What are you reading?

[MarcATL]

Currently, The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann

[ame=[URL]http://www.amazon.com/Lost-City-Deadly-Obsession-Amazon/dp/0385513534]The&tag=ff0d01-20[/URL] Lost City of Z[/ame]


From Publishers Weekly:

In 1925, renowned British explorer Col. Percy Harrison Fawcett embarked on a much publicized search to find the city of Z, site of an ancient Amazonian civilization that may or may not have existed. Fawcett, along with his grown son Jack, never returned, but that didn't stop countless others, including actors, college professors and well-funded explorers from venturing into the jungle to find Fawcett or the city. Among the wannabe explorers is Grann, a staff writer for the New Yorker, who has bad eyes and a worse sense of direction. He became interested in Fawcett while researching another story, eventually venturing into the Amazon to satisfy his all-consuming curiosity about the explorer and his fatal mission. Largely about Fawcett, the book examines the stranglehold of passion as Grann's vigorous research mirrors Fawcett's obsession with uncovering the mysteries of the jungle. By interweaving the great story of Fawcett with his own investigative escapades in South America and Britain, Grann provides an in-depth, captivating character study that has the relentless energy of a classic adventure tale.

John Grisham's review for Amazon.com:

In April of 1925, a legendary British explorer named Percy Fawcett launched his final expedition into the depths of the Amazon in Brazil. His destination was the lost city of El Dorado, the “City of Gold,” an ancient kingdom of great sophistication, architecture, and culture that, for some reason, had vanished. The idea of El Dorado had captivated anthropologists, adventurers, and scientists for 400 years, though there was no evidence it ever existed. Hundreds of expeditions had gone looking for it. Thousands of men had perished in the jungles searching for it. Fawcett himself had barely survived several previous expeditions and was more determined than ever to find the lost city with its streets and temples of gold.

The world was watching. Fawcett, the last of the great Victorian adventurers, was financed by the Royal Geographical Society in London, the world’s foremost repository of research gathered by explorers. Fawcett, then age 57, had proclaimed for decades his belief in the City of Z, as he had nicknamed it. His writings, speeches, and exploits had captured the imagination of millions, and reports of his last expedition were front page news.

His expeditionary force consisted of three men--himself, his 21-year-old son Jack, and one of Jack’s friends. Fawcett believed that only a small group had any chance of surviving the horrors of the Amazon. He had seen large forces decimated by malaria, insects, snakes, poison darts, starvation, and insanity. He knew better. He and his two companions would travel light, carry their own supplies, eat off the land, pose no threat to the natives, and endure months of hardship in their search for the Lost City of Z.

They were never seen again. Fawcett’s daily dispatches trickled to a stop. Months passed with no word. Because he had survived several similar forays into the Amazon, his family and friends considered him to be near super-human. As before, they expected Fawcett to stumble out of the jungle, bearded and emaciated and announcing some fantastic discovery. It did not happen.

Over the years, the search for Fawcett became more alluring than the search for El Dorado itself. Rescue efforts, from the serious to the farcical, materialized in the years that followed, and hundreds of others lost their lives in the search. Rewards were posted. Psychics were brought in by the family. Articles and books were written. For decades the legend of Percy Fawcett refused to die.

The great mystery of what happened to Fawcett has never been solved, perhaps until now. In 2004, author David Grann discovered the story while researching another one. Soon, like hundreds before him, he became obsessed with the legend of the colorful adventurer and his baffling disappearance. Grann, a lifelong New Yorker with an admitted aversion to camping and mountain climbing, a lousy sense of direction, and an affinity for take-out food and air conditioning, soon found himself in the jungles of the Amazon. What he found there, some 80 years after Fawcett’s disappearance, is a startling conclusion to this absorbing narrative.

The Lost City of Z is a riveting, exciting and thoroughly compelling tale of adventure.

I'm about halfway through it and I must say it is quite interesting and very well written.

I'm about to purchase Michele Alexander's book, "The New Jim Crow:..."

