Chasing Shackleton by Tim Jarvis

First sentence:

"I thought I knew Antarctica by now."

Description:

"In this extraordinary adventure memoir and tie-in to the PBS documentary, Tim Jarvis, one of the world's leading explorers, describes his modern-day journey to retrace, for the first time ever—and in period clothing and gear—the legendary 1914 expedition of Sir Ernest Shackleton.

In early 1914, British explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton and his team sailed for Antarctica, attempting to be the first to reach the South Pole. Instead of glory, Shackleton and his crew found themselves in an epic struggle for survival: a three-year odyssey on the ice and oceans of the Antarctic that endures as one of the world’s most famous tales of adventure, endurance, and leadership ever recorded.

In the winter of 2013, celebrated explorer Tim Jarvis, a veteran of multiple polar expeditions, set out to recreate Sir Ernest Shackleton’s treacherous voyage over sea and mountain, outfitted solely with authentic equipment—clothing, boots, food, and tools—from Shackleton’s time, a feat that has never been successfully accomplished.

Shackleton's Epic is the remarkable record of Jarvis and his team’s epic journey. Beautifully designed and illustrated with dozens of photographs from the original voyage and its modern reenactment, it is a visual feast for readers and historians alike, and an essential new chapter in the story that has inspired adventurers across every continent for a century." -- from Amazon.com

My thoughts:

I enjoyed reading this adventure that recreated Shackleton's voyage and mountain crossing. After I read the book, I saw and enjoyed the documentary which included Jarvis and his crew toasting Shackleton at his grave on South Georgia island.

Date read: 10/24/2014
Book #: 39
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Nonfiction/Adventure

ISBN-10: 0062282735
ISBN-13: 9780062282736
Publisher: William Morrow
Year: 2014
# of pages: 272
Binding: Hardcover
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The Art of Cartography: Stories by J.S. Marcus

First sentence:

"I read, in several newspapers, about a man from Los Angeles who wanted to go to Oakland."

Description:

"The young men and women who inhabit these mordantly alive stories move around -- as do the stories themselves -- from city to city, country to country.The characters are in and out of graduate schools, apartments, love affairs, marriages. They go from New York to London to Los Angeles, compulsively studying the facts of their own lives and the facts they can guess at in the lives of those around them, as a way, perhaps, out of their solitude, as if they could map themselves into the world. They long for perspective, permanence -- truth -- although what they find is often something quite different.

A young American working in a London bank is propelled by a random happening -- he gets off his train one day because an unexploded bomb from World War II has been discovered on the tracks -- into a series of chance meetings and invitations that illumine the nature of his loneliness.

A New Yorker, the author of 'unpublished travel books and eight-millimeter documentaries,' while visiting a South Pacific island famous for its archaeological dig, accidentally brings together, and then less accidentally puts at odds, the people at his hotel.

A woman named Sheila, who appears -- at various periods of her life, and in and out of a relationship with a music critic -- in several of the stories, is last seen in southern California, holed up in a mansion, smoking  grass with the maid, and expecting to end up where she began: back with the critic, as if the best she can do is 'shift weight.'

In all twelve stories, we see people in motion, in flux -- again and again deflected by the succession of chance encounters that has become their way of life.

A remarkable collection of stories, a memorable debut." -- from the inside flap.

My thoughts:

This is an interesting collection of short stories. I liked the narrator meeting different people and reflecting on who they are.

Date read: 10/20/2014
Book #: 38
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre; Fiction

ISBN-10: 0394559460
ISBN-13: 9780394559469
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Year: 1991
# of pages: 129
Binding: Hardcover
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The Circle by Dave Eggers

First sentence:

"My God, Mae thought. It's heaven."

