At #4 on the hardcover non fiction list for this week at the New York Times, I am going to read
The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann.
I am huge "true adventure story" geek, but surprisingly, it's hard to find ones that are
really good and exciting. I've realized it's the rare author who can bring it all to vivid and death-defying life. Some of my favorites in this genre have been
The Ice Master: The Doomed 1913 Voyage of the Karluk, by Jennifer Niven,
Skeletons on the Zahara: A True Story of Survival by Dean King and most recently (as in finished it yesterday for an advanced reader program I belong to)
A Wall of White: The True Story of Heroism and Survival in the Face of a Deadly Avalanche by Jennifer Woodlief (I was actually gritting my teeth during this one). They were all awesome, stay up all night, intense reads. You have to like that kind of thing though.
So from the Canadian Arctic, then to the West Africa's coastline along the Saraha Desert; and most recently, the unbelievable force of nature that is avalanche territory in North Lake Tahoe ... I go to the Amazon somewhere between Bolivia and Peru circa 1925 ...
Again, I did not read too much about this one because I'm not familiar with the story, the explorer (Percy Fawcett) or the adventure, so I want to be surprised. But all the reviews are excellent so far.
Okay, off to experience a horrendous adventure from the comfort of my couch, near the fireplace and my happy, lazy dog ...
Review to follow.
Carolyn
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