On The Same Page discussion

Kim. E. wrote: "I finished the uncensored, annotated version of Dorian Gray, With all the side notes, etc, I felt like I was back in my high school Shakespeare class, but it was worth it. So much I didn't know."

As I recall, I was surprised by the book, mainly because I think I went in with preconceived notions about the story. I did enjoy it. Your experience with it sounds interesting.

Lea wrote: " If only her characters didn't have to talk to each other, I might like it better..."

Don't make me laugh!! I'm at work! LOL

I do agree with that statement, though.

edit: I also just noticed that you have Catch-22 on your list. I loved the first half of the book. I literally was laughing out loud at work. Afterwards it pretty much devolved into madness and I was either hating the book or laughing again.

I definitely need to hear what you think about it.

Veronica wrote: "Hey Lady,

Let me know when you want to start You"

Veronica! Hope this year is treating you well. I would like to read You Love Me, but I don't think I'll re-read the first two books again. Let me know when you're ready to read You Love Me. I can't wait to see what Crazy Joe gets up to!

Veronica wrote: "Oh.. When you read , tell me what you think"

Definitely. I've been waiting until I have the energy for this one. It sounds tough. :-)

Veronica wrote: "The Secret HistoryYou have some heavy books on your list.

When do you plan on reading The Secret History?"

I was thinking about reading it middle of the year - like May or June. Would you like to read it with me?

Kim. E. wrote: "I finished the uncensored, annotated version of Dorian Gray, With all the side notes, etc, I felt like I was back in my high school Shakespeare class, but it was worth it. So much I didn't know."

It sounds great to have all that information, but not to be back in high school! At least for me. LOL. I'm so glad you enjoyed it.

Ann_R wrote: "Your off to a great start for your personal challenge! Dorian Gray, is another classic I mean to read but never get around to. As for the Sapiens, Graphic novel, I read the first ten pages and decided not to continue, so you're not alone in your opinion of the book. It just didn't click with me and I generally like books relating to history and science."

Ann, I'm glad to know that it wasn't just me that didn't care for the Sapiens graphic novel! It was Kim E. that read Dorian Gray recently, I haven't read it for a few years. It is definitely one of those classics that I wanted to read for a long time, but found hard to pick it up. I was glad once I finally read it. Good luck!

Alondra wrote: "Don't make me laugh!! I'm at work! LOL

I do agree with that statement, though.

edit: I also just noticed that you have Catch-22 on your list. I loved the first half of the book. I literally was laughing out loud at work. Afterwards it pretty much devolved into madness and I was either hating the book or laughing again.

I definitely need to hear what you think about it."

I read Catch-22 in high school, but I did not read the second book Closing Time, so I decided that Catch-22 would be my childhood re-read this year. I hope I enjoy it, I can't remember a lot of it, but I think I liked it better than some of the other classics we read in school.

Lea wrote: "I read Catch-22 in high school, but I did not read the second book Closing Time, so I decided that Catch-22 would be my childhood re-read this year. I hope I enjoy it, I can't remember a lot of it,.."

Good grief! There's a second book!?? Did I know that?? .... *sigh*

I will have to really think about reading that one. Catch-22 was nuts.

Lea wrote: "Veronica wrote: "The Secret HistoryYou have some heavy books on your list.

When do you plan on reading The Secret History?"

I was thi..."

I will love to hear your thoughts on this one. I loved The Goldfinch but could not get into this one. Should I try again?

Ioana wrote: "I will love to hear your thoughts on this one. I loved The Goldfinch but could not get into this one. Should I try again?"

What didn't you like about The Secret History? I liked The Goldfinch without loving it, so I wasn't going to read this book at all, but it has been recommended too many times for me to ignore now. We'll see. :-)

Lea wrote: "What didn't you like about The Secret History? I liked The Goldfinch without loving it, so I wasn't going to read this book at all, but it has been recommended too many times for me to ignore now."