Description:

"When Mae Holland is hired to work for the Circle, the world’s most powerful internet company, she feels she’s been given the opportunity of a lifetime. The Circle, run out of a sprawling California campus, links users’ personal emails, social media, banking, and purchasing with their universal operating system, resulting in one online identity and a new age of civility and transparency. As Mae tours the open-plan office spaces, the towering glass dining facilities, the cozy dorms for those who spend nights at work, she is thrilled with the company’s modernity and activity. There are parties that last through the night, there are famous musicians playing on the lawn, there are athletic activities and clubs and brunches, and even an aquarium of rare fish retrieved from the Marianas Trench by the CEO. Mae can’t believe her luck, her great fortune to work for the most influential company in the world—even as life beyond the campus grows distant, even as a strange encounter with a colleague leaves her shaken, even as her role at the Circle becomes increasingly public. What begins as the captivating story of one woman’s ambition and idealism soon becomes a heart-racing novel of suspense, raising questions about memory, history, privacy, democracy, and the limits of human knowledge." -- from Amazon.com

My thoughts:

I loved this book about an apparent utopia with an eventual decline. Mae's journey was fascinating and eerie to watch.

Date read: 10/18/2014
Book #: 37
Rating: 4*/5 = great
Genre; Thriller

ISBN-10: 0345807294
ISBN-13: 9780345807298
Publisher: Vintage Books
Year: 2014
# of pages: 497
Binding: Trade Paperback
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George Washington's Secret Six by Brian Kilmeade

First sentence:

"He was twenty-one years old and knew that in a matter of moments he would die."

Description:

"When General George Washington beat a hasty retreat from New York City in August 1776, many thought the American Revolution might soon be over. Instead, Washington rallied—thanks in large part to a little-known, top-secret group called the Culper Spy Ring.

Washington realized that he couldn’t beat the British with military might, so he recruited a sophisticated and deeply secretive intelligence network to infiltrate New York. So carefully guarded were the members’ identities that one spy’s name was not uncovered until the twentieth century, and one remains unknown today. But by now, historians have discovered enough information about the ring’s activities to piece together evidence that these six individuals turned the tide of the war.

Drawing on extensive research, Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger have painted compelling portraits of George Washington’s secret six:

• Robert Townsend, the reserved Quaker merchant and reporter who headed the Culper Ring, keeping his identity secret even from Washington;
• Austin Roe, the tavern keeper who risked his employment and his life in order to protect the mission;
• Caleb Brewster, the brash young longshoreman who loved baiting the British and agreed to ferry messages between Connecticut and New York;
• Abraham Woodhull, the curmudgeonly (and surprisingly nervous) Long Island bachelor with business and family excuses for traveling to Manhattan;
• James Rivington, the owner of a posh coffeehouse and print shop where high-ranking British officers gossiped about secret operations;
• Agent 355, a woman whose identity remains unknown but who seems to have used her wit and charm to coax officers to share vital secrets.

In George Washington’s Secret Six, Townsend and his fellow spies finally receive their due, taking their place among the pantheon of heroes of the
American Revolution." - from Amazon.com

My thoughts:

This is a fascinating book about another side to the American Revolution. Recently I've started watching the AMC drama Turn: Washington's Spies about the same topic and I highly recommend it.

Date read: 10/3/2014
Book #: 36
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre; Thriller

ISBN-10: 1595231102
ISBN-13: 9781595231109
Publisher: Sentinel
Year: 2014
# of pages: 272
Binding: Trade Paperback
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The Good Lord Bird by James McBride

First sentence:

"I was born a colored man and don't you forget it."

Description:

In 1856, Henry Shackleford is a young slave living in the Kansas Territory, a battleground between anti-and pro-slavery forces. When legendary abolitionist John Brown arrives in the area, an argument between Brown and Henry's mater quickly turns violent. Henry is forced to leave with Brown, who believes he's a girl. Over the ensuing months, Henry--whom the eccentric Brown nicknames "onion" -- conceals hist rue identity to stay alive, eventually finding himself with Brown at the historic raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This is an engaging, powerful story about John Brown, slavery in the west, and the abolitionist movement. I liked the voice of Henry who could both see the reality Brown wasn't seeing but who could also be self-interested.

Date read: 10/1/2014
Book #: 35
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Historical Fiction

ISBN-10: 1410464857
ISBN-13: 9781410464859
Publisher: Thorndike Press
Date:  2013
Edition: Large Print
# of pages: 635
Binding: Hardcover
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