Anna Begins

Hi!! I have missed everyone- I have recently adjusted my schedule and have more time in the mornings and afternoons now, I thought I'd see what is going on on BCF and say Hi. I read a modest amount this year, I just finished the 23rd Jack Reacher book, Past Tense. This month I also read Hunger by Roxane Gay. There is a local book club that meets at the library downtown that I want to join, they are reading Love In The Time of Cholera. I've always wanted to read Gabriel Garcia Marquez, but it's slow going and I'm only at 8%. They read The Underground Railroad by Colton Whitehead last month, I read that earlier this year and it was a favorite of mine. I couldn't agree with this more! I LOVED The Martian and Andy Weir has some great free short stories on his website that I liked a lot too. But I gave Artemis a shot twice and I abandoned it. My new thinking on abandoning book, is there are just too many other books I'd like to read

Hi! I thought I's see how things are going on BCF, thought of you. How are you?

Just saying Hi I've been curious about Where The Crawdads Sing, I'm glad you liked it. I'll consider it now, thanks How are you? Edited: Saw you read The Great Alone, I enjoyed it as well!

Saying Hi

Here are reviews of my May reads, not too great of a month, but still came in at 1,236 pages. And 3 of them were climbing books The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead (322 pages) 5/5 This book is so good, the pages fly by. Ending up an outcast by all other slaves on the Georgia plantation, Cora risks her life and that of many others- and others to come- to be free via the US slave escape routes on the Underground Railroad. Excellent read. Pulitzer Prize for 2017, Oprah's Book Club recommendation. K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain by Ed Viesturs (354 pages) 5/5 I am totally obsessed with this mountain, having previously read K2: The Savage Mountain by legendary American mountaineer Charles Houston. K2 is the second highest peak in the World, near the Himalayas, but in an mountain range in Pakistan called Karakoram. With the second highest death rate of the "8000ers" (14 of the highest mountains in the world, all above 26,247 feet above sea level (or 8,000 meters), K2 has only been summited by about 300 people, with 77 fatalities. In this book, the American amazing- fabulous- stunning climber Ed Viesturs tells some of the stories of the summits... and the fatalities. No Shortcuts to the Top: Climbing the World's 14 Highest Peaks by Ed Viesturs (368 pages) 5/5 I was so taken by Ed Viesturs writing in the book above, I had to read more of his work. He is the only American to face climbed all of the world's 14 8000ers, and the 5th person to do it without supplemental oxygen. This man is amazing to me. I am totally smitten. He has furthered my desire of mountain climbing and I have since joined Instagram and am addicted to climbing videos on YouTube His email address is on his website, I wish I could get the courage Ed Viesturs also was the subject of the most successful IMAX documentary in history, about an Everest expedition that took place during the 1996 tragedy. That tragedy was the subject of Jon Krakauer's book Into Thin Air, which started this all for me. I ended the month with Eiger Dreams by Jon Krakauer 4/5 Jon Krakauer is an interesting figure in the mountaineering and climbing society. Eiger Dreams is a collection of some of his articles for Outdoor Magazine, a magazine devoted to aspects of climbing. I was introduced to ice climbers who climb frozen waterfalls and to the hip French Alps town of Chamonix. Eiger is a mountain in the Swiss Alps.

21 since February, I'm quite pleased

I just finished The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead. Which was really, just so very good. It's provoked me to read some additional Pulitzer Prize winners (and some finalists), so I posted a TBR list of a selection of them in the beginning of my thread. I am currently reading All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. Oh! And I bought some books to read this month, including Less by Andrew Sean Greer, 2018's Pulitzer winner.

I actually couldn't wait for How To Stop Time. My anger dissipated and I'm glad it did, HTST was really good.

This got posted before my reviews! Hi!

That's sweet, thank you I think you'd like it

I finished The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah (435 pages). At one time, I had this story down to one sentence, but now, I'm not so sure. It was a good multi layered story. Almost as good as The Nightingale. I thought a little long and drawn out. Ernt Allbright moves his wife, Cora and his daughter, Leni all over the country at his whim, all the while suffering flash backs of Vietnam. When his flashback nightmares reach a peak, he is notified he inherited a piece of land in Alaska from a fellow soldier. In the bush, Leni and Cori struggle to survive, with the help of locals, in an extreme landscape in extreme winters of straight blackouts/ no sunlight. Ernts violent outbreaks increase as they struggle to be a family. There is one other 14 year old in town. Matthew. This is dramatic read, emotional. I cried. 3.5/5 (for being a bit too long, and then too short at the end)

I just can't get it in one post! grrr... I finished The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah and started Happy Dreams by Jia Pingwa. It's about a life of modern day trash pickers in China.

Nice- it sounds like you're enjoying it

It was another beautiful sunny day in California, 78F/ 25C!

Oh! I just finished Pachinco by Min Jin Lee and started The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah. Pachinco was great.