Dune

This week I read and finished Dune by Frank Herbert. It details the story of Paul Atreides as he and his family move to the desert planet Arrakis, nicknamed Dune. Dune contains the secret of the universe, the spice of the world which everyone depends on, is addicted to. The inhabitants have all blue eyes, no pupils. Paul is, at the beginning, threatened to be assassinated but then finds the killer object before it can do its deed. Additionally, he is tested by a member of an organization of women who are more powerful than others. They can control people with "the voice" and use this to overpower enemies. He places his hand into the gom'jabbar and therefore becomes accepted as a human, instead of an animal. On Dune, his family is attacked, and Paul and his mother have to escape. They hide to the desert and there are chased by "worms", massive, hundreds of feet long, and extremely dangerous. They make a transition to a cave and are there found by a group of inhabitants on Dune, named the Fremen. They try to kill them but they persuade them out of it and are saved. Water is especially precious on this planet, and they are threatened to be "drained of their water". More next week!

Alienist cont'd

This week in my reading of the Alienist, the plot thickened more. John Moore disagrees with the coroner's report and decides that the murder of the child is connected to two other murders in which the victims had their eyes gouged out as well. They set up a base for operations outside of the police precinct to get rid of any political ties, and Roosevelt isn't able to stay with them that often because he can't risk his political career in the murder mystery. New detectives are found to help investigate and use new techniques that are modern to them, old to us. These are fingerprinting, and the Bertillion System. When I finished reading another person was killed, yet of what I know not. More next week!

The Alienist

This week I began reading The Alienist, by Caleb Carr. It describes the search of a serial killer in 1896. So far it seems like a very well written, tough book, which poses a nice challenge. It's interested me so far, and it reminds me of Sherlock Holmes, in a way. It seems like a mystery always trying to be solved, but in another aspect, it always seems smoky, and dark. I am referring to the atmosphere's of the book and throughout Holmes it seems to be that he is always either thinking in a dark chair smoking a pipe or out in the night. In this book, the first murder that is a seen, of a hermaphrodite child prosititute, it is done in the darkness by a dark river under a tower.

Note

See blog from last week, I did it when it was not assigned, you said to leave you a note.

Thunderstruck cont'd

This week in Thunderstruck, by Erik Larson, the story continues of the race to create wireless communication and Crippen going to kill his next victim. Meanwhile, on the boat, a love story unfolds, shown in the front pages of newspapers across the country, that Erik Larson chooses to show us.

The Chief Inspector in a murder mystery begins to feel sympathetic toward the killer and his lover, and this is shown via newspapers, a tragic tale of love. Meanwhile, Crippen, who is supposedly "the kindest man" shows how he is not by beginning to plan the "perfect murder" on the boat. This is similar to his other book, The Devil in the White City, which was a parallel between creation and murder, this is a parallel between murder and ingenuity, almost the same. The style is similar, very characteristic of Larson, a great portrayal of his writing. So far the story has been very suspenseful and you never really know what's going on, if Marconi will go insane, get beaten, or be the first to create wireless, and if Crippen will succeed in his murder. Next time.

Thunderstruck

This week I started Thunderstruck by Erik Larson. So far, it has detailed the beginning of the voyage aboard a large vessel in the sea. It then cut back to the beginning of wireless transfers of data or anything. Guglielmo Marconi is on a hunt, an obsessive one, to be the first to send communication wirelessly. This fascinates him and be become enthralled in it, losing weight and becoming frantic to not be beaten to the discovery. So far, it is interesting. It is written similarly to The Devil in the White City, also written by Erik Larson, in the sense that it details two different stories at the same time. This creates an interesting twist on the story. However, in this book, there are many years between the different events, so it seems more forced than it was for Devil in the White City. More next time.

