Review 675: The Last Season

The Last Season by Eric Blehm
My rating: 5 of 5 stars



This book details the account of what happened when an experienced backcountry ranger went missing in July 1996. Randy Morgenson was a seasonal ranger for the Sequioa and Kings National Park in the Sierra Nevada mountains for 28 years. He grew up in Yosemite Valley and was one of the most capable people in wilderness. Yet he went missing on a routine patrol of his assigned around from the Bench Lake Ranger Station.

The book chapters alternate between the biography of Randy with the detail and action of the search and rescue effort for him.

A search and rescue operation started several days after later and they searched for two weeks and did not find one trace of Randy. There were several theories of what may have happened. Was it an accident, did he get attacked, or did he commit suicide? There was even the theory that Randy left the mountains entirely and disappeared. Those who were very close to Randy discounted this was a possibility, but all scenarios were considered.

Randy was in turmoil that season. He brought had divorce papers with him to his ranger station. In recent years had had an affair with another backcountry ranger. Randy and Gail had been married for over twenty years. But the months long absence had put a definite strain on their relationship. Randy was someone who could not live without the mountains and wilderness. Yet he started to question if his season employment was something that he should continue.

The detail in the book is extensive, his biography, the search and rescue, and the terrain of the mountains. It is clear in the beginning that Randy does not survive, so the main question remained if he committed suicide or had an accident of some sort. While I enjoyed the book, the one caveat is how the author put in this mysticism of the mountains, which was a bit heavy handed in the final portion of the book.

Review 661: The Wager

The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This tale is a true account, as much as one can know, of the disaster that occurred with British naval warship The Wager and it’s men. It was 1740 during a war with Spain, and The Wager was deployed engage enemy ships. When approaching the horn of South America the wild seas and severe storm punished the ship severely, and without realizing how close they were to the rocky shores the ship was destroyed.

The men were already weak from scurvy even before the battle of the fierce seas, then shipwrecked, now with lack of provisions. Once on the island the men were starving and keeping the rank was difficult.

Some of them do survive, but not many. After finally leaving the island, now called Wager Island, their ordeal was not yet over.

David Grann dug up the different accounts, some buried by time, others purposefully lost. He puts together this narrative that has been long forgotten. There are different scenarios of what happened, told by those few that survived. Grann gives both accounts, which does make the narrative less linear, but more truthful.

I listened to the audiobook which was narrated a bit dramatically. At times I thought more than was necessary as the story itself was dramatic enough.

Review 640: The Yellow House

The Yellow House by Sarah M. Broom
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The book is an autobiography and perhaps one could make the argument it is of the house and not the author, or of the neighborhood in New Orleans East.

Sarah Broom grew up as the youngest child in a house that had 12 kids between both her parents. Her mother, Ivory Mae, bought the house for cash when she was 19, with the life insurance when her first husband died in 1960 while in the military. Two, perhaps three of the children were born of this man, but most likely the third was of her second husband, Simon Broom. He had three of his own, although the eldest boy would never live with this family. Between the two of them they had seven more children.

The house suffered a flood many years before Katrina came along. When it was repaired Simon added a small second story, which became the boys area. Much of the work was never complete fully. The house was not what Ivory Mae had envisioned for her ideal home. But it was her home.

Katrina becomes a focal point in the book. The Yellow House was flooded up the rafters, along with nearly all of New Orleans East. Afterwards the city would come and bulldoze down the house before anyone had notice. Despite living in New York City at the time, this devastation to the city, to the Broom family home, affects her and her siblings. Most had been living in New Orleans prior to Katrina. Years later only a couple have remained or returned. Sarah does for a while as well. The book is a remarkable tale of just one family before and after that devastating hurricane and flooding.

Review 595: Fire

Fire by George R. Stewart
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is all about a fiction fire that blows up in California. The location is fictionalized using real place names, but they aren’t near each other as stated in the book. The location is generally in the Sierra Nevada Mountains somewhere between Reno and Sacramento.

The characters are not fully fleshed out characters in the book, they are mere placeholders really for the jobs they do. A few characters do get some motivations and an extremely small amount of their life outside of the fire, but generally even then not more than a couple of sentences. Instead the main character that is fully explained and detailed is the fire. The Spitcat.