"Didn't like" is too much said, I could not get into it, I can't tell if it was the book or the narrator. Ok, maybe I did not *love* The Goldfinch. I liked it, but I loved David Pittu's narration. He was wonderful.

January Mid Month Report

Books Read: 6 books so far this month and to year to date

Books from Filling in the Gaps: 5/100; 2020 Books 0/7, 2021 Books 0/11, and 5/82

Books from 12+4 Challenge: 1/16

Recently Finished:

Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us, from Missiles to the Moon to Mars - Great story, but I hated the way it was written. I wanted to know more about the work being done at JPL, everything included was very surface. I felt like nobody had any idea what they could say without causing national security issues, so nothing interesting was said. 2.5 STARS

A ​Court of Silver Flames - It won GRC Award for Fantasy. In my opinion, it should not have. 2 STARS

The Ugly Truth - Not as good as some of the other books in the series. 2.5 STARS

Lore Olympus: Volume One - Graphic novel about Greek mythology, starting with my favorite story of Hades and Persephone. I will read the next one. 3 STARS

A Good Neighborhood - This book generated a lot of conversation in our buddy read. 3 STARS

The Queen's Gambit - In high school, I played chess, so this was a very interesting story for me. Even in the late '80's, early '90's, I was usually the only female playing the game. Some of it squared with my experiences and some of it did not. I was never as good as the character in this book. In fact, there has never been a female who has won the US Chess Championship (I think they still have a separate title for US Women's Chess Champion) and there is only one female Grandmaster from the United States (she was born in what is now Ukraine, but she plays for the United States, she has lived here since she was a young child). Anyway, I was never that good of a player, and haven't played in 25 years, but I did still remember some of the openings and could usually follow along with the author when he was describing the play. But not always. And there were minor quibbles. But what do I know? I think someone who is less of a chess enthusiast might find the chess games challenging to follow. 3 STARS

Progress on the Whack-a-Mole Series Situation –

Series Completed this year (for the moment...):
1. A Court of Thorns and Roses (1)
2. Lore Olympus (1)

Series Started Last Year with Books Remaining:
1. Robot (5)
2. Greentown (2)
3. Sweet Sanctuary (2)

Series That Added Books This Year with number of books I still need to read in that series:
1. Mike Daley/Rosie Fernandez (6)

Series That Added Books Last Year with number of books I still need to read in that series: (so you can see how I really made no progress!)
1. Ender's Universe (5)
2. The Tattooist of Auschwitz (1)
3. The Diary of a Wimpy Kid (11)
4. Xanth (39)
5. Stephanie Plum (7)

You're off to a great start.

Bill wrote: "You're off to a great start."

Thanks, reading half a book in 2021, a graphic novel, and a children's book really helped boost my totals. :-)

Nice start. I've only read The Queen's Gambit and I was never a real chess player, although I enjoyed it for a while. Why did I stop playing? Anyway, I was not impressed with the book, maybe because I read it too soon after Endgame: Bobby Fischer's Remarkable Rise and Fall—From America's Brightest Prodigy to the Edge of Madness and lots of it did not ring believable.

Ioana wrote: "Nice start. I've only read The Queen's Gambit and I was never a real chess player, although I enjoyed it for a while. Why did I stop playing? Anyway, I was not impressed with the book, maybe because I read it too soon after Endgame: Bobby Fischer's Remarkable Rise and Fall—From America's Brightest Prodigy to the Edge of Madness and lots of it did not ring believable."

It's not believable to me either. I could make a long list of the things that aren't believable, but let's just say, it would be very unusual for even a grandmaster to be able to see an entire game ahead 20 moves. A grandmaster might be able to see ahead 20 moves on a single line of play and good chess players usually try to see many moves ahead on the maybe the 3 most likely possibilities for the opponent to move, but not an entire game.

It is, sadly, believable to me that she couldn't sleep before or after a big chess match.

