After having a chance to read through the rest of the newer nominations, along with my second for:
Quote:
Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone by Martin Dugard: Outstanding look at the confluence of events that brought these two very driven and very different explorers together to make real history. Inkmesh Link
Quote:
|
It is rare when a historical narrative keeps readers up late into the night, especially when the story is as well known as Henry Morgan Stanley's search for the missionary and explorer David Livingstone. But author and adventurer Dugard, who's written a biography of Capt. James Cook among other works, makes a suspenseful tale out of journalist Stanley's successful trek through the African interior to find and rescue a stranded Livingstone. Dugan has read extensively in unpublished diaries, newspapers of the time and the archives of Britain's Royal Geographical Society; he also visited the African locations central to the story. Together these sources enable him to re-create with immediacy the astounding hardships, both natural and manmade, that Africa put in the path of the two central characters. Dugard also presents thoughtful insights into the psychology of both Stanley and Livingstone, whose respective responses to Africa could not have differed more. Stanley was bent on beating Africa with sheer force of will, matching it brutality for brutality, while Livingstone, possessed of spirituality and a preternatural absence of any fear of death, responded to the continent's harshness with patience and humility.
|
|
I will also second:
Quote:
|
Just Kids by Patti Smith. The winner of the [US] National Book Award for Nonfiction. This iconic artist and punk rocker recounts the early days of her time in the NYC art and literary scene and her relationship with famed photographer Robert Mapplethrope.
|
And I will also second:
Quote:
What Am I Doing Here? by Bruce Chatwin
inkmesh
Spoiler:
Description: This is the last of Bruce Chatwin's works to be published while he was still alive (he penned the introduction in 1988, a few months before he died). It's a collection of Chatwin gems--profiles, essays, and travel stories that span the world, from trekking in Nepal and sailing down the Volga to working on a film with Werner Herzog in Ghana and traveling with Indira Gandhi in India. Chatwin … more »excels, as usual, in the finely honed tale. Whether he is cruising down the Volga, gauging the effects of French colonialism in Algeria or searching for the Yeti ("Abominable Snowman") in the Himalayas, Chatwin, who died recently, exudes natural curiosity and a nose for adventure. By the author of In Patagonia and The Songlines , this mosaic of travelogues, profiles, semi-fictionalized stories and fragments is an endless feast, rich in small discoveries and larger perceptions of the world. In India, Chatwin investigates the case of a "wolf-boy" who survived years living in the wild. In Hong Kong he meets a geomancer, who determines the best site for a building or a marriage bed by aligning it with the Earth's "dragon-lines." There are pieces on art auctioneering, nomads, Afghanistan, a California LSD guru who thinks he's the Savior, power politics in ancient China. There are also perceptive encounters with filmmaker Werner Herzog, Nadezhda Mandelstam, Indira Gandhi, Andre Malraux, couturier Madeleine Vionnet and many others. Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. (from Amazon.com)
3.4 stars out of 5 Review from GoodReads
Posted October 10, 2010 by James, Chicago, IL
The author of one of my favorite short novels, Bruce Chatwin here demonstrates his story-telling ability amidst the realities of travel and the vast world of his extended friendships and acquaintances. The joy of reading his prose is surpassed only by the delight in knowing that opening the book to any page you will be engrossed by the words upon the page. A reader's delight that persuades you with its charm that you should return to one of his other books as soon as possible.
|