The book is broken up in “days” as the first day is the lightning strike that will create the fire. This first two chapters/days are more involved with the people, such as the Supervisor of the forest district and the fire lookout, which is a young woman. This is the only woman taking a “man’s” job during the firefighting operation. The only other women are not even named, but are secretary timekeepers or cooks.

The book was written in the 1940s, and the date does show. Not only with the sexism but also with the techniques of fighting fires and the approach to it.

I liked how the book described all the ways they pulled men in to help fight the fire. There were first the young boys, high school age doing summer work in the mountains. Then they had the smoke jumpers come in. By the time the fire blew-up they needed an army of men, they came in from other districts. They went and recruited from the streets of skid-rows in Stockton, Reno and Sacramento. They called these men pogies. They also brought in soldiers and convicts.

The book has two viewpoints, one that the forest is there to be used by man and the other to be remain pristine as a natural park for beauty. While the animals are of concern, there isn’t any concern about ecology or natural systems in how everything is connected.

In any case, this is a through telling of a fire burning through a forest.

Previously Read George R. Stewart books:

• Storm
• (3.75 stars) December.2023
• Earth Abides
• (5 stars) October.2017

Review 564: Tilt

Tilt by Emma Pattee
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A natural disaster strikes in Portland, Oregon and a woman is trying to make her way to her husband. She is nine months pregnant and shopping for a crib at Ikea when the world is turned upside down.

Annie talks to her unborn child, calling him Bean, explaining what is going on, what her life is like. More often says, your father instead of my husband or his name, Dom. Annie has unfilled dreams of being a playwright, only had one play produced while Dom is still exploring and trying to get famous working as an actor. This adds tension to their relationship, as he is still trying and she has effectively given up her dream.

The book is told in alternating timelines, the now then the past leading up to now, such as 17 years ago, 9 years ago, up to yesterday and earlier this morning.

The overall book is okay, not as engaging as I thought it might be, the subject matter wasn’t compelling to me as I hoped. The format of alternating time lines does work okay. The ending is somewhat open ended as the book really only takes place over one day.

Review 524: Young Men and Fire

Young Men and Fire by Norman Maclean
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is the story of what happened at the Mann Gulch Fire on August 5, 1949. Smokejumpers were a relatively new way to fight forest fires, and were the elite of the firefighters. On that day, the fire turned into a blow-up and killed nearly all of the smokejumpers.

Norman Maclean, a firefighter in his youth and grew up in the area was a bit haunted by that day and all those deaths. He wrote and investigated this tragedy for decades, but the book wasn’t finished, he had a hard time finding his way into the story. Instead it was published after his death.

It story repeats, the actions and what happened are gone over multiple times. There are different versions of what happened, what was in court cases, and what the two remaining survivors told Maclean. The language used was at times poetic, a literary language.

I’d wanted to read this book for a long while. Earlier this year I attended a webinar for the 75th anniversary of Mann Gulch Fire, my desire to read this book, and reminded me I still haven’t read Maclean’s book. Then I saw the unabridged version of the audiobook available but only for another week in the Audible Plus catalog that I was finally propelled to get to this one. I may even have rushed through the ending in order to finish before I lost access to the book.

Review 473: Crank

Crank by Ellen Hopkins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Next month (April) a new top 10 of the most banned books will be coming out. I was looking over last year’s list, nearly all are young adult titles. This one stood out for a me a little, as it said the book was in poetry form. I was curious about the format.

So, I wanted to see what this was…read a preview then decided, okay let’s read a bit more, see how this goes, then read the entire book in one day.

This is one of those cautionary tale for teens against getting into drugs, particularly meth, which also goes by many other names. The main character reflects what happened to the author’s daughter, so it is more based on fact than fiction.

The daughter, Kristina, was sent to her father’s for a summer visit of several weeks, court ordered after nearly no contact for eight years. He lives in another state, she gets on a plane alone for the visit. Her father is negligent to an extreme.