And also, that people told her that "Girls can't play chess." Once, I was scolded by my opponents mother, who told me that I was distracting her son and making him play poorly. I said that if my being present was making him play poorly, he needed to get better. Maybe her son should practice with women present, if that is his weakness. She took her complaint to the officials, and I never knew what came of it. :-)

Lea wrote: "Once, I was scolded by my opponents mother, who told me that I was distracting her son and making him play poorly. I said that if my being present was making him play poorly, he needed to get better. Maybe her son should practice with women present, if that is his weakness. She took her complaint to the officials, and I never knew what came of it. :-)"

Like any athlete in any individual sport, she should've known that her son could/should be able to distance himself from the distractions. But I guess you had super powers of distraction 🤣

Ioana wrote: "Like any athlete in any individual sport, she should've known that her son could/should be able to distance himself from the distractions. But I guess you had super powers of distraction 🤣"

There are certain things that you can and can't do to distract your opponent.

The irony of the whole thing is that her son had this nervous habit of drumming his fingers on the table, which *I* found distracting, but it was allowed, so I didn't mention it to him or to her. After all, no sense in letting someone know they were getting to you.

Lea wrote: "The irony of the whole thing is that her son had this nervous habit of drumming his fingers on the table, which *I* found distracting, but it was allowed,"

I'm shocked to hear they allowed it. You should have tapped your foot.

Always learning new things, and you playing chess is one of those. I read it last year after the movie came out, and had the infamous mixed feelings I tend to.

I had a friend who tried to teach me, and he did to a degree, but never well enough to really ever play with someone else. Loved your response to that mother

Ioana wrote: "I'm shocked to hear they allowed it. You should have tapped your foot."

Foot tapping was allowed too, as long as the table did not move. I did once have an opponent that shook his leg so much that the table shook. The official saw it twice and gave him two warnings. The third warning would have awarded the game to me, but it wasn't necessary, I won before that could happen. I'm not sure whether he was doing it on purpose or not, I rather think this guy had an involuntary nervous tick, but it was super distracting. And don't get me started on the guy who liked to tilt his chair back such that the first two legs were in the air. He broke a chair that way playing somebody else and wasn't allowed to play the rest of the season. Maybe I should write a book on the characters encountered during a high school chess tournament, but sadly, the actual moves on the chess board wouldn't be nearly as exciting as what happened in The Queen's Gambit.

Kim. E. wrote: "Always learning new things, and you playing chess is one of those. I read it last year after the movie came out, and had the infamous mixed feelings I tend to.

I had a friend who tried to teach me, and he did to a degree, but never well enough to really ever play with someone else. Loved your response to that mother"

Did you watch the movie, Kim? I have not, I'm still trying to decide if I want to see it or not. I both love and hate that the movie tries to portray men and women as equals in chess. I think we've got awhile to go before there is parity, but I do think it will happen one day. I think there are more distractions in a woman's life than there are for a man, both a blessing and a curse. I'm not sure singlemindedness for a protracted period of time is good for mental health, yet what people can accomplish is sometimes astonishing.

Lea wrote: "Kim. E. wrote: "Always learning new things, and you playing chess is one of those. I read it last year after the movie came out, and had the infamous mixed feelings I tend to.

I had a friend who ..."

I keep planning to. It was all over my social media last year, but time is intervening. Learning just from your posts. :-)

Kim. E. wrote: "I keep planning to. It was all over my social media last year, but time is intervening. Learning just from your posts. :-)"

I am trying to find a way to lay my hands on it, but I'd always rather read a book than watch a movie, so I never do get very many movies watched. I don't have Netflix - seems like a waste for someone who watches so few movies...so I really only watch whatever is on Network TV, DVDs I already have, or stuff I check out from the library. I know the cool kids are live streaming stuff on demand and stuff, maybe I'll get there one day?

Lea wrote: "A ​Court of Silver Flames - It won GRC Award for Fantasy. In my opinion, it should not have. 2 STARS..."

