Non-Fiction

Today’s Book with Extra Book Bits

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I’m about to finish The Woman in Black by Susan Hill.  It’s a ghost story and while it has it’s conventional parts, it feels more like a slow moving thriller and it works wonderfully.  She dishes out details slowly, building a lot of tension for the ending I know is coming.  The best word to describe it would be atmospheric.  It has long, lush sentences that evoke a foreboding for the horrible ending.  It reminds me a lot of Shirley Jackson whose storytelling has the same feel.  In case, you’re wondering how I know what’s coming — I read the end already.

I haven’t done a library loot in forever so here goes.

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill (See above.)

Time Travelers Never Die by Jack McDevitt (On my list and it fits a challenge, a twofer book.)

Savage Kingdom: The True story of Jamestown, 1607, and the Settlement of America by Benjamin Woolley (I read a book last year about Jamestown and loved it so I’m trying another.  We’ll see if my interest holds up through this one.)

Also new to me but not a library loaner is A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness.  I’ve been craving this one since it came through the door and it’s so my next book.  Admire that cover.  I love, love, love it.  Can’t really say why but the sapphire blue cover is working for me.

Thoughts – The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon

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Thoughts – The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon

By David Grann

Doubleday

eISBN: 978-0-385-52922-8

4 stars

I’m writing this review several weeks after finishing the book so this is more a few final thoughts rather than a full review.  I wasn’t planning to do a review at all considering I talked about the book a few times already but I kept coming back to it for several reasons so obviously the book made an impression which is why I’m involved in this current exercise.

In case you aren’t familiar with The Lost City of Z, it’s a non-fiction account of British explorer Percy Fawcett’s last expedition into the Amazon jungle in Brazil.  He was in search of the legendary, mythical might be a better word, city of El Dorado which was supposed to be a city of gold.  He disappeared on his final trip and theories abound as to what happened to him.  Grann takes up the story and puts his own twist on it.

Grann is a journalist so the book does in many respects read like a long scientific article.  That’s not a bad thing though because in a non-fiction book I prefer a more straightforward style instead of a writer that tries to woo me with fluffy descriptions.  Also, the Amazon doesn’t lend itself to descriptions of that sort, especially when one is describing flesh eating bugs — in that case, the less fluffy, less descriptive the better.  He does have a very engaging style so please don’t let my scientific article tag scare you off of this one.  Grann has a sense of humor and laughs at himself and his lack of even basic camping skills as he prepares to trek off into the jungle in the hopes of understanding Fawcett’s, and now his own, obsession with the Amazon.  It’s well researched, as far as I can tell but I know very little about the Amazon, and feels complete even for a book on the short side.  When I finished, I did amuse myself with a bit of googling to find out more about both Fawcett and the Amazon so I think he did his job well.

If you’re looking for something interesting, pick this one up.  The story Grann tells is a good one.

Today’s Book

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I’ve been reading The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann.  The book is aptly named considering Grann spends almost the entire book talking about Percy Fawcett’s (an Amazonian explorer that disappeared) dogged need to constantly be trekking through the jungle searching for a city that almost no one but him believes exists.  And what can I say, it’s fascinating.

I’m coming to the part where Grann heads into to the Amazon to follow Percy’s last route and it’s interesting to see how he tempers his own obsession.  As others before him that have gone into the jungle to search for Fawcett, he too finds himself following any hint of information.  He even makes several trips to England and Brazil before going into the Amazon to read Fawcett’s papers and speak with family members in the hope of gleaming something useful for his own trip.

Grann’s writing is straightforward — he is a journalist — so there’s not a lot of flowery language which fits his topic well.  He does add some vivid descriptions of what a jungle disease can and will do to human flesh, and if you’re like me and find yourself at this point while eating lunch, it will make you want to stop eating but not stop reading.  He’s amusing as well especially when he talks about his shopping excursion to a Manhattan camping and hiking store to buy supplies.

This is starting to sound a lot like a review so that is all this morning.  Happy reading.

Teaser Tuesdays

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Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.  The idea is to give everyone a look inside the book you’re reading.

Play along: Grab your current read; Open to a random page; Share two teaser sentences from that page; Share the title and author so that other participants know what you’re reading.

