What was the last book you read?

[The Duke]

I also felt very sorry for Simon, forever !

Don't waste your time - he would laugh at you if he knew!

[lizabelle]

Yeah, nice editing. *g*

[lizabelle]

PS - to the Duke, not intending to denigrate your experience at all. If that's what happened when you tried climbing with Simon, then I heartily sympathise.

[Henri]

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. Finished it yesterday - an excellent novel!

[xcon]

Finished Singer's Animal Liberation few days ago.

[tempehmomma]

My Real Estate Law texbook. I'll be finished by the end of the semester.

[Catt Queen]

Witcha; a book of cunning

[dublin dave]

Everest: The Hard Way by Chris Bonnington

-the story of the 1975 ascent of the South West Face of Everest

[ef27]

Feuchtgebiete, and oh what a book it has been...

[misosoup]

A typography reference book, for fun. Mmm.

[lizabelle]

Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild. Which made me a bit ranty. I much prefer Joe Simpson's level-headed look at the romance of the abyss, the pull of the wilderness, to Krakauer's misty-eyed mythologisation of poor Chris McCandless.

[Kati]

my next book wil be Moomin. Hm yes that Swedisch kidsbook. Just bought the Englsich version in Sweden.

Moomins are Finnish. Are Swedish trying to take the best Finnish literature in their names???

No more doughnuts available

[fredrikw]

my next book wil be Moomin. Hm yes that Swedisch kidsbook. Just bought the Englsich version in Sweden.

Moomins are Finnish. Are Swedish trying to take the best Finnish literature in their names???

originally written in Swedish though by Tove Jansson

personally I like the 70'ies cartoons best, brilliant political satire

[james79]

Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild. Which made me a bit ranty. I much prefer Joe Simpson's level-headed look at the romance of the abyss, the pull of the wilderness, to Krakauer's misty-eyed mythologisation of poor Chris McCandless.

I prefered 'Into the Wild' to 'Touching the Void'. I think Jon Krakauer is a much better author although Simpson's story was way more hardcore - Chris McCandless was only a few miles from civilisation when he died and just got unlucky after eating a poisonous mushroom. I think in reality he was probably just a selfish angry kid.

You would probably like 'Into Thin Air' by Krakauer (if you haven't read it already) about the everest disaster he was involved in where a few people died. His other book (Under a Banner of Heaven) about Mormom fundamentalism is really good too.

[lizabelle]

James79 wrote:

I think in reality he was probably just a selfish angry kid.

Yeah, this is what makes me want to rant, because while there's a clear note of "there but for the grace of god go I" in Krakauer's narration, he also seems tempted to put McCandless on a pedestal as a "special person" who had an amazing effect on the people he encountered, rather than some strong-minded kid who never got over himself and who abandoned a loving family (and everyone else who tried to get close to him along the way) in order to find himself in the wilderness. Even his sister, apparently the person he was closest too, never heard from him after he disappeared two years before his death.

Krakauer never seems to be able to decide whether he wants to beatify McCandless or paint him as an ordinary kid - but it's pretty obvious which interpretation the naive kids on the internet who idolise him (McCandless) and think his story is "pretty cool" have taken away from the book, and now the film...

Ahem, sorry, I did say it made me ranty!

I agree with you that technically Krakauer is the better writer, FWIW. His prose is much fresher.

I've read Into Thin Air, and thought it was very good. I'll check out the Mormon one - thanks for the recommendation!