Yikes! Every time I think I will finally join the bandwagon; someone writes a review like this. I have been adding and deleting the first book for the past year or two. I think I will just skip it. No great loss to me.

Anyway, so far, so good; on your challenge! Woot!

Alondra wrote: "Yikes! Every time I think I will finally join the bandwagon; someone writes a review like this. I have been adding and deleting the first book for the past year or two. I think I will just skip it. No great loss to me.

Anyway, so far, so good; on your challenge! Woot!"

Alondra, I am still paying attention in order to learn your reading taste, but from what I do know, I'm not sure this is the right book for you. I think the series is drifting heavy on the romance and lighter on the fantasy elements, and that's the reverse of what I think interests you. Cross it off your list...and then add it back later! Believe me, I know how that goes. I've been saying that I don't think I'll continue the series, but then...it won the GRC Fantasy Award...and I like to see what's going on...and so there I was...

I'm beginning to think I'm not the right demographic for some of the GRC Awards for 2021, the book I'm currently reading Beautiful World, Where Are You is not hitting the spot for me either! At least I liked Project Hail Mary and Broken; otherwise, I'd really be wondering about myself. :-)

January Month End Report

Books Read: 15 books this month and year to date

Books from Filling in the Gaps: 13/100; 2020 Books 0/7, 2021 Books 0/11, and 13/82

Books from 12+4 Challenge: 2/16

Previously discussed:

Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us, from Missiles to the Moon to Mars
A ​Court of Silver Flames
The Ugly Truth
Lore Olympus: Volume One
A Good Neighborhood
The Queen's Gambit

Recently Finished:

Stay Close - Buddy read with Alissa. A mystery about a serial killer. I did figure out who the killer was - it was pretty formulaic Harlan Coben. That said, it was entertaining, even if it wasn't ground breaking. There are some characters that only he could write - Ken, Barbie, Del, I'm looking at you three. 3 STARS

Broken - So, I always resist reading books by Jenny Lawson, and then they win awards and/or people tell me I have to read them. Once I do, I do enjoy them - there's something about her sense of humor that actually works for me. 3 stars for the book, and an extra star for Chapter 12B. That chapter is everything and had me crying at work I was laughing so hard. If you don't like Lawson, just download the audio and listen to Chapter 12B. If you don't have at least 10 stories that come to the top of your head immediately, please don't tell me about it. That chapter made me feel so validated - I used to think I was the only one who typically had more awkward moments before lunch than other people have to deal with in their entire lifetime. :-) :-) :-) 4 STARS

Beautiful World, Where Are You - Not located in this book, that's for sure! How did this book win the GRC Award for fiction? 1 STAR

Farewell Summer - This was originally the second part to Dandelion Wine, but the publisher thought it was too long and made him take it out. Over the next 50 years, Ray Bradbury reworked it. Unpopular opinion: 1) Dandelion Wine was better without this portion of the book and 2) The ending to this book was not good. The other two books in the series are far superior to this. I still liked it, but I vastly prefer Dandelion Wine and Something Wicked This Way Comes. 3 STARS

Sweet Sanctuary - A story about adoption and addiction set in WW2. It kept my interest, but had a few eye rolling moments. I thought the ending was unexpected and I liked it. 3 STARS

Cabin Fever - My second favorite Diary of a Wimpy Kid book so far (this is #6 in the series) It had some funny moments. 3 STARS

We Are the Brennans - A multi-generational story about a family. It's a page turner and there are a lot of secrets revealed throughout the book. That said, the foreshadowing was a bit too heavy, and there weren't too many surprises in the book. (view spoiler)[I knew who killed Billy straight away and the fact that he wasn't even considered as an option annoyed me, because he was primary suspect in my head. (hide spoiler)] I'd read another book by Tracey Lange, I thought the pacing was good and liked how the chapters were written, based upon a line of dialogue from the previous chapter, in a different character's perspective. It was clever. 3 STARS

The Rest of the Robots - Another collection of short stories about robots by Isaac Asimov. My favorite stories were Galley Slave and Victory Unintentional. 3 STARS

