What Are You Reading ?

[Ruby]

^^Performance anxiety!! But thanks.
Good luck with the trading Jerome. Would definitely be just plain chaos if I tried!

[Ruby]

^^Well, that was quite a read! In this book, Ranulph Fiennes offers great insight into Ernest Shackleton, the man - his character and the circumstances and events that led to his exploits; he really does bring him to life. Sir E was bitten by the ice and once bitten, there was never any going back. That vast frozen continent held an enchantment for him (as all things cold seem to have done for Fiennes himself), and he remained an adventurer to the end.

Impossible for a man like that to live a regular life – he simply couldn’t – far too restless. I think Fiennes has done an extraordinary job, biographically speaking. One gets a very real sense of all the characters with their inevitable human flaws. Yes, they performed heroic deeds – exploring and adventures such as these are not for the faint of heart, but they also did it because they were compelled by an unseen driving force and surely a little bit of ego. Shackleton did want fame and recognition, if Mr Fiennes has read him correctly, which I believe he has, and Fiennes himself is not impervious to the self-same approbation. It’s still difficult though, to fathom what it is that moves people like this to relentlessly repeat forays into the most godawful conditions imaginable – is it really a quest for glory, or some inner beast that won’t let them be until they’ve assuaged its appetite? These men were tested physically, way beyond the limits of human endurance - no wonder they didn’t live to ripe old ages! There is something about Shackleton though – from the time of his first trip south with Scott, he never allowed a doctor to listen to his heart. One could be forgiven for surmising that he was well aware that it was not all it should be, and that he was determined not to allow that to sway him from his course of action, perhaps even spurring him on to making the most of things while he could.

Shackleton’s voyage on Endurance and the subsequent rescue he undertook remains a heroic tale – no question at all about that, and he earned undying respect in more than a few quarters, however, it seems he was always scurrying to get his expeditions financed and not necessarily embarking on these trips with as much forward planning and equipment/supplies as may have been prudent. Turns out he was a master salesman to have conjured up any sort of finance at all – especially for Endurance, which really was a ship not best equipped for purpose.

Not that great on the personal relationship front - always seeming to want to be, but just not able to manage that aspect of his life very well. He is portrayed as charismatic and optimistic – a glass half full kinda fellow. Essential qualities for his chosen pursuits I’d have thought! Time and again, there’s a reinforcement of his willingness to knuckle down and do anything that needed doing – leading from the front, always. We could use a couple of leaders of his ilk! 

The book deals with Shackleton’s youth and his introduction to seamanship, as well as his first and second trips to the ice, first as a member of Scott’s expedition, and the second time, leading his own in a bid for the pole – and in competition with Scott, basically, and of course the Endurance and subsequent trip which proved too much for his body to handle. It’s crazy to think that this was a mere 100 hundred years ago – a blip in the history of time. I can’t help thinking how amazed they’d have been by our current technology, and how dated that will seem in turn, in yet another 100 years!

Ranulph Fiennes writes well - the book is engaging, interesting and alive. Interspersed with his own stories of derring do, naturally, but not to the point of overshadowing his subject. The references are relevant and show his understanding of his subject and I seriously doubt there is a better qualified biographer in this instance. Well worth a read if this sort of thing floats your own boat!

Just tagging this on here - about the location of the Endurance which seems to be in remarkably good shape despite over 100 years in her watery grave! We used to see the predecessor of the Agulhas II in False Bay quite often - simply SA Agulhas - also a research vessel that undertook many trips to the frosty far south. https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/...108-years/ Would love a trip to the Antarctic.

[Ruby]

John Illsley’s My Life in Dire Straits which may well be a double entendre – I have yet to find out! He is a much better writer than he is singer, that is immediately evident. Phew!! I’m finding it an engrossing and entertaining read so far, although still in the early stages.

He has an excellent way with words and raises a laugh or two – always a good sign! So fab when a book draws you in from the start … hope it continues that way.

