Reported by Garry
81 Days Below
Zero: The Incredible Survival Story of a World War II Pilot in Alaska's Frozen
Wilderness by Brian
Murphy. A few days before Christmas in 1943, Leon Crane and four other Army
aviators took a retrofitted B-24 bomber out for a test flight from the Ladd
Field in Fairbanks, Alaska. The flight ended in disaster, crashing in the
wilderness and killing all on board except Crane – a city kid with no
wilderness experience or training. Armed with the clothes on his back, a Swiss
army knife, and the remains of his parachute, Crane fought for his survival by
using his instincts and intellect against some of the harshest landscape in the
world. Our reader says that this book is harrowing in its descriptions of the
extremes that Crane had to endure, but she absolutely loved it due to the depth
of research and descriptive writing. CD
The Salt Path:
A Memoir by Raynor Winn is
also a tale of survival in the wilderness, albeit set on the South West Coast
Path of Britain. Evicted from their home after losing their life savings in a bad
business deal, Winn and her husband decide to trek the 630-mile trail from
Minehead, in Somerset, along the coast of Devon and Cornwall, to Poole Harbor
in Dorset. Camping on fields and hiding in private properties, Winn and her
husband find that they begin to thrive in the adversity, surviving on ramen
noodles and sleeping in sub-standard camping gear in the at-times brutal and
always unpredictable British coastal weather. This true story of resilience,
love and persistence really moved our reader, who herself has a history of long
treks in the wilderness. BM
The Curious
Charms of Arthur Pepper by
Phaedra Patrick is quickly becoming a favorite book amongst our readers. Arthur
is a sixty-nine year old widower who, on the anniversary of his wife’s death,
sorts through her possessions. He comes across something that he has never seen
before: a gold charm bracelet. What did this mean to Miriam? Why did she never
wear it in the many years they were together? How well did he really know his
wife? These questions send Arthur on a series of journeys to find out the
stories behind the charms – in doing so, he uplifts and expands the lives of
those he finds, and changes his own life for the better. Sweet without being
sappy (and the audiobook has an amazing reader!), this is a beautifully written
book about finding hope and healing in unexpected places. DC/WJ/NH
The
Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man: A Memoir by Paul Newman. Distilled down from
thousands of pages of transcripts from an oral history project that Newman and
his close friend Stewart Stern began in 1986, this memoir is a raw, unflinching,
and deeply human look at one of the true film icons of the past 75 years. Newman
began acting at age 7, studied drama, served in the Navy, and landed his
breakout film role in 1956 in the film “Someone Up There Likes Me”. What
followed was one of the most storied, successful, and iconic film careers of
the 20th century. Our reader was brought to tears by this book and commented on
how disarming and fascinating she found this look at the life of one of the
biggest movie stars in history. NH
Also mentioned:
Think Again:
The Power of Knowing What You Don’t
by Adam Grant
Heartbreak: A
Personal and Scientific Journey
by Florence Williams
Strange Things
in the Woods: A Collection of Terrifying Stories by Steve Stockton
The Cherry
Robbers by Sarai Walker
The Northminster Mysteries series by Harriet Smart
Horse by Geraldine Brooks
When We Had
Wings by Ariel Lawhon,
Kristina McMorris and Susan Meissner
Just As I Am: A
Memoir by Cicely Tyson
The Complete
Guide to Memory: The Science of Strengthening Your Mind by Richard Restak
Gilded
Mountain: A Novel by Kate
Manning
Mean Spirit by Linda Hogan
The
Revolutionary: Samuel Adams
by Stacy Schiff
The Song of the
Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Treacherous
Strand by Andrea Carter
Revenge of the
Librarians by Tom Gauld
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