Date
Title
Comments
12/31/05 - 01/17/06
River of Doubt :
Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey
by Candice Millard
This is the true story of Teddy Roosevelt's expedition down the River of Doubt a 1000 mile tributary of the Amazon. At the time this was an untraversed river. Roosevelt lost the election of 1912 and was criticized for his splitting the vote of the Republican party (by starting his own Progressive Party) and handing the election to the Democrats. In general, Roosevelt sought out adventure and physical challenges in life, during times of personal struggle he used them as a foil to loose himself in the drama of the outdoors. Accompanied by the Brazilian explorer Colonol Rondon, his son Kermit and a band of supporting Brazilians, Roosevelt made his way through the Amazonian jungle and down the River of Doubt. Countless rapids and dangers confronted them, as the men slowly descend into the madness of the struggle for survival, as illness and hunger beset them. Millard crafts a exciting and tense rendition of the journey that is quite a page turner despite being history, albeit in a popular prose.
01/17/06 - 01/29/06
With a heavy heart I rushed to finish this book, mostly because I wanted it to be over, partially because I wanted to find out the answers to the mysteries of the three cases. Stephen King names this the best book of 2005, with this reccomendation I bought it for my wife and after she finished I sat down to read it. However the subject matter grew out of such human and personal depravity that I was really put off by the nature of the story, the casual and repugnant sexual incidents. Since Atkinson miracously weaves all the story lines together, the book really gives a pervading sense of hopelessness, almost as if entire society seems to have so many laden problems it will just mire in the filth of its circumstances. Well written, but not uplifting or in my opinion worth the cost of reading it.
01/29/06 - 04/16/06
Wow, this took a long time to finsh! There are several reasons. First of all I have been extremely busy with other life filling stuff, work etc. Second, this is a slower paced dense mystery. Its not a thriller in the summer read fashion, which is not to say I didn't enjoy it, just didn't rip through the pages. I found the mystery compelling, the writing layered and effective. I was drawn to the characters and found myself with empathetic sympathy.
04/16/06 - 05/14/06
I love literature of the Artic. I don't know if I'll ever visit there or not, mostly I put the Artic in the category of climbing Everest, something I enjoyed reading about but would never ever consider doing. After reading Sara's book its open for consideration. First of all, she is well versed in the cannon of Artic literature, not that you need to be if you read the book (which I highly encourage you to do). Secondly she is funny, damn funny. In fact one reviewer called it the first funny book about the Artic. Finally she is a great writer, poignantly capturing the beauty and mystery of such an austere place.
The book is a travelogue of her preperation and journeys to the Antartic as part of the Artist in Residence writers program. Along the way she pays homage to prior explorers and covers the transition through the recent history to modern times. I loved it, and think its a great introduction to the Artic.
05/15/06 - 05/23/06
I had previously read Connelly's Lincoln Lawyer, which I though was thouroughly entertaining. This novel returns to his Harry Borsch character, which I had never read before. This was a well written crime drama following a cold-case unsolved mystery as Harry's return from retirement case from many years ago. It was well written with good suspense and emotive sense of obsession by Bosch and loss by the victims family.
05/23/06 - 05/26/06
If you enjoyed Into the Wild, then you'll like this book. While I don't feel the story is quite as compelling, or full of as much angst of living, like Everett Ruess, it is still a great story that is captivating. Its a story of the untamed nature, and Randy Morgenson's journey into, through and ultimately getting lost therein. As an avid back packer I enjoyed the description of the high country in Yosemite and Sequoia and the history and evolution of the wilderness system. The book covers Randy's life growing up in Yosemite, and his intense love of the Sierras. His passion and obsession with life as a back country ranger consumed every facet of his life and ultimately cost him everything. The focal point is the mystery surrounding his dissapearance, which pulls you through the book.
05/27/06 - 06/04/06
06/04/06 - 06/14/06
06/04/06 - 06/14/06
Watterman is an entertaining character. This was an enjoyable read, I'll admit I got a bit lost among some of the disparate story lines without a clear idea why he had introduced some of them.
??/04/06 - 10/06/06
Fred Beckey is a legend in the climbing history of the Pacific Northwest. He has more first ascents than any other. I was surprise to hear he is still alive and kicking. Not surprise that he isn't married, because one thing this book makes clear is he was married to the mountain. No family life could have survivied his assault on the outdoors, it was relentless. Beckey's text is very terse in his descriptions. There is no detailed step by step account of the climb, occasionaly he'll drop into parenthetical commentary to drive home a philosophical quote, but often its very parsiminous. "So we made the last 4 pitches and sat on the top enthralled in the evening sun". Frankly the impressive part is how much he climbed but mostly the book was boring, aside from the sheer number of climbs to emphasize his climbing prowess the most interesting part for me was his descriptions of the surrounding area of a particular climb, which were more detailed, as possible locations for future hiking and backpacking. I suppose this is a must read for climbing history, but its more because its there than because its exciting or that useful. Beckey's bible's tend to be more valueable, though they are also noted for their terseness.
10/06/06 - 10/10/06
Yeah it has suspense, but it wasn't near as tight as his other novels and this one didn't seem to have a very cohesive story and the ending was a fizzle that wrapped up way too easily.