[CRAZY-HORSE]

  


i havent started reading them as yet but purchased for $2.50 each at a second hand store yesterday...

im a huge King fan but there was a period of  several years from 2006 where i gave up on his novels because the previous couple from (05/06) i read really werent up to standard and these are from that non-purchasing period...

i have watched the mini series of "11/22/63" and enjoyed it...
watched one season of "under the dome" and thought it was okay...

his books are always better than the visual interpretations and at only a couple of bucks each i couldnt really go too far wrong...

so i am looking forward to re-acquainting myself with a "lost period" of King novels...

[Ruby]

The Prince of the Skies - Anthony Iturbe



Absolutely engrossing read so far - a historical novel documenting the life of Antoine de Saint Exupéry and two of his associates, Jean Mermoz and Henri Guillaumet - all early aviators blazing new trails across the skies in 1920's Europe and further afield. I'm about halfway. These were brave and adventurous men - or mad! Not sure which - probably a bit of both. There is obviously some poetic licence taken, but Iturbe's storytelling is highly plausible and of course, it's easy to see the inspiration that culminated in de Saint Exupéry's most famous piece of writing, The Little Prince - there are references woven throughout. I'm enjoying this meander off the beaten track and some new insight into now long gone personalities. The magic of words on a page. They live again.

[Uncle Thanky]

The Gods of Eden
William Bramley

Most informative.

If One is not clear on who's pulling the strings.

It's a must read.

Love,
Uncle Thanky

[Ruby]

FINDING ENDURANCE Shackleton, My Father and a World Without End - Darrel Bristow-Bovey


Endurance was located in March last year by a team aboard the SA Agulhas II – an Antarctic research vessel and ice breaker replacing SA Agulhas I, now retired, whose activities over the years have been witnessed by many who live where I do. Finding Endurance in the Weddell Sea was quite a feat and she is to remain undisturbed, I believe. Filmed only and protected by the Antarctic Treaty – as much as that is, in fact, able to protect that final frontier which seems to be under constant threat from those greedy for her mineral deposits, if not her the creatures that inhabit the southern ocean and not to mention the perils of climate change, and so on. (https://endurance22.org/endurance-is-found)

The author is South African and he ties in personal histories of his own along with some 'brief' digressions in a different telling of the legendary expedition. He’s read the diaries and letter of several crew members, for example, which allow him to flesh out the characters in a manner quite different to Shackleton’s own account, and to that of Ranulph Fiennes. Not short on the nitty gritty either! I know the how the story goes and yet was still drawn in – how on earth they all got through that hell alive is nothing short of a miracle.

For anyone interested in this subject, it’s a great read and extraordinarily well researched, I thought. One of the more captivating books I’ve read in a while.

The blurb ...

"When Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance was discovered below the Antarctic ice in March 2022, 106 years after it sank, the world thrilled anew with one of the greatest survival stories of all time.


Acclaimed South African writer Darrel Bristow-Bovey has a deeply personal relationship with the story of Endurance and in this lyrical journey into past and present, into humanity and the natural world, above and below the Antarctic ice, he revisits the famous story wondering why it seems to mean more today than ever before.

Drawing on literature, natural history, personal memoir and the thrilling epics of polar adventure, this is a celebration of hope and generosity and a special kind of optimism. In the face of self-inflicted natural disaster, miracles can still happen: human miracles, performed by flawed people in helpless situations. 

Not all is lost. Some of what is taken may yet be given back." 

[Ruby]

Still singing from the same hymn sheet! The obsession continues - I just bought The Ship Beneath the Ice. This is about how Endurance was located and I've just started it. Really must move on from Shackleton at some point, LOL ... I see Ranulph Fiennes has just released a book about Lawrence of Arabia which might be worth delving into. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to yet another perspective provided by this author who actually saw her with his own eyes, and further tales of derring do!  

[Music Head]

always forget about this thread
should be posting my reads here
been reading a book since about age 16
not the same book
since I've been smoking weed probably
been working on the Pulitzer Prize lists for years
fiction and non-fiction
started at year 1 and up to 2000 now
only around 50 to go
hoping to make it through

[Ruby]

^Remarkable achievement MH - you'll get there, I'm sure.
It takes some impressive stickability and stamina to wade through some of those tomes! I wouldn't even try.