Currently reading:

Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman
The Caves of Steel
Shadow and Bone
Holy Bible: New International Version

Progress on the Whack-a-Mole Series Situation –

Series Completed this year (for the moment...):
1. A Court of Thorns and Roses (1)
2. Lore Olympus (1)

Series Started This Year with Books Remaining:
1. Shadow and Bone (3)

Series Started Last Year with Books Remaining:
1. Robot (4)
2. Greentown (1)
3. Sweet Sanctuary (1)

Series That Added Books This Year with number of books I still need to read in that series:
1. Mike Daley/Rosie Fernandez (6)

Series That Added Books Last Year with number of books I still need to read in that series: (so you can see how I really made no progress!)
1. Ender's Universe (5)
2. The Tattooist of Auschwitz (1)
3. The Diary of a Wimpy Kid (10)
4. Xanth (39)
5. Stephanie Plum (7)

Book of the month: Broken
Worst book: Beautiful World, Where Are You
Biggest surprise: Broken - I'm not sure why I expect to dislike her books...
Biggest accomplishment: 15 books! 4,962 pages! That's a lot more than I usually plan to read.

Wow! Look at that page count! Congrats!

Michelle wrote: "Wow! Look at that page count! Congrats!"

I do count pages for books I listen on audio; otherwise, it would be a lot lower - I think I only physically read 4 books this month. (and most of a 5th book, but that isn't part of my page count until it's all been read...) Anyway, point being, it's a statistic, like any other statistic, prone to error, but I'm going to feel good about it anyway! :-)

Lea wrote: "Michelle wrote: "Wow! Look at that page count! Congrats!"

I do count pages for books I listen on audio; otherwise, it would be a lot lower - I think I only physically read 4 books this month. (and..."

You should feel good about it. I don't have any issues with how anyone counts pages or otherwise. BTW physically reading 4 books is awesome too.

Lea wrote: "Alondra, I am still paying attention in order to learn your reading taste, but from what I do know, I'm not sure this is the right book for you. I think the series is drifting heavy on the romance and lighter on the fantasy elements..."

I think the issue is is a book that is just well written, and GOOD. The Lunar Chronicles was really good, save Cress, which sucked. YA Fantasy is not my go to; mostly epic fantasy like Lord of the Rings, Malice, etc. So, having all of those YA tropes beating me down will make me drop kick a book. I won't be adding it back.

Anyway; kudos of your EOM report!! Woot!!

I have Shadow and Bone on my actual shelves; so I am interested in learning more about this universe, because I really liked Six of Crows. I also have to grab, The Rest of the Robots.

Michelle wrote: "You should feel good about it. I don't have any issues with how anyone counts pages or otherwise. BTW physically reading 4 books is awesome too."

I feel the same, everyone has to use some method to count. Physically reading 4 books was awesome, just wish more than one of them was books that were actually sitting on my book shelves, but that would be far too much to ask out of me. :-) :-) :-)

Alondra wrote: "I think the issue is is a book that is just well written, and GOOD. The Lunar Chronicles was really good, save Cress, which sucked. YA Fantasy is not my go to; mostly epic fantasy like Lord of the Rings, Malice, etc. So, having all of those YA tropes beating me down will make me drop kick a book. I won't be adding it back.

Anyway; kudos of your EOM report!! Woot!!

I have Shadow and Bone on my actual shelves; so I am interested in learning more about this universe, because I really liked Six of Crows. I also have to grab, The Rest of the Robots."

Alondra, I am loving The Caves of Steel which comes after The Rest of the Robots. It's a detective story with robots and humans and I'm like 30% into it and right now, I'm super into it. I hope you like it too when you get to it.