10/10/06 - 10/21/06
The first book by McDevitt involving Priscilla Hutchinson a pilot for the Academy, and while it was alright I wasn't super impressed. I felt there were a lot of formuliac elements similar to the Deepsix story which is a sequel of sorts to this one. For exampel he drills home the same point that when people take the alien environment for granted and forget the alien circumstances, inoccous animals end up being deadly killers. Red birds on Deepsix and crabs on Beta Pac III in Engines of God. Likewise the stranding on Deepsix without a lander and the destruction of the ship on Quraqua. Likewise the deadline aspects were also the same, the terraforming deadline of Quraqua by Kozmic and the collision of Deepsix with a gas giant. I know its hard to come up with orignal plot lines but it seems a bit lame to reuse them in your novels. Sad cause he is a decent writer that can spin a good tale.
10/21/06 - 10/28/06
My wife bought this book and after she finished she kept bugging me to read it. I resisted like I usually do but decided to read it after the disappointing Engines of God. Mrs. Lawson is a beautiful writer, while the book was not consistently solid through the entire book, she often writes a turn of phrase that possess great depth and haunting emotive qualities. The relationships are exquisitly drawn and have painful poignant quality to the them. I felt that the story drug a little bit two thirds of the way through but the last 3 chapters are powerful and have a nice sense of open ended closure. Highly recommended.
10/29/06 - --/--/--
I bought this book a while ago and it sat on my shelf. I finally picked it up and started reading, its a fascinating and well written book. McCullough is as reputed a master at the art of the narrative. I wish all history was written in such lucid style, easy to read, yet insightful and full of interesting and relevant first person accounts that really bring the history to life. Some of the things I learned and found illuminating.
I was impressed with George Washington's character and leadership role and capabilities. It really underscored the importance of a leader leading with a unflappable and impenetrable confidence, and yet at the same time having (while not showing to the masses) foibles, doubts and concerns. At the same time Washington does not come across as emotionless, he deeply cared about the cause and his men and the rank and file knew it. One of my frustrations with leaders in the past that I have encountered through work, is when in confidence I have not felt them able to show the inner man. Perhaps this was warranted from the perspective because I was classified as one of the rank and file ;), but its interesting to ponder as a possible motive none-the-less.
I was struck by the tenacity of the American generals and soldiers to get things done at personal sacrifice and against the norms of war for the day. For example the story of the young Knox traveling from Boston to Lake Champlaign to retrieve the abandoned guns from Fort Ticonderoga, hauling 58 mortar and cannon weigh 120,000 pounds three hundred miles back to Boston in the dead of winter. Or Washington's daring retreat across the East River from Brooklyn to New York as the British closed in and his likewise daring attack on Trenton on Christmas eve as he crossed the Delaware in a full blown noreaster with ice and wind to win a victory that rallied the American cause and turned the tide. All of these acts flew in the face of the 18th century sense of propriety and aristocratic notions of war, how unless there was good cause there was no reason to wage war in the winter.
A few critiques, I will say that towards the two thirds point of the book as your dealing with the collapse of New York and the long retreat the detail seemed to me to become a bit miresome, but this perhaps just me, and I would strongly suggest pushing through, because the last 60 pages are all notes and the book ends much quicker than you think. Additionally I loved having the original maps of the day as drawn by the British, but I often found them difficult and hard to follow and would have really appreciated a cleaned up crisp illustration of the terrain and names and places referred to in the book. I had a hard time following the Dorchester Hill in Boston or the crossing of the Hudson at Tappan Zee from the included maps.
At the end I did find myself wanting sequels of the subsequent years as told by McCullough, you do get the paragraphic summary, so often found in survey text histories, but I wanted the detail that made 1776 so fascinating.
11/05/06 - 11/08/06
Gimp
by Mark Zupan
I couldn't find my 1776 book for a day or so, and I picked up my copy of Gimp and started reading it. It was fast read and it didn't take me long to finish. I definetley reccomend the movie for a much more detailed and visceral picture of the game Murderball, but this biography did a much better job of filling out the story fo Mark Zupan, obviously since that was its point.
I think Mark did a great job of demonstrating the painful process of recovery and more importantly acceptance that someone with such life changing injuries goes through. The emotional toil and struggle comes across loud and clear as we follow the destruction of Mark's body and the wake of the accident through the his life and the lives of his family and friends. So much of how Mark defined himself was the vehicle of sports and the game Murderball has given him a new opportunity to experience the same in his chair. Much like the movie it gave me a new appreciation and consideration for the existance and circumstances of individuals in wheel chairs, regardless of their condtion and how they got there.
Mark is colorful in his language and descriptions so expect the whole gen x language and style.
11/14/06 - 11/26/06
It took me a couple of times to get started on this behemoth of a book (681 pages). I pre-ordered the book on Amazon and it arrived on my doorstep the day it was published. My first mistake was reading initial reviews on Amazon which were sour compared to Eragon. This colored my opinions and I ended up starting and quitting at least twice. This last time it stuck and I enjoyed the book. I don't think it was as good as Eragon, but it was definetely entertaining and still a good read. And I was left wanting to have the concluding book in the triology to see the story finished.
11/26/06 - 12/15/06
12/15/06 - 12/22/06
12/22/06 - 12/26/06
