Book 185: Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer

Although I have a million other books to read right now, when I came across this one in the library book sale room, I had to set aside everything to read it. I couldn't put it down until I was finished.

I had seen the movie Everest about the 1996 climbing disaster but I didn't know anything about the people who went through it. Journalist Jon Krakauer from Outside magazine had been along on the journey that ultimately killed twelve people and injured and disabled numerous others. He wrote Into Thin Air six months after he returned home after the traumatic event.

Krakauer was a seasoned climber and had always dreamed of climbing Everest. He had his chance when the magazine sponsored his climb to get a firsthand account of the true Everest climbing experience.

Although no one can definitively say why the 1996 team had so many problems, Krakauer makes his own conjecture about why some people lived and others died. One thing he wrote will stick with me forever: that being determined is both a strength and a weakness on Everest. A person's will can be so strong that he or she refuses to give up even when disaster is imminent. They will literally kill themselves to achieve a goal. Everest Fever is a real thing, and it looks like it was the reason 12 people died in May of 1996.

Krakauer was adept at pulling together all of the accounts into a spellbinding narrative that will stay with me forever. I'm glad I picked up this book and I hope you will, too.

Book 175: The Butchering Art: Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian Medicine by Lindsay Fitzharris

Well folks, I apologize for this review coming so late, but I just could not seem to find the time between now and last Wednesday to sit down and bust this one out. And I loved it, so that's saying something.

Lindsay Fitzharris has written a book that is both grisly and disgusting but really, really good. It was well written, and she damn well did her research, as the final 50 pages of references attest. It made me squirm in discomfort and horror and I loved every page of it.

The Butchering Art is the heroic story of Joseph Lister, the man who introduced the use of antiseptics to the medical community in Edinburgh, Scotland, then to London, England, then to the world. As a child, Lister was fascinated with his father's microscope. Later, when he entered the [utterly insane] field of surgery, he used the microscope to identify microbes responsible for causing post-surgical infections that were literally killing entire hospital units full of patients. Lister experimented with a variety of chemical antiseptics, wound dressings, and stitching materials, and eventually revolutionized the world of medicine. The guy was a genius, and made every surgeon before him look like a complete idiot. They weren't too happy about that, but had to eventually adopt his practices because, quite simply, they worked.

This book is not for the faint of heart or the weak of stomach. Fitzharris provides the most awful details about the most revolting surgical practices common in Victorian-era medicine. She tells you more than you ever wanted to know, and proves once again that truth is indeed stranger than fiction. This was better than any horror fiction ever written. (Sorry, Mr. King, but I still love ya.)

I was thoroughly disgusted and totally riveted, and I fully intend to make this book part of my permanent collection.

Lindsay, send me a signed copy! It would make my day!

Book 170: The Woman in Black by Susan Hill

I read The Woman in Black because someone told me it was one of her favorite horror stories. I also picked it up because my book is taking forever to finish and this classic by Susan Hill was under 200 pages. Have I told you already that reading two books a week is not easy?

Arthur, the main character in this book, told the story of himself as a young lawyer in London sent to the coastal town of Crythin Grifford to settle the final affairs of his firm's client, Mrs. Drablow. He found himself on the receiving end of a haunting which changed his life forever, and he never had a chance.

As far as story lines go, The Woman in Black had a good one. I felt drawn in right away. The author's ability to describe landscapes was on point - the marshes and inn and Eel Marsh House were vivid. Her skill for building suspense was great. Still, I wasn't all that impressed with one character in the book who I felt would have certainly come forward with helpful information sooner had he actually had the relationship with Arthur that was described in the book. 

Although I liked the way the book was written (the Gothic style reminded me of Great Expectations by Dickens), the horror was a bit soft for me. The author's use of foreboding was fantastic, but I kept waiting for something new and terrible to emerge. Yeah, the end was bad, but I'm a seasoned horror junkie; I've read the worst of the worst, which has probably my shudder reflex and reduced my capability to feel real fear about ghosts. It's guts and gore and rabid dogs and real monsters that live among us that get me squirming. 

If you want a good story that will give you chills but you don't want to throw up, this would be the way to go. It's just creepy enough. 

😈😈😈

Book 169: My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman (Audiobook) narrated by Joan Walker

I think Fredrik Backman is my new favorite author. I fell in like with him when I read A Man Called Ove and now I'm completely, head-over-heels in love with this author.

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry was an absolutely fascinating book. Like Ove, it uncovers each character slowly, without revealing each person completely until the end of the book. This style of writing is tantalizing to someone like me because I love suspense.

In this book, seven-year-old Elsa (who is almost eight) learns that not everything (or everyone) is at it seems. She has been surrounded by people her whole life, and until a difficult event brings them all together, she never realized she knew absolutely nothing about any of them. So she sets off on an adventure to unearth the secrets of her neighbors, friends, and family members, especially those of her quirky, independent grandmother.

This story was incredible. Backman is a master at creating characters that are both believable and unique. The characters just about jump out of the book. With Joan Walker's expert narration, the story was even more vivid. I haven't been this hooked on an audiobook in ages.

It was great. I loved it so, so much.

💌💌💌

Book 168: The Big Oyster: History on the Half-Shell by Mark Kurlansky

The history of the American oyster was not a topic I would have chosen to explore on my own, but The Big Oyster popped up in my Kindle recommendations, I simply couldn't resist. Turns out, the author Mark Kurlansky picked two topics I really love: food and its history.

This book leaves no stone unturned when it comes to explaining how the American oyster was harvested, shucked, eaten, consumed until nearly extinct, and finally, cultivated and grown. The story begins in pre-colonial New York, where the Hudson Bay was teeming with oysters growing in their beds and were harvested by Native Americans who threw the shells into piles called "middens," which are still being discovered to this day. I was utterly fascinated by the chapters on 19th century New York and its famed oyster shuckers. By a strange coincidence, I shucked oysters myself this year for the first time, and now I know why rapid fire oyster shucking is such a true test of dexterity.

Like most of these "explore the topic to the finest detail" books, they contain tidbits that contradict what you thought you knew about the topic all your life. I wasn't experienced on oysters at all before I read this book, but I was surprised to find that nobody else seems to know what they're talking about, either. Kurlansky did some serious debunking.

Not every one of his books is as riveting as this one, but I blame the topics, not the author's ability. For some reason, this book just hooked me from page one and I couldn't put it down. If you decide to pick it up, I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did.

Check it out! I enjoyed it.

✌✌✌