Booksssss

[effervescible]

Every so often I go through a stage where I'm reading a bunch of non-fiction. Seems like it's that time again--I just read Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air, his account of the 1996 Mt. Everest disaster, and man. That was intense. I find myself wanting to read more memoirs of mountain-climbing. It's sort of fascinating, maybe because I know I could never endure that sort of misery myself. Aside from the danger, I just really hate being cold. But I keep imagining the visuals from way up high--they must be amazing.

Now I'm reading Go Down Together, a thorough history of Bonnie and Clyde. Interesting stuff. Their gang kind of failed at being good criminals, at first--like I told fadingembers earlier this evening, you could almost imagine Yakity Sax playing during their earlier exploits. And it's easy to feel some sympathy for Clyde, as he was apparently raped for months during his prison stint. But I haven't gotten to the part where they murder a bunch of people yet.

This evening, fadingembers, pyrobovaphiliac had some tasty Thai in Nyack and got distracted by Miss Agatha, the cute little (22-years-old!!!) calico cat who lives at the used bookstore, so we nosed around there and I had to get The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: War of the Worlds. This one's probably going to be completely ridiculous, and I can't wait.

Comments

[rosehiptea.livejournal.com]

I read Into Thin Air and found it fascinating also. I also appreciated that he admitted that climbers are not always doing the right thing on the mountain.

I'm curious about the Bonnie and Clyde book. I might have to see if the library has that.

[jaina.livejournal.com]

I appreciated the honesty in the book--he's pretty up-front that the whole thing is colored through his perspective. He wasn't an objective observer. But just as a reading experience, that puts you more in the moment.

It's good so far! I thought it was an older book and was taken aback when it used the word "snarkily." Turns out it's quite recent.

[drcristin.livejournal.com]

Jon Krakauer - is that the same guy that wrote Into the Wild? That was good also!

[jaina.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it was. I might give that one a try in the future--I like his writing.

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

I still haven't read his book on the Mormon church yet, but pretty much anything I've read by him has been excellent.

[cantspell.livejournal.com]

isn't there a mention of john roskelley in Into Thin Air? I haven't read it, but my sister did...anyway, I grew up down the street from his parents, trufax. His mother is this adorable wee british lady. in any case, if you want to read more true mountaineering stuff, I know he's written a few books about his expeditions.

[jaina.livejournal.com]

Not that I saw. Was he on the mountain during the 1996 disaster? If not then that's probably why--he restricts the content to the incident and its preparation & aftermath.

I'll take a look for him next time I hit the library!

[oxymoronic3.livejournal.com]

WHOO, BOOKS!

Go Down Together looks really good. I'm going to have to see if my library carries it.

[jaina.livejournal.com]

If you do, let me know what you think!