BOOK REVIEWS
Into Thin Air – Jon Krakauer (293 pages)
Summary: The author himself dared to make the ascent to the top of Mount Everest, and he succeeded. The thrill and joy, however, was significantly negated and veritably cause for post-traumatic stress syndrome due to every Himalayan climber’s worst nightmare: “a rogue storm that blew in without warning” and took the lives of several of his fellow climbers. Into Thin Air is Krakauer’s follow-up to his story of the tragedy in Outside magazine. It is altogether dangerous, harrowing, and sad in its first-person account of what many consider to be the ultimate challenge in mountaineering. Krakauer lived to tell the tale, but whether it was worth the sacrifice, ensuing grief, and anguish is what makes this thrilling tale truly one to ponder and reflect on when finally turning the last page.
Locale: Mount Everest (Nepal)
Characters: Adventure Consultants Guided Expedition (including Jon Krakauer, Rob Hall, Mike Groom, and Andy Harris (among others), and various sherpas; Mountain Madness Guided Expedition; MacGillivray Freeman IMAX/IWERKS Expedition; Taiwanese National Expedition; Johannesburg Sunday Times Expedition; Alpine Ascents International Guided Expedition; International Commercial Expedition; Himalayan Guides Commercial Expedition; Swedish Solo Expedition; Norwegian Solo Expedition; New Zealand-Malaysian Guided Pumori Expedition; American Commercial Pumori/Lhotse Expedition; Nepali Everest Cleaning Expedition; Himalayan Rescue Association Clinic; Indo-Tibetan Border Police Everest Expedition; Japanese-Fukuoka Everest Expedition.
Author Bio: Jon Krakauer, acclaimed bestseller and contributing editor of Outside magazine.
Screenplay: Yes. Made in 1997, directed by Robert Markowitz, and starred Peter Horton, Nathaniel Parker, Richard Jenkins, and Christopher McDonald
Salient Quote: “Straddling the top of the world, one foot in China and the other in Nepal, I cleared the ice from my oxygen mask, hunched a shoulder against the wind, and stared absently down at the vastness of Tibet.”
Chance-That-I-Actually-Read-The-Whole-Book-O-Meter (ranking 1 out of 10): 10
Credit: Krakauer, Jon. Into Thin Air. Random House, 1997.
Dutch – Edmund Morris (838 pages)
Summary: A boy from Illinois has a seemingly idlyllic childhood, enjoys a charmed adolescence and college experience, makes his way, successfully, in the competitive, dramatic landscape of Hollywood as a movie actor, becomes governor of the state of California, and ultimately ends up at the top of the political world as President of the United States of America. His wit, charm, handsomeness, one-liners, and savvy were key in making him a force as leader of the free world.
Locale: Illinois; Hollywood, California; The White House (Washington, DC)
Characters: Ronald Reagan
Author Bio: Edmund Morris, an American Book Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning author; featured in such publications as The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Harper’s; appointed Ronald Reagan’s authorized biographer.
Screenplay: No.
Salient Quote: “Ronald Reagan adjusted his white tie in the mirror, then conscious of being watched, spun on his dance pumps, winked, and leaped into the air. His heels clicked. “I’m the President of the United States!” he said.
Chance-That-I-Actually-Read-The-Whole-Book-O-Meter (ranking 1 out of 10): 10
Credit: Morris, Edmund. Dutch. Random House, 1999.
My Losing Season – Pat Conroy – (400 pages)
Summary: One can only wonder how in the world Pat Conroy can remember, in alarming detail, his senior season playing basketball at The Citadel some thirty-five years later. His former teammates are remembered for their skill and personalities. Every minute and moment of the games they played in, and the teams they competed against, are recalled specifically as if they had happened yesterday. Conway takes the reader through his world as a college basketball player (and a walk-on at that) in such a clear and concise manner. And through it all, (crew-cut hair, uniforms with short shorts and sans underlying t-shirts, the pungent odor of old 1060s gymnasiums, and the screeching sound of white high-top Chuck Taylor sneakers on shiny wooden hardwood), he takes us through what would be his last season shooting the roundball. A season that would be a losing one.
Locale: The Citadel (Charleston, SC)
Characters: Pat Conroy; other members of The Citadel basketball squad , 1966-1967
Screenplay: No.
Author Bio: Pat Conroy, bestselling author and favorite son of Beaufort, SC; also author of The Boo, The Water Is Wide, The Great Santini, The Lords Of Discipline, The Prince Of Tides, and Beach Music
Salient Quote: “It is time itself I am trying to retrieve. I long to pin it down in the surreal hyacinth-light of both memory and dream that now have faded where once they were three-dimensional and rich.”
Chance-That-I-Actually-Read-The-Whole-Book-O-Meter (ranking 1 out of 10): 10
Credit: Conroy, Pat. My Losing Season. Doubleday, 2002.
Into Africa – Martin Dugard (340 pages)
Summary: “Dr. Livingstone, I presume.” One may be familiar with this famous phrase. But does anyone even know who said it, much less under what circumstances it was said? Stanley and Livingstone, both 19th-century British world explorers, brave the dangerous interiors of the African continent in search of the “source” of the famous, northern-flowing tributary, the Nile River. In the midst of their death-defying exploits, the struggle to survive is altogether equal to their difficult and pain-staking quest to prove false what had been widely-assumed as the Nile’s source and, ultimately, to find the right one.
Locale: East Africa
Characters: Henry Morton Stanley; Dr. David Livingstone
Author Bio: Martin Dugard, an American author living in Rancho Santa Margarita, California; has written for Competitor and Runner’s World magazines; also authored Killing The Witches: The Horror of Salem, Massachusetts (with Bill O’Reilly)
Screenplay: No.
Salient Quote: “Stanley had traveled the world since 1866. He knew the food, customs, haggling, lodging, and transportation of America, Europe, the Middle East, and India. None of that, however, mattered in Africa. He was a novice. Everything was new.”
Chance-That-I-Actually-Read-The-Whole-Book-O-Meter (ranking 1 out of 10): 10
Credit: Dugard, Martin. Into Africa. Doubleday, 2003.