Books

[Eoin McLove]

What did you make of Orbital, out of curiosity?

I liked it. It's interesting in that nothing really happens; there's no story. There are characters who have their own lives but their lives are far away and they exist in a state of suspended animation while the world turns in front of them. It's about the earth itself maybe? An unusual read but beautifully written and observed (or imagined!). I'll have to try another of her books at some point and see what else she can do.

[Thorn]

Yeah that's a fair enough summation, I'll probably go back to it at some stage. Kudos for not resorting to aliens or big nasty space monsters to liven it up I suppose. It actually reads like what it would feel like to be floating in space I imagine. Calming but ultimately going nowhere.

[Eoin McLove]

Yeah that's a fair enough summation, I'll probably go back to it at some stage. Kudos for not resorting to aliens or big nasty space monsters to liven it up I suppose. It actually reads like what it would feel like to be floating in space I imagine. Calming but ultimately going nowhere.

Yeah, and just observing the earth going through its cycles. The writing really carries it.

[Don Gately]

That to me sounds interesting,  will pick it up at some stage.
Currently reading Inspector Imanichi Investigates, by Seicho Matsumoto. I really like this guy writing,  I read Tokyo Express last summer and really liked it.

[Mooncat]

Just finished Into Thin Air. It was fucking awesome.

I'd been meaning to read it since I reread Into The Wild last year, but only just got around to it now and read the entire thing in a weekend. I haven't done that with a book in years.

Krakauer is a great writer and it's engaging the whole way through. You can really put yourself on the mountain with him, and the events invoke just about every emotion there is to offer.

Interestingly, I did find him a little bit self-serving too, like regularly making himself look good. potentially to help obscure that when it became time for hero time, he frequently got himself offside and looked out for himself (the depiction of him in the Everest film is quite different from the depiction of himself in the book).

That minor quibble aside though, couldn't recommend this one enough.

[Carnage]

He did something similar in Into The Wild, if memory serves. Inserted a lengthy aside about how great a mountain climber he was into a story that had nothing to do with it. It's a while since I read it so maybe I'm misremembering it, but I found it quite irritating at the time.

[Mooncat]

He did something similar in Into The Wild, if memory serves. Inserted a lengthy aside about how great a mountain climber he was into a story that had nothing to do with it. It's a while since I read it so maybe I'm misremembering it, but I found it quite irritating at the time.

He did a whole chapter about his solo ascent attempt of the Devil's Thumb in Alaska near the end. Whereas I agree it was a bit self-serving to add that in there, I actually really enjoyed the chapter and his account, which was pretty hair-raising. I think throughout that book he's trying to make the comparison that someone on the fringes like Chris McCandless reminds him of himself a bit and that's why he's so intrigued by him. It's a fair comparison, but yes it also does come across that Krakauer has a fairly high opinion of himself. Throughout Into Thin Air he consistently implies that's he just as good as any of the guides.