 

[lucky17]

Hello! Now I read Toxic Parents. Sometimes me and my mother don't understand each other. There are many good advices about relationship.

 

[Preacher]

Hello! Now I read Toxic Parents. Sometimes me and my mother don't understand each other. There are many good advices about relationship.

Welcome to the forum. I am reading Enemy of the State by Vince Flynn. I have read EVERY one of his books I love them.

 

[sartre play]

John Stanford books, think have read all of them, Boys in the Boat one of all time best reads.

 

[g5000]

I am reading Wolf Hall for the second time. I am in awe of Hilary Mantel's writing skills.

 

[sartre play]

Wish more people would find this site, interesting to get reviews, & titles of books. just finished a well written just for fun book, How it happened by Michael koryta.

 

[Preacher]

Wish more people would find this site, interesting to get reviews, & titles of books. just finished a well written just for fun book, How it happened by Michael koryta.

Yep. One of the first things I do when I visit a new forum or website in general is find the what ya reading thread lol.

I am reading Lucifer's Flood. Its about a woman who deciphers a scroll its written by an angel that was thrown out of heaven with lucifer after he tried to take over heaven. Pretty interesting so far.

 

[Mindful]

I am reading Wolf Hall for the second time. I am in awe of Hilary Mantel's writing skills.

The TV adaptation was pretty good.

 

[Mindful]

I've just finished the latest Jack Reacher, 'Past Tense'.

Apart from being a page turner, Lee Child evokes a strong sense of time and place.

All his stories are morality plays of their time.

 

[Preacher]

Just finished Trump's Enemies,not sure what's next got over 20 books sitting here to try and read.

 

[hjmick]

Munich by Robert Harris

 

[Wry Catcher]

Just finished Trump's Enemies,not sure what's next got over 20 books sitting here to try and read.

I'm surprised there are only 20 books written by Trump's enemies - the dude can't even keep a dog, if he had one, there would be 21.

 

[Preacher]

Just finished Trump's Enemies,not sure what's next got over 20 books sitting here to try and read.

I'm surprised there are only 20 books written by Trump's enemies - the dude can't even keep a dog, if he had one, there would be 21.

The book Trump's Enemies (also American's enemies) is by Corey Lewandowski,the other 20 or so books are ones I got from library. I use 2 different library systems and have lists of the books saved so I go to different branches and check them out or I place them on hold to be sent to me. Right now I am reading American Kingpin. Oh and President Trump doesn't care for animals because they are dirty smelly things,I don't care for them for the same reasons. We have a guard dog but he isn't my pet he is a tool. The chickens we have are tools as well. They produce food and more chickens for me to sell.

 

[Wry Catcher]

Just finished Trump's Enemies,not sure what's next got over 20 books sitting here to try and read.

I'm surprised there are only 20 books written by Trump's enemies - the dude can't even keep a dog, if he had one, there would be 21.

The book Trump's Enemies (also American's enemies) is by Corey Lewandowski,the other 20 or so books are ones I got from library. I use 2 different library systems and have lists of the books saved so I go to different branches and check them out or I place them on hold to be sent to me. Right now I am reading American Kingpin. Oh and President Trump doesn't care for animals because they are dirty smelly things,I don't care for them for the same reasons. We have a guard dog but he isn't my pet he is a tool. The chickens we have are tools as well. They produce food and more chickens for me to sell.

Ummm...you seem to have missed my point. My comment was sarcasm with a twist of wry humor.

 

[Michelle420]

Medical Medium

 

[midcan5]

Check these on human nature.

Reading that opens the mind - Books

Reading that opens the mind - Books

 

[Esmeralda]

The Robe

 

[Unkotare]

Things Fall Apart, for the umpteenth time.

 

[Preacher]

Listening to Siege by James Mason.

 

[Wry Catcher]

Why People Believe Weird Things
by Micheal Shermer

For the Second Time; in my efforts to understand why so many members of the USMB believe in Conspiracies.