Having finally finished Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix last night, I’m happy to be starting The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann.  Let’s start with the preface shall we.

“I pulled the map from my back pocket.  It was wet and crumpled, the lines I had traced to highlight my route now faded.” (page 6 of 325 on Nook)

The Shipwreck That Saved Jamestown: The Sea Venture Castaways and the Fate of America

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The Shipwreck That Saved Jamestown: The Sea Venture Castaways and the Fate of America

By Lorri Glover and Daniel Blake Smith

Henry Holt and Company

ISBN: 978-0-8050-8654-6

4.75 stars

My original review of this book was very long and detailed.  Unfortunately, the file was corrupted and the book is back at the library so I don’t have it here as a reference while re-writing this review.  I like to write my own re-caps but I’m going to do something I normally don’t do — link to Amazon.  It has a bit of information about the book and I’ll supplement below from what I remember and add a few thoughts.

My history of the Jamestown colony is sparse, at least what I remember from grade/middle school, and I’ll admit that it’s mostly dates and names.  The drama of what Jamestown was about wasn’t covered in those far away history lessons.  Here, the story isn’t so much about the dates and times but the drama of Jamestown.  The Virginia Company, indebted to the King of England, was so worried about forfeiting their claim that they went out and recruited individuals that had no business being part of a settlement.  These were people looking for a way to escape the poverty and grief of London and the Virginia Company promised clothes, food, and shelter if they signed up.  Of course people signed up for the chance at a new life where they would have no worries and want for nothing.  Unfortunately, the Virginia Company forgot the simple things, like signing up people who could build houses, plant crops, dig wells, and hunt.  They were doomed.

The first group of settlers fared badly, fought with the Powhatan Native Americans, and ended up being starved out by them and then turning to cannibalism.  When the second wave of settlers arrived, they didn’t find any milk and honey, what they did find were open graves and starving, mad people.  When reports got back to England, the great public relations machine that was the Virginia Company kicked into high gear to mitigate the rumors and lies as they called them.  They even went so far as to stop the publication of a memoir of one of the survivors so they could go on recruiting.

Now, the Sea Venture was a ship in the second wave of settlers.  Unfortunately, it was caught up in a hurricane and crashed on Bermuda.  There the settlers found a land full of promise and riches.  There were birds, turtles, pigs, fruit and vegetables, and a land that was rich for farming.  They didn’t want to leave.  The leaders knew that their allegiance was to the Virginia Company and built two new ships to get them the short distance from Bermuda to Jamestown.  They arrived to a land of horror.  However, they were in a way, the saving grace of the colony.  Shortly after the arrival of the shipwrecked passengers, new ships arrived with provisions and people were, in a way, saved and the settlement preserved.

The interesting part of the story for me was the founding of Bermuda.  As it turns out, some of the travelers that landed on the island, which has been known as the Devil’s Island, told the leaders of the Virginia Company what a wonderfully fruitful place it was and the Company sent new ships to the island which was settled quickly and bountifully.  In a strange twist of fate, the Virginia Company which was losing money in the pit that was Jamestown made its money back in the first settlement of Bermuda due to the richness of the land.  So the Sea Venture not only gets credit for reviving Jamestown, but also for the settlement of Bermuda.

Since I’ve been feeling historically deficient this was one of the books that I picked up with the intent of fixing that need.  This one came through for me.  It doesn’t read like a dry history book but is filled with fascinating and wonderful facts that only made me want to read more about Jamestown and the Powhatan tribe.  There was not much discussion of the Powhatan other than their fighting with the first settlement and ultimate starvation of the settlers but the history there interested me and now I have a new subject to follow up on.

If you’re looking for something to fix a history craving, I recommend this one.

Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void

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Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void

By Mary Roach

W.W. Norton & Company

ISBN: 978-0-393-06847-4

5 stars

Space is not my thing; neither is watching the NASA channel.  Most days I don’t have any interest in space travel or NASA but this book may have turned that around for me.

Packing for Mars is about the strange research that goes into sending someone into the void.  Humans are not suited for the journey, will never adapt to it, and need to be prepared for every possible contingency.  What I tend to think of when I hear NASA is the monstrous budget and Roach sheds light on why and how that money is spent, and oddly, most of it is spent on the ground testing every piece of equipment that will be hurled into space on a metal tube attached to a rocket.

