BOOKS THREAD

Double Down, if you want to read more about Krakauer climbing the Devil's Thumb, pick up his Eiger Dreams collection. That story is in there, I believe it's a bit longer than the section in Into the Wild, as well as a bunch of other stories about his climbing experiences.

 

I don't post in the Journalism Thread since I'm a 'civilian' but, as someone who wanted to be a writer I can say that I wish I had written a large number of the posts on this board, beginning with Jones and Bubbler's contributions. You all leave me weak kneed.

 

Mr Down

I loved Ferris's book -- his "we" was like Jay McI's "you" in Bright Lights, Big City. A sorta defining pronoun for troubled times.

YD&OHS, etc

 

Going lowbrow, for a moment:

"When The Mob Ran Vegas", by Steve Fischer. Even for aficionadoes who think they know it all about the topic. This is more of a personal memoir, which
much off-the-beaten-track business, including some conclusions about some
notorious old-time developments that were never publicly resolved. And Fischer's writing style is a hoot.

 

Ivan's War: Life and Death in the Red Army, 1939-1945 by Catherine Merridale. Halfway through and it's one of the best World War II books I've ever read.

 

A very good read. Read it last summer after it hit paperback.

 

Tony Horwitz's latest, A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World, hits shelves April 29.

http://www.amazon.com/Voyage-Long-Strange-Rediscovering-World/dp/0805076034

Same template as Confederates in the Attic -- part travelogue, part quest for meaning/truth, part personal journey. I have no doubt it will be another great read.

 

I love the used bookstore near my house. Today I found a collection of Furman Bisher's work that was published in 1962. Bing Crosby wrote the introduction. After I finish reading it I'm going to give it to my dad, who grew up reading Bisher in the Atlanta Journal.

 

Into The Wild

Into the wild is essentially a sea story played out overland. McCandless is a young guy searching for a port that ends up being an accidental smelly hunting bus mired in an Alaskan bog. Author Krakauer melts the details up to an epoc worthy of screenplay and movie rights. This work is a fetching screenplay lightweight that wanders from Annadale to Atlanta to South Dakota in search of heroic pathos. The irony is that Krakauer's cashout on the story might rival pangs of starvation to McCandless whose private principles might have the last source of sustenance in a pathetic predicament. McCandless might have been a wandering soul kicking his privileged class to the side of the road, but having read Krukuaer's account, the reader has to assume death's notoriety would have been the last among McCandless's intentions. Wait for the movie- it has to be better.PS. want some real sea stories, start with Bernard Moitessier

 

I especially loved the beginning of Into the Wild, Snuffy.

"Call me McCandless."
Brilliant and original.

 

Just started Denis Johnson's Tree of Smoke. Seems like most critics either loved it or hated it, so I'm not exactly sure what to expect, or what I'll think of it.