T. H. White
6. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
7. Lakota Woman by Mary Crow Dog

8. Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer -- When I first picked up this book, I was under the impression that Krakauer had only researched the Everest disaster that claimed the lives of five climbers on May 10th, 1996. I was surprised to discover that Krakauer was actually a member of one of the climbing expeditions, Adventure Consultants, that was led by Robert Hall. He was a journalist and a mountaineer who managed to get a place on the team so that he could write a piece for Outside magazine. He was describing events that either he had seen first-hand or pieced together from conversations with other members of both Adventure Consultants and Mountain Madness, the two teams that had lost members that day. Like Into the Wild, you have another case where man decides to take on nature and gets his ass handed to him. In the end, the tragedy came about because of bad luck, bad weather, too many people on the mountain, and poor decisions on the part of both clients and guides.

Hey...I looked up the name of the author on wikipedia, and I discovered that he has also written Under the Banner of Heaven. I've been thinking about picking that one up. Hmmm...

Comments

[butterflymama3.livejournal.com]

I read Into Thin Air back in 1999ish and was incredibly into it. It was a great read. Well paced, unsentimental and the one book that made me feel as if I was right there on the mountain with them.

At the time, the book was up for winner of the non fiction category of the Garden State Teen Book Awards. I happened to be president of the Teen services section of the NJ Library Association at the time and had the HONOR of speaking to Jon Krakauer to tell him personally that his book won. He was so nice and appreciative and humble. :)