Kristina comes home with a new personality, calls herself Bree to her new friends and has new habits, such as smoking cigarettes, kissing boys, and oh yeah a monster habit for meth. It’s a downward spiral from there.

And this brief summary is exactly what happened to the author’s daughter as well.

The poetry format was unique, and occasionally got in the way of the story-telling, but for the most part it was just a unique way to tell this story. A powerful book for sure.

Review 212: Project Hail Mary

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An enjoyable science fiction book that is very deep into science fact. The structure of the book is similar to some others, particularly Weir’s first book The Martian, where once one problem is solved another one crops up. 

This book finds Earth in peril due to something draining the sun’s energy, which once isolated is called astrophage. The substance is also a highly dense energy source that can propel a spaceship to speeds faster than we currently have available. A spaceship The Hail Mary has its mission to go to a nearby star to find out why it doesn’t have the same sun dimming problem, which hopefully will help solve the problem in our own solar system.

One of the best parts of the book was the new alien life. I don’t want to give much away, but I did enjoy that aspect of the book.

The frame of the book is told in current time and many flashbacks. At times it's awkward, or left me wondering why that particular passage was added in. Overall the book isn’t perfect by any means, but I enjoyed the book, and found myself thinking of it, such as what will happen next, when I wasn't reading. If this gets made into a movie like his first book, I’m sure it will do well.

Thanks to Ballantine Books/Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.

PS: the cursing language was cut way, way down in this book. 

Previously Read Andy Weir books:

    

    The Martian (5 stars!)

           Read: January 30, 2015 – February 3, 2015

Review 186: The Arctic Fury

The Arctic Fury by Greer Macallister
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The book is told in alternating time points as well as alternating viewpoints, yet it remains focused on Virginia Reeve. Virginia was asked to lead an unusual expedition, of all women to the Arctic, in order to see if they could find out what happened to the British Navy men led by John Franklin.

Most of the book is taken by the court proceedings that happen just after Virginia returns to Boston. She is charged with murder of one of the women, Caprice Collins, during the expedition. The prosecution also states she did this on her own, without the funding by Lady Franklin.

The set up for the expedition was mysterious and a bit odd, but in those times women weren’t seen as capable, so perhaps that part could be explained by the unusual nature of the undertaking, only women and led by a woman.

The alternate time lines are mostly between the court and the expedition, with a few exceptions going into Virginia’s past as well. She previously had been a guide leading people on the wagon trail from the east to west.

Personally I found the trial portion a bit tedious in the beginning. I wanted to hear the story of the women exploring, going out on their own. That seemed to be slow in the development of the book. Also, I was under the impression that the different women would have more of a voice as characters in the book, but instead it was focused mainly on Virginia. Somewhere along the way, I gave up my expectations and enjoyed the book more.

Thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.

Review 129: The Adventurer's Son

The Adventurer's Son by Roman Dial
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This was a book that you want to keep reading to find out what happens. The first half of the book describes the author's life, what he was like as a teenager, then meeting his wife. Roman Dial is an extreme adventure seeker and a biologist. Their first child is a boy, Cody Roman Dial, who is taken along crazy wild adventure trips with his Dad at a very young age. He grows up with the adventure and biology, so when he becomes a young adult he is well versed in wilderness adventures.

On an extended solo trip through South America Cody, who started going by Roman to take after his Dad as a young child, he ends up in Costa Rico. At this point Cody Roman didn't have a cell phone, never took to social media like facebook and didn't have a GPS unit. However he did keep in touch with his family with frequent emails. So when two weeks go by without hearing from Cody they know something is wrong.

The second half of the book is about trying to find Cody and what happened.
A good read.

March 12, 2020 – Started Reading

March 13, 2020 –

page 38

 10.33% "starting out well, the author is a thrill seeker climbing mountains, glaciers, and other wild outdoor adventures."

March 16, 2020 –

page 125

 33.97%

March 18, 2020 –

page 226

 61.41%

March 19, 2020 –

page 261

 70.92% "surprisingly working from home means less listening time. going slower on this book than I'd like, which is a captivating read."