Water for Elephants

I finished this book this week. It is the tale of Jacob and his story on the Benzini Circus. He and Marlena, August's husband, fall in love and begin to see that August is a terrible man, who is bipolar. Jacob and Marlena run away from August after Marlena tries to throw August a celebration for a great show and August beats Marlena and Jacob. They formulate a plan to get off the circus and get out of the trouble with August. August becomes even more abusive and begins begging Marlena to come back, meanwhile the show must go on. The show continues, more frantic than ever, and once in a while flashes back to normal time when Jacob is 93 in a nursing home when a circus is coming by. In the end, August is killed by Marlena when a fire breaks out and she sees an opportunity to kill him and the leader of the circus, Uncle Al is killed by his workers. Marlena and Jacob take the animals and go to work on the Ringling Circus, after they confess their love for eachother. It ends with Jacob in his 90's leaving the nursing home on another circus, a smaller one, but he is back to his roots. Great book, read it in 3 days, really captivating.

Water for Elephants

The book I am reading for my women author's book group is Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen. It is a split story, about the same man but set in different time periods. One of the time periods is when he is working for a circus, traveling around the country as a vet, even though he did not take his final exam. He left college because his parents died and he was grief stricken. He begins as a man who jostles people into each performance, but after a horse falls ill he reveals his knowledge of animals. The other time period is when he is either 90 or 93, he can not remember. This part of the story reveals his past, his wife, his kids, and how he wishes he was still young, dreads becoming older. A man says that he carried water for elephants, bragging about it. Jacob (the main character) takes offense to this and gets angry, perhaps he once carried water for elephants? As of right now, the circus he is on has just bought an elephant, so perhaps he will begin carrying water for them. Is it a point of pride? Next time.

Into Thin Air

This week I finished Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. It detailed the ascent and descent of 11 climbers in Hall's group, and many more in Fischer's group. At the summit, calamity struck. They were caught in a terrible storm at around 1:00 when the predetermined summit time was 2:00 or they would turn back. However, Hall and Fischer were not thinking clearly and let their clients keep climbing after this predetermined time. This made the climbers run out of oxygen of which they only brought a predetermined amount. Some climbers made it to the top and bottom, whereas other were not so fortunate. Climbers reached the summit around 5:00 which created a dark, cold descent back to Camp 4. The last 50 pages detailed the horrors of climbers being stuck in the ice cold, and one climber especially, Beck. Beck was left for dead in the snow without a mask or gloves on. The next morning he showed up at Camp 4, alive and breathing. He was on his last life but kept fighting and eventually made it down the mountain, with severe frostbite, so severe his face had to be remolded with skin to remake his nose. A great, sad, and tragic book. Good read!

Into Thin Air Cont'd

This week, the actual climbing began. Jon and his crew began going from Base Camp to Camp One, Camp Two, and back down again. Part of their day would be going from Base Camp to Camp One, and then back again to acclimate themselves to the air pressure, so as to prevent any pressure related diseases or sicknesses. This method works very well, Hall, the guide, explains to his group. The expedition continues from Base Camp to Camps One and Two for days, not allowing actual exploration of any new land until they are sure they can handle the air pressure. There is one journey from Base Camp to Camp One which involves climbing onto a set of ladders aside the mountain while giant blocks of ice lie careening over, threatening to fall and take the lives of those in its way. One of the Sherpas, however, at Camp One, begins to fall ill and in a race to the bottom of the mountain to get him to safety, many obstacles, like other climbers, lie in the way. Could this be foreshadowing some kind of tragedy? However, the Sherpa makes it down okay and is flown to a hospital, where he dies from an altitude related sickness.

Into Thin Air

The book I've been reading this week is Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. It details an expedition to the top of Mt. Everest and the tragedy that befalls them. So far, Krakauer has outlined the previous expeditions and the history of Everest discovery, and first ascent. He then began his own expedition to the top with multiple other people whom he does not know, to write about the experience for a magazine. Although this is a tough mountain he details his prior climbing experience's in climbing and why he thinks he is qualified. He then begins his ascent to the peak with his climbing group, and so far they have just gotten above base camp. Obviously, one knows who dies and lives, but it is interesting to get to know the characters before they fall to their ultimate death. Krakauer only trusts a few, which may be part of the reason there was such a tragedy. Guess I'll find out more next time!