What are you reading?

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bking14ers
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by bking14ers »

Mountain Man. The book Jeremiah Johnson was loosely based on.
Everything you want in life is on the other side of fear. -- Margaret T.
You'll never have a better chance to climb that mountain than you do today. -- Dave C.
Dude! I knew you would cave-in once we got up there. -- Dean G.
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Wentzl
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by Wentzl »

I have put this up earlier, but for the newbies here, this book is great for all the reasons it has NOT been made into a movie:

https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/blo ... dian-movie
Shorter of Breath and One Day Closer . . .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZXKgl8turY

"Social Justice" = Injustice
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greenonion
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by greenonion »

The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles (A Gentleman in Moscow)

Dern fine book (both actually).
arete66
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by arete66 »

If you are looking for a good winter tome to sink into...
THE WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD by Apsley Cherry Gerrard
It's as thick as LES MISERABLES (the book--not the musical, for God sakes!)
Read the preface, the intro, the title page, the page numbers. Read the whole book. Take your time. I've been reading climbing literature for 50 years and this rewired my brain. Definitely made me mentally tougher in the the mountains in the winter.
You will never whine in the mountains again after this.
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susanjoypaul
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by susanjoypaul »

arete66 wrote: Mon Jan 17, 2022 2:29 pm If you are looking for a good winter tome to sink into...
THE WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD by Apsley Cherry Gerrard
It's as thick as LES MISERABLES (the book--not the musical, for God sakes!)
Read the preface, the intro, the title page, the page numbers. Read the whole book. Take your time. I've been reading climbing literature for 50 years and this rewired my brain. Definitely made me mentally tougher in the the mountains in the winter.
You will never whine in the mountains again after this.
I recommended that one back on page 60 of this thread - glad someone else enjoyed it too! From that post:

I read a lot of nonfiction for work and for pleasure. Two standouts this year were The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard and Alone on the Ice: The Greatest Survival Story in the History of Exploration by David Roberts. Highly recommend both, enjoyed with a hot cup of cocoa because the setting - Antarctica - and the thrills will chill you to the bone. if you liked Alfred Lansing's Endurance, you'll love these books.

If you're looking for more polar adventure, I'm in the middle of In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette right now and it's pretty great. I've read many books about Antarctica and the South Pole - this was the first I've read about the North Pole. I don't want to give anything away but...we knew NOTHING about that part of the planet in the late 1800s. Cartographers believed there was a big warm ocean on top of the planet - if only we could break through that ring of ice. As you can imagine, this belief set explorers of that region up for disaster. The book starts off with a lot of history, but it's worth reading. Lots of interesting characters. You'll recognize a few names that you wouldn't expect to see in a book about the Arctic.

Agree about "never whining in the mountains again." Ha! Whenever I'm hiking with a buddy whose read the same books as I have and the going gets especially tough, I like to remind them, "At least your skin isn't falling off. At least there aren't any killer whales up here trying to knock us off the mountain. It could be a lot worse, you know." That puts our situation into perspective and gives us enough of a laugh to stop whining and carry on.
seano
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by seano »

susanjoypaul wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 5:56 am If you're looking for more polar adventure, I'm in the middle of In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette right now and it's pretty great.
I listened to the audiobook of that this past summer and enjoyed it, though not as much as Blood and Thunder by the same author. Another good book about the Arctic is Fridtjof Nansen's Farthest North. It's old enough to escape the long tentacles of copyright, so the e-book is free. Volume II is the good part, and his discussion of food and other provisions is also interesting.

I'm currently enjoying Miriam (O'Brian) Underhill's Give Me the Hills, about her mountaineering exploits in the Alps and Western States, written in engaging and self-deprecating style.
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susanjoypaul
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by susanjoypaul »

seano wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 6:32 am
susanjoypaul wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 5:56 am If you're looking for more polar adventure, I'm in the middle of In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette right now and it's pretty great.
I listened to the audiobook of that this past summer and enjoyed it, though not as much as Blood and Thunder by the same author. Another good book about the Arctic is Fridtjof Nansen's Farthest North. It's old enough to escape the long tentacles of copyright, so the e-book is free. Volume II is the good part, and his discussion of food and other provisions is also interesting.

I'm currently enjoying Miriam (O'Brian) Underhill's Give Me the Hills, about her mountaineering exploits in the Alps and Western States, written in engaging and self-deprecating style.
Thanks. Haven't read any of those but I'll add them to my list. I just started reading Climbing Days by Dorothy Pilley too, another Alps climber (like Miriam O'Brien).

It looks like Blood and Thunder is available on Audible, and it looks like I have an Audible credit, soooo...
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Scott P
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by Scott P »

Just finished Conquistadors of the Useless. Now I'm starting Gladiators.
I'm old, slow and fat. Unfortunately, those are my good qualities.
uwe
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by uwe »

Just finished, "The Indifferent Stars Above, The Harrowing Saga of the DONNER PARTY" by Daniel James Brown. Makes me want to retrace their steps - in the summer of course. Folks back then were tough, resilient and wore suffrage better than most do today.
yrastorza
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by yrastorza »

The Adventures of the Mountain Men, Stephen Brennan
DaveLanders
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by DaveLanders »

I will be reading Nims Purja's new book "Beyond Possible". I know some people didn't like the recent documentary about him because of a lack of detail about the climbs, so hopefully this book will fix that.

A note of caution: There is a kid's version of this book with the same title, but a different cover photo.
Every village has at least one idiot. Successful villages choose someone else to be their leader.
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turbocat
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Re: What are you reading?

Post by turbocat »

"A Place in Which to Search: Summers in the Wind Rivers" Joe Kelsey
Less cowbell...more CAIRN!
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