Astronauts are an odd bunch, and most who own up to that title, never actually spend any time in space.  Most spend their days endlessly testing things like space suits and tools rather than flying a spacecraft.  In addition, it was interesting to read about some of the first thoughts NASA scientists had about space and the affect on the human body which included — will blood still flow in a man’s veins without gravity (The use of the word man is intentional.  Woman weren’t being considered for astronaut positions at the time.), will the digestive system still function without gravity, and what will those astronauts eat after all?

A large portion of this book is devoted to bodily functions.  I wouldn’t recommend reading this book while eating unless of course you have ambitions involving space travel, then I would say you must read this while eating to get any vomit reaction you might have under control.

Bizarre simulations are something NASA excels at.  They use monkeys, cadavers, and even living and breathing people to find out how g-forces, food additives, weightlessness, and isolation will affect a person in space.  Some of the isolation simulations recounted here are quite amusing and also disconcerting as I would have to seriously consider why anyone would want to undergo some of these tests, and maybe even their commitment to sanity, for a chance to look down at the earth from space.

The best part of this book — the footnotes.  I never thought I would ever say that considering I mostly skip footnotes but Roach has a very engaging and funny style that makes you laugh at some of the odd things that actually go on at NASA.

If you’re interested in space, or not, this book is a fascinating read that will have you laughing and thoroughly disgusted at the same time but all in a good way.  I highly recommend it.

My Favorite Reads – Angela’s Ashes

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Alyce from At Home With Books features one of her favorite reads each Thursday and this week my pick is…

Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt.

From Amazon.com: Frank McCourt’s haunting memoir takes on new life when the author reads from his Pulitzer Prize-winning book. Recounting scenes from his childhood in New York City and Limerick, Ireland, McCourt paints a brutal yet poignant picture of his early days when there was rarely enough food on the table, and boots and coats were a luxury. In a melodic Irish voice that often lends a gentle humor to the unimaginable, the author remembers his wayward yet adoring father who was forever drinking what little money the family had. He recounts the painful loss of his siblings to avoidable sickness and hunger, a proud mother reduced to begging for charity, and the stench of the sewage-strewn streets that ran outside the front door. As McCourt approaches adolescence, he discovers the shame of poverty and the beauty of Shakespeare, the mystery of sex and the unforgiving power of the Irish Catholic Church. This powerful and heart-rending testament to the resiliency and determination of youth is populated with memorable characters and moments, and McCourt’s interpretation of the narrative and the voices it contains will leave listeners laughing through their tears.

My thoughts: I don’t read memoirs.  To be honest, this is probably the only one I have ever read.  They aren’t part of my regular reading fare and I somehow don’t think that will change.  This particular book was recommended to me by a former co-worker about nine years ago and she actually lent me her book so I would read it.  She kept telling me how funny and sad the story was and I kept saying, “That’s great except I don’t read memoirs.”  Finally, I gave in and loved the book so much I bought my own copy.

It is funny, it’s also so sad that it did make me cry in places.  The poverty he experiences growing up, the hunger, the death, and the shame he feels for his family’s position are heart wrenching.  McCourt writes in such a way that even though you feel so hurt by his situation you also want to laugh because he found humor is so many little things in life.

If you don’t like memoirs, this would be an excellent starting point.  I can’t say it made me go out and buy another memoir but I found an appreciation for this genre in Frank McCourt’s story.

Teaser Tuesdays

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Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.  The idea is to give everyone a look inside the book you’re reading.

Play along: Grab your current read; Open to a random page; Share two teaser sentences from that page; Share the title and author so that other participants know what you’re reading.

I’m reading non-fiction but the opening is wonderful so that’s what I’m sharing today.  It’s a bit longer than usual but that makes it all the more fun.

From Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach:

“To the rocket scientist, you are a problem.  You are the most irritating piece of machinery he or she will ever have to deal with.  You and your fluctuating metabolism, your puny memory, your frame that comes in a million different configurations.  You are unpredictable.  You’re inconsistent.  You take weeks to fix.” (15)

What are you teasing us with this week?