BOOKS THREAD

Just read "Touching the Void," a true-life account of author Joe Simpson's mountain-climbing experience in the Andes that nearly cost him his life. He survived a horrific injury to his right knee, however, and managed to get himself down the rest of the way from the mountain after his climbing partner, Simon Yates, was forced to cut the rope connecting them when Simpson was unable to get his weight off when needed and thereby threatened to pull both of them off the mountainside while they were in the midst of attempting to lower the injured Simpson down.

This was a really engrossing, fast read, and offers perspectives of the trip from both men (Yates's words are in italics). Simpson, whom Yates believed to have died in the fall after the rope was cut, makes clear that his partner did the right thing and is grateful throughout that Yates' actions, in the end, allowed them both to come out alive, instead of both ending up dead. But the greatest drama, and miracle, feels like it comes at the end, when, four days later, Simpson staggers back to within a half-mile of the pair's mountain base camp, with the words, "Help me. Please help," just three hours before Yates planned to leave the site, which was Simpson's greatest fear -- coming all that way and going through all he had, only to find himself abandoned, and then, certainly, sentenced to death at that point.

The book was an easy read for the most part, just because it was so compelling. I wished, however, that Simpson had remembered that not everyone is a mountaineer, and had explained, briefly, such new terms I learned like a belay, a spindrift, and abseiling, to mention a few of the words that I had to look up for clarification, just because it bugged me not to know what they meant, even though I could kind of figure them out in the context in which they were read.

 

Got Stephen King's "Revival" for Christmas. Another great story - typical King - I really enjoyed it until the last few pages.
That's my relationship with King's novels - 11/22/63 the lone exception: I love the ride he gives the reader. I usually dislike the final destination.
Anyway, I have another week to kill and I need something else.. particularly suspense, horror, mystery.
I'd like something new.
Typically, I read King, Dan Brown, some Grisham, Talese, McCourt, Hickham and bios, gobs and gobs of bios.
Any help?

 

I'm a King fan too and had a similar reaction to "Revival". If you're looking for a fun read, have you read Val McDermid's Tony Hill/Carol Jordan stories? The first is called "Wire in the Blood" and is really entertaining. He's a profiler, she's a cop. Highly recommended.

 

Evil -- Peter James does some great detective/police procedural work.

 

David Ritz' new bio of Aretha Franklin is great. Really liked Seth Davis's Wooden bio too. Michel Jordan: The Life by Roland Lazenby is highly recommended as is Boy on Ice, John Branch's bio of late hockey tough guy Derek Boogaard.

About to start Fred Schruers's new Billy Joel book.

 

Thanks.
I just finished Mr. Mercedes, which I enjoyed.
I'm going to start Jonathan Howard's "Johannes Cabal the Necromancer," next. It was recommended to me by a well-read friend and it sounds off-beat, fun and entertaining.

 

One of the books I got for Christmas was Clint Malarchuk's The Crazy Game. It's a great read about how his life spiralled out of control after the infamous injury that cut his jugular in Buffalo. A much better read than I ever expected.

 

I'll have to try and track that down, Red Canuck. Thanks for the tip. I have a great deal of respect for Clint Malarchuk. How much is his relationship with Rick Dudley discussed?

 

I've finally finished Stonewalled by Sharyl Attkisson. She writes a compelling narrative that some part of the federal government was infiltrating her personal and work computers. Attkisson consulted several experts, some with previous experience at three-letter agencies, and thinks she knows who was doing the spying. As you might suspect, she has an open mind about Edward Snowden.

In her dealings with CBS and eventual departure, I was reminded so much of Bernard Goldberg's Bias. Attkisson is critical of Scott Pelley and especially CBS Evening News executive producer Pat Shevlin. She claims Pelley once re-wrote one of her scripts, softening it up. Shevlin comes across as just flat out lacking the necessary intelligence to do the job.

 

Broken Monsters was enjoyable; afterwards went on to "Station Eleven"; a post-apocolyptic novel that's less terrifying but more reflective of what was lost before the apocolypse; engrossing and easy to read.