After another week of 100+ degree temperatures and more to come, maybe the only thing to do these days is to imagine what it’s like to be cold. Come by the library and “chill” with one of these titles.
“The Terror” by Dan Simmons. “The Terror” was one of two ships under the command of British naval Capt. John Franklin that set out to explore Canada 's Northwest Passage . The ships became stuck in the ice, were abandoned, and the entire expedition perished. Simmons recreates this story, but adds a supernatural element: something worse than poisoned food and ordinary predators is stalking the survivors across the frozen landscape.
“The Birthday Boys” by Beryl Bainbridge. In "The Birthday Boys," Bainbridge describes historic events in concise, sharply etched prose and brilliant imagery, re-creating in devastating detail the doomed trek to the South Pole by Capt. Robert Scott and his crew. Chilling in a different way is her earlier “Harriet Said...”, about a pair of teenage girls who casually commit murder.
“The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition” by Caroline Alexander. Ernest Shackleton's plan to sail the world from pole to pole ended before it began, with his ship trapped and ultimately crushed by Antarctic ice. Alexander's recounting of this extraordinary tale of survival is illustrated with photographs from the expedition that its leader summed up this way: "Not a life lost, and we have been through hell."
For more frosty reads, ask a librarian!
Stillwater, OK
Stillwater, OK
I think I've read THE ENDURANCE. Will look the book up and check it out. I love books about survival, maybe in the back of my mind it might come to that some day? I've read a similar book on the subject of doomed voyages, THE ICE MASTER: THE DOOMED 1913 VOYAGE OF THE KARLUK by Jennifer Niven. Summary: A true story of survival in the Arctic follows the twelve-month battle against the elements waged by the stranded crew of the Karluk.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good one Dan!
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