I'm glad to hear that you have Shadow and Bone on your actual shelves, I'm 78% of the way through the book and it is worthy. It isn't groundbreaking, but it is highly readable and enjoyable. I heard that Six of Crows is more unique, so I'm going to read that series next. After this trilogy. :-)

And you're absolutely spot on with The Lunar Chronicles - although the worst was the side stories for me. Other than Fairest, you really shouldn't bother reading any of the other side stories, they totally took the story down a notch instead of adding to it. I love LOTR, but Malice? That I haven't read. It's on my TBR though.

Great start to the year!

Lea wrote: "Alondra, I am loving The Caves of Steel which comes after The Rest of the Robots. It's a detective story with robots and humans and I'm like 30% into it and right now, I'm super into it. I hope you like it too w..."

Good news all around. I need to add to my TBR the 2nd and 3rd of the robots, then.

If the side stories aren't adding to Lunar, then I will bypass. I loved Fairest though. That was so good, that I didn't want it to end.

Alondra wrote: "So, having all of those YA tropes beating me down will make me drop kick a book. I won't be adding it back.."

Amazing. lol

Desley (Cat fosterer) wrote: "Great start to the year!"

Thanks, Desley! You had a great month also. I cannot believe it is already February...

Alondra wrote: "Good news all around. I need to add to my TBR the 2nd and 3rd of the robots, then.

If the side stories aren't adding to Lunar, then I will bypass. I loved Fairest though. That was so good, that I didn't want it to end."

I thought Fairest was solid, but I think you can safely give the rest of the side stories a miss. I was also kind of ambivalent about Heartless so I haven't picked up any of the Renegades series or Gilded series yet. We'll see. I didn't hate Heartless, but it wasn't as good as Cinder either.

I'm a little over 50% into The Caves of Steel and still enjoying the ride for the most part. I think I know where this is going though, it will be interesting to see if I'm right.

Alissa wrote: "Alondra wrote: "So, having all of those YA tropes beating me down will make me drop kick a book. I won't be adding it back.."

Amazing. lol"

bwahahhaha.... :D

Congrats, what an amazing month.

If I didn't count audiobooks, I'd have lots of months with 0 books read. Just no!

I liked all Krakauer's books, I hope you'll like Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman.

Please read Shadow and Bone with me in mind, would I like it?

I'll be interested in your final thoughts on The Caves of Steel. I loved the book and the series. Leigh Bardugo is a new author for me. I've got Six of Crows on my bookshelf. Have a great Feb

Ioana wrote: "Congrats, what an amazing month.

If I didn't count audiobooks, I'd have lots of months with 0 books read. Just no!

I liked all Krakauer's books, I hope you'll like Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman.

Please read Shadow and Bone with me in mind, would I like it?"

I've liked all Krakauer's books too, and this one is good, but it won't be my favorite Krakauer. I think sometimes Krakauer identifies too strongly with this guys who are idealistic and tragedies happen to them. I see their strengths, but I also see their weaknesses. I'm referring primarily to main character in this book and the main character in Into the Wild. That said, he's a good writer, and one of those authors who would have my attention, even if he decided to write the phone book.

I would say Shadow and Bone is a solid maybe for you, Ioana. So,, I'm really no help. I've read two books by Leigh Bardugo: Ninth House and Shadow and Bone. I can tell that Bardugo has progressed as an author. Ninth House is darker and slow to set up, but it is more complex. Still, I preferred Shadow and Bone. The writing was less refined and the storyline was not as unique, but it paced a little better for me. I'm going to continue the series and then I'll know more about whether to recommend it to you. I'm also planning to read Six of Crows, which I've heard is the best of her writing. If you can read that without reading this, that may be the place to go!

Bill wrote: "I'll be interested in your final thoughts on The Caves of Steel. I loved the book and the series. Leigh Bardugo is a new author for me. I've got Six of Crows on my bookshelf. Have a great Feb"

Thanks Bill. I'm excited to get to Six of Crows. I've heard good things about it! And I'm still loving The Caves of Steel. Hopefully will finish this week!

Lea wrote: "I've liked all Krakauer's books too, and this one is good, but it won't be my favorite Krakauer."