March 20, 2020 –

page 271

 73.64%

March 21, 2020 –

page 319

 86.68%

March 23, 2020 – Finished Reading

Review 128: The Wildlands

The Wildlands by Abby Geni
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The book opens with six-year-old Cora awakened to their family hurriedly gathering belongings and rushing to the basement shelter. A tornado is about to hit. This tornado changes their lives entirely. Already Motherless, the storm took their father, the house, the farm and all their animals, everything. All that was left is the four siblings. Months later the only boy, Tucker leaves. Three years later the eldest, Darlene is trying to keep the family housed, fed, clothes and going to school, and for herself, just trying to get by. The book is about what happens when Tucker returns.

The story is told mainly from Cora’s point of view, but also switches to Darlene. There is a lot of simplicity as we are given mostly a nine-year-old’s view of the world. Cora missed her brother more than anyone imagined so when he teaches her his point of view, Cora accepts it easily.

I was pulled into the story very easily. The writing is decent. The story line is somewhat sad, and highly traumatic for the characters! I worried for Cora, for when she would be older, or when things were returned to normal for her. What would happen to Tucker? Could he return to the family to be a good role model?

What I’d like to know is why do environmentalists or animal lovers become portrayed as off their rocker in most books? Why can’t they be heroes instead of crazy extremists? Maybe I’m just not reading the right books.


I received a free copy of this book at a library conference. I was not required to write a review, but felt like it and, of course, the above opinions are my own.

Review 87: Diary of an Eco-Outlaw

Diary of an Eco-Outlaw: An Unreasonable Woman Breaks the Law for Mother Earth by Diane Wilson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The author is a plucky person and writes in a chatty style. The book isn't a diary, nor is it a clear concise book. I'm not sure what it is, other than a book full of tales about the author's antics in trying to get some action on behalf of the polluters to help out the people they harm.

There is no beginning, middle, nor ending, the book is a wandering path of things that Diane did. Most of the middle part of the book seems to follow what she did one thing after another, but as she likely does in life, it jumps around a little too. This doesn't help the book; nothing is ever resolved. Nothing came to a conclusion. I'm sure it's part of her wishes otherwise as well. I love the passion she has and the spunk and complete fortitude to go out and do something, anything. She says often she never plans, just does it, and doesn't matter if she ends up in jail.

Most of her protests are against the major polluters in her backyard in Seadrift Texas: Formosa Plastics, Union Carbide, and Dow Chemical who bought or merged with Union Carbide. And then there's the BP oil spill near the end. She also tries to get justice for the Bhopal residents that are still having health issues, and dying, from one of the worst environmental disasters in the world.

The book is very readable. Might make you take another look at plastics in our lives. The problem isn't just after using them and ending up in the ocean, it's also quite toxic to produce to the environment and the workers.

Review 84: Silent Spring

Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

There has been so much already said about this classic book. Just happy I finally made the time to read it. I've had it lying around for many, many years. It took an audiobook for me to actually read it.

Although the book is decades old, creeping close to sixty years since publication, it is still relevant today. I know changes were made after the publication, but are we back into the same boat, just with other chemicals and pesticides? I'm not sure. More reading to be done!

Thanks Rachel Carson for changing the world!

Review 46: The Wall

The Wall by John Lanchester
My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

I read this book about a month ago, in mid-June, finally had some time to add some thoughts on the reading.

First off, I started this book despite already a few going, because it looked like a simple and easy read. My life outside of reading was a bit stressful and the other books weren't relaxing enough, needing more concentration than I had the energy at the time. So did this book live up to the ease it promised? Yes, and then some. The language was very simple, too simple.

The story itself started out very slow. There is this wall, and the young adults, the first generation to do so, much go serve two years of their life on the wall. It's cold on the wall. The wall was built after the change to keep the outsiders on the other side of the wall.

The wasn't much to the book overall. I wondered often if it is a young adult book, perhaps. The generation that had to serve on the wall, feels like there is no future. They generally, do not become "breeders." They also have a huge disconnect with their parents, since they are responsible for ruining the world. The overtones are so distinct it is easy to see what the author is meaning.

The book grew on me as I read, although it turned out fairly predictable in nearly every way. Perhaps a surprise or two, but mostly not. The ending was somewhat abrupt, when it really could have continued just a little longer.

