Tuesday, August 18, 2009

It's the climb.

Typical, Julia. Typical. I kind of love this blog, though. Also, put the Holocaust book down.

I adored Eat, Pray, Love as well. It makes me think that even if we fuck up our decisions right now about where to go in life, stay in a relationship too long or never realize what we want... we'll figure it all out some day.

I thought My Sister's Keeper had an original story idea, was well written and had interesting characters, but it was SO hyped up before I read it; I don't know if it had a fair shot to make it into my favorite-books-of-all-time list. Cat- thanks for the shout out recommendation for Plain Truth. Although I'm not in crim. law this semester, it sounds interesting. Chels- I only got mid-way through Water for Elephants, too. Not to mention 10 other books (Julia you know I've been working on White Teeth for 4 years now).

Now that I've spent all this time responding and commenting to other bloggers... let me tell you how absolutely devoted I am to Jon Krakauer (Author of Into The Wild). While that book is one of my favorites, I recently read his book Into Thin Air and recommend it whole-heartedly.

Krakauer is a journalist (!) at Outside Magazine, and writes non-fiction, outdoorsy, extreme circumstances types of books. He is everything I'd want to be as a journalist and writer. Many of us spent years in the j-school learning how to one day maybe write and research this well. (ps. another survivor of the expedition wrote a book refuting some of Krakauer's assertions, mostly because he didn't like the observations Krakauer printed about him. However, Krakauer and his editors have explained their research and comments- we all know that journalists can get slack for telling truths that some people don't want to hear).

Anyway, Into Thin Air, is an intensely honest account of an expedition to the top of Mt. Everest that went horribly wrong. As a storm rolled in, mistakes were made, oxygen-depletion clouded the climbers' physical and mental capabilities, and many people died as a result- several of whom were famous mountaineers. Their back stories are all included and pretty compelling, too. The author attempts to recount each detail that contributed to the incident, and even accounts for his own mistakes. Although you pretty much know right off bat who lives and dies, it still pained me to read about their deaths, because Krakauer gets you so invested in their lives. I had to fight back tears during some chapters. (And nausea during others... oxygen depletion does not do good things to the body). He drags on a bit when it comes to historical aspects of the mountain and its climbers, but it all comes together.

Grade: A

Must get back to my other books now- contracts and civil procedure! WOO.

loves, Jess

(Also, I know it's not a book, but you guys should seriously see District 9. I loved it. But not Julia, because it's sci-fi).

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