Good memoir of someone who led an astonishingly adventurous life. He starts as a mountain climber, but as a way to make that kind of life pay a salaryGood memoir of someone who led an astonishingly adventurous life. He starts as a mountain climber, but as a way to make that kind of life pay a salary, he became a journalist, which led into quite a few other pursuits.
❝The wreck of Endurance has been found in the Antarctic, 106 years after the historic ship was crushed in pack ice and sank during
Update, March 2020:
❝The wreck of Endurance has been found in the Antarctic, 106 years after the historic ship was crushed in pack ice and sank during an expedition by the explorer Ernest Shackleton.
A team of adventurers, marine archaeologists and technicians located the wreck at the bottom of the Weddell Sea, east of the Antarctic Peninsula, using undersea drones. Battling sea ice and freezing temperatures, the team had been searching for more than two weeks in a 150-square-mile area around where the ship went down in 1915. � “We have made polar history with the discovery of Endurance, and successfully completed the world’s most challenging shipwreck search,� said John Shears, the expedition’s leader.
The first images of the ship since those taken by Shackleton’s photographer, Frank Hurley, revealed parts of the vessel in astonishing detail. An image of the stern showed the name “ENDURANCE� above a five-pointed star, a holdover from before Shackleton bought the ship, when it was named Polaris. Another showed the rear deck and the ship’s wheel.�
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Good article with great pictures and a one-minute video at the NY Times: ; more pictures and story at NPR, ; and yet more pictures at The Guardian, .
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Huh, never wrote a review, eh? I'm surprised: five star book!
Anyway, this might be interesting: some researchers are going to hunt down the sunken Endurance and examine it:
❝A century after Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance sank in the waters of Antarctica, resulting in one of the greatest survival stories in the history of exploration, a team of modern adventurers, technicians and scientists is setting sail to find the wreck.
❝With a crew of 46 and a 64-member expedition team aboard, a South African icebreaker, the Agulhas II, is set to leave Cape Town on Saturday, bound for the Weddell Sea. Once there, the team hopes to find the wreck and explore it with two underwater drones.�
The disjointed prose of the first third or so was tough for me to get through; from about halfway on it was a pleasure. Somewhat like Lolita, writThe disjointed prose of the first third or so was tough for me to get through; from about halfway on it was a pleasure. Somewhat like Lolita, written from Lolita's point of view....more
I haven't read as much Vonnegut as I think I should have, but I could have gone to my grave without having read this one.
Vonnegut has always been snarI haven't read as much Vonnegut as I think I should have, but I could have gone to my grave without having read this one.
Vonnegut has always been snarky with tendencies towards bitter, dark humor. But, like some other satirists, he finally goes beyond sense and simply condemns humanity as not worth saving.
The writing is great, the characters are vivid and compelling, there's a lot of wonderful humor � but unless you are hunting for some misanthropy, stick with his earlier works. I'd recommend Cat's Cradle....more
I'm very happy the bookclub's dictatress selected this, the first novel in the author's "Prostitution Trilogy", because the third, The Royal FamilyI'm very happy the bookclub's dictatress selected this, the first novel in the author's "Prostitution Trilogy", because the third, The Royal Family, is 800 pages (divided into 593 chapters).
The New York Times review: .
Personally, I didn't like it much. Too Bukowskian....more
The book become more complex and interesting in the final stretch, although it didn't quite get over the hump to earn four stars.
My early complaint, tThe book become more complex and interesting in the final stretch, although it didn't quite get over the hump to earn four stars.
My early complaint, that the central characters had what amount to superpowers — the smartest person you know would eventually apply to three of 'em, and the toughest person on the planet to another. It's one thing to instantly appeal to reader identification because of a juvenile wish-fulfillment of being the misunderstood or maligned Chosen One, versus organically building an attachment for a character (even an unlikable one) through understanding or even exposure to their actions under difficult circumstances. Instead, towards the end, we've got a gut-punch of unfaithfulness and betrayal that would only make sense if the characters involved were adolescents, not seasoned veterans of how miscommunications can bring death. Where was the, "Wait, am I making any assumptions here?" moment? Not there, because the author is jerking the readers around by the emotions.
The whole character-with-superhero aspect never went away, but the world-building became engrossing enough to compensate....more
Excellent imagery and narrative flow are the wins for this monsters-and-magic fantasy, along with good character development. A hero whose skills vergExcellent imagery and narrative flow are the wins for this monsters-and-magic fantasy, along with good character development. A hero whose skills verge on superpowers is the biggest flaw (albeit a near omnipresent one in fantasy), as does an over-reliance on stupidity � the author's story requires a few too many characters to ignore their self-interest in ways that are implausible....more
There really should be more books in which a descendent reconstructs reminiscences of an ancestor's life into a narrative. There can be a more personaThere really should be more books in which a descendent reconstructs reminiscences of an ancestor's life into a narrative. There can be a more personal feel than one might typically get than in most historical fiction. There might actually be a lot of this; the only thing similar that I've read is the excellent and award-winning Maus: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History.
One Thousand Chestnut Trees: a Novel of Korea takes place before and during the Korean War. This was a little extra interesting to me because my father was one of the U.S. Navy pilots dropping bombs during that war, and I also studied the origins of the war a little in college (I remember being very interested in China Crosses the Yalu: The Decision to Enter the Korean War).
But getting the feel on the ground during the conflict is important. Few of us in the developed world have ever lived through a war, huddling in the basement as bombs fall, struggling to find food and avoid predatory humans when the bombs aren't falling.
Not a great book, but very good within its scope, especially since few other books are likely to explore this part of history in quite the same way....more
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