Oh, one last thought: I did not believe that even with rising oceans, that all beaches were completely wiped out over the entire world. The level of the seas would rise, but new beaches would occur, the ocean, with wave action, creates them. So how many years later after the ocean rising and the wall built? I bet there would be some beaches somewhere in the world.

Book rating: 2.5 stars



P.S. Left this book at the airBnB I was staying at when I finished reading it. I was visiting Washington, D.C. and it felt appropriate to leave a book with this title that is focused on keeping out the others, with the president that was currently occupying the White House. I realize the book is about England not the United States, yet politics.

Review 35: A Hero on Mount St. Helens

A Hero on Mount St. Helens: The Life and Legacy of David A. Johnston by Melanie Holmes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Today, May 18, 2019 is the 39th anniversary of the eruption of Mount St. Helens volcano in Washington. It is also the anniversary of the day David Johnston, a United States Geological Survey (USGS) volcanologist died doing his job. Johnston was the only USGS worker that died that day and since that time there have been many memorials dedicated in his name.

Today is also the publication day of this book, written to honor David Johnston's life. While the book is primarily a biography it also explains what was known about how volcanos act, or what was known at the time in early 1980. There is more scientific knowledge and understanding today than back then, and much of the information came from that eruption.

For some people volcanos have some type of lure, people are curious, interested, and when Mount St. Helens started waking up people flocked to the area, tourists. It was difficult for the geologists and authorities to accurately maintain a safety zone, to keep people away because so much was unknown. Today we do know more, but volcanos are still very dangerous, and can at times be unpredictable. Johnston knew there was danger, but it was also exciting to be there and learning more. No one knew exactly when the volcano would explode. It was just coincidence that Johnston was there that morning when it happened, manning the post (an observation and monitoring station named Coldwater II). No one knew how extensive the explosion would end up being. It's believed 57 people died in that blast, and it could have been worse without people like Johnston warning of the extreme danger.

I visited the Mount St. Helens area briefly in 1993 and was amazed how visible the destruction still was from that volcano blast. It appeared to have exploded more recently than my decade plus years visit. I remember being there too late to go into the visitor's area, and as we were just passing through the area, there wasn't time to go in the next day. I've meant to return someday, and when I do I can certainly appreciate the full story of what happened in 1980 having now read this book.

I appreciate having an advance review copy to read, and the copy I read certainly read like it wasn't completely done. Portions of the book were in different colors, which I have no idea what that meant, and there were large sections that read like a draft copy. The later part of the book the writing improved and seemed to be finished. There were some beautiful sentences and sentiments. It's hard to judge a book fully when reading one that still needed some work, but giving the benefit of doubt, I expect the completed book will be in better shape.

In the end this is a great tribute to David Johnston and his family, as an official record of his full life with scientific achievements and legacy.



Thanks to University of Illinois Press and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.

Review 18: The River

The River by Peter Heller
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a wild ride. The book starts out slow enough, but soon you know things are going to go amiss for these two good friends taking a long summer to paddle through lakes and a river to the Hudson Bay. The first major sign is the smell of smoke. After climbing up a tree to get a look they discover there is a massive forest fire that will become a problem for them. Soon after they run into another couple of guys taking it easy, with whiskey and a motor on their small craft. It makes you wonder if the book is going into a deliverance type direction. But it keeps shifting.

That is what surprised me most about this book, it kept shifting like a river might. You suspect on thing is going to happen, or where this going, then it changes. There is definite action and a little suspense, but this is mainly a thoughtful book. With very little dialogue between the two friends, Wynn and Jack, they are both meditative. We get most information from thoughts in their heads.

One problem I did have with the book is the two main characters are hard to differentiate at first, since the book shifts point of view frequently. It's disorientating at times, particularly when you are trying to learn about who is Jack and Wynn. I was a good way in before I really could distinguish their different personalities and backgrounds, which is why the book rating went down slightly for me. Despite that this was a good book. I could see myself reading it again, now that I know the full story. It's one of those books you can re-read. A mark of a good book.


Thanks to Knopf Publishing and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.