I agree with you, not my favorite either, but I'd read anything about anything he might decide to explore.

Six of Crows, the best of her writing, huh? All right, I'll give it a try! Thanks.

I have to say that Into the Wild put me off of Jon Krakauer. I recognized even before reading it that the broken characters he wrote about would not appeal to me but I was somewhat offended at the glorification of the situation in that book. The book itself was well written and the subject was fascinating but it didn't feel like a good fascination. I would be interested to hear whether his other books differ from that theme.

Ioana wrote: "I agree with you, not my favorite either, but I'd read anything about anything he might decide to explore.

Six of Crows, the best of her writing, huh? All right, I'll give it a try! Thanks."

I'm hoping to read Six of Crows in May. My goal is to try and finish out this trilogy before I turn to Six of Crows. Six of Crows is technically first in the series, but the the second series in the entire Grishaverse.

Agreed about Krakauer, isn't it almost time for him to come out with another book? I'm very impatiently waiting...

Lea wrote: "Agreed about Krakauer, isn't it almost time for him to come out with another book? I'm very impatiently waiting...."

I think so too. His last one Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town was in 2015. What is he doing these days?

Michelle wrote: "I have to say that Into the Wild put me off of Jon Krakauer. I recognized even before reading it that the broken characters he wrote about would not appeal to me but I was somewhat offended at the glorification of the situation in that book. The book itself was well written and the subject was fascinating but it didn't feel like a good fascination. I would be interested to hear whether his other books differ from that theme."

Krakauer seems unable to write without having an overt bias to his journalism. He's super opinionated and it shows. I tend to rate his books high, because it is good writing, but rarely do I find myself in 100% agreement with what he's written.

This is what I've read so far:

Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster - This was my first Krakauer book and my favorite so far. At the time I read it, I didn't realize that there was so much controversy, but I discovered that Boukreev wrote The Climb: Tragic Ambitions on Everest as a counterpoint to Krakauer's book. The controversy surrounds the difference in preparation between two commercial teams, Adventure Consultants and Mountain Madness, and Krakauer's got an opinion.

I next read Into the Wild. I thought there was way too much sympathy for Christopher, he was so unprepared for what he was getting himself into. Nonetheless, I think he saw himself in Christopher...

I next read Three Cups of Deceit: How Greg Mortenson, Humanitarian Hero, Lost His Way and it's his response to Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace ... One School at a Time. There are many people that believe that Krakauer and 60 Minutes unfairly targeted Mortenson, but I think Mortenson wrote his book, Krakauer should be allowed to write his also?

After that, I read Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith, where Krakauer takes on the Mormon religion. Obviously, this book was also controversial, and many people do not agree with some of the information contained in this book. I love to read books about religion though, from all differing viewpoints, but I can see why this book is so touchy.

After that, I read Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town and I thought that was Krakauer at his best, my second favorite of his books, because I cannot disagree with his impression of the justice system breakdown and his viewpoint on rapists.

Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman is ostensibly about Pat Tillman, and he does seem to venerate Pat to a similar degree as Christopher in Into the Wild. But, basically, it's mainly about the coverup of the lives lost in our "wars" due to friendly fire and basically his dissertation as to why he thinks George W. Bush was the worst president ever. (Trump had not been elected yet, is it wrong to wonder whether Krakauer has been so silent lately because he's working on a book that is Trump-adjacent?) Anyway, it's a mixed bag for me, because again, I am not very starry eyed about Tillman. I don't give him a pass for his teenaged assault of another teenager. But it's mostly well researched and has information in it that I didn't know before. I love to read books that make me reconsider my viewpoints, and his usually do.

Ioana wrote: "I think so too. His last one Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town was in 2015. What is he doing these days?"

After reading Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman and his evisceration of the Bush administration, I wonder if he is researching something Trump-adjacent? I honestly am not sure what to hope for - I feel as though he is at his best when he hits on topics that others are sweeping under the rug - but whatever it is, I will probably read it. :-)