A Year Long Quest to Read: Book 12

We went to the public library the other day. We did this partly to officially log Henry's time reading with the Children's department, and by Henry's time I mean the time that Mary and I have read to Henry, which adds up pretty quickly if you count each time we read the same book again and again and again. We also went to check out the monthly book sale that the Friends of the Library runs on the third floor of the library. I left Henry with Mary and went to look for books that would interest me, I found a couple and then Mary gave me Henry so she could look and showed me a book about Everest that she thought I might want. 

Why would she suggest a Book on Everest?

This might be as good a place as any to explain why I would possibly want a book about Everest. Well, I suppose that story start 6 years ago with the purchase of the newest novel [at the time] written by Jeffrey Archer. I am not sure if Archer's name will show up again on this particular quest, but he is arguably my favorite author, right up there with Stephen King and Rob Bell [the fact that those three names are at the top of my list is a prime example of my wide variety of tastes]. The book was Paths of Glory and it was a novelization of possibly the first people to ever reach the top of Everest, George Mallory and Sandy Irvine nearly 30 years before Edmund Hilary and Tenzing Norgay. I was instantly taken in by the story Archer wove.

From Paths of Glory I began a ride on the Everest train, watching documentaries, tv shows on Discovery and reading books. For a fleeting moment in time I dreamed of actually attempting to climb Everest, a particularly foolhardy thought considering I have absolutely no experience climbing mountains and my most intense physical fitness is chasing my son down when he doesn't want a diaper change. With the help of rational thought I gave up the idea of climbing Everest, but it is still a fascination of mine, there are currently two movies in production about Everest, one about Mallory and Irvine and I cannot wait to see them.

Anyway, back to the plot...

So Mary suggested the book and I looked it over and found that it was a modern day equivalent of a Choose Your Own Adventure book, so I obviously decided to get it. For those of you who were unable to grow up reading Choose Your Own Adventure books I am so very very sorry, I am, fortunately, not one of your number and loved them as a kid. The official title of my new book was The Worst-Case Scenario Ultimate Adventure Everest, which is why from here on out I will address it simply as Everest. The book is written by Bill Doyle and David Borgenicht with David Morton, climbing consultant.

[For those keeping track I am using Everest as fulfilling X. A book set somewhere you've always wanted to visit]

Being a book aimed at preteens and being in the vein as a Choose Your Own Adventure it was a pretty simple and quick read.The book is officially 203 pages long, with 17 pages of general information about Everest which they suggest reading before you attempt the rest of the book. Being interested in Everest and interested in successfully climbing the mountain [there ate 26 total endings, but only one that leads to ultimate success] I read the 17 pages. And then I successfully made my way through Everest on the first attempt. The information was pretty invaluable to making the trip up safely. All told the successful read took about 70 of the 185 pages of actual story.

This was the first time I can remember actually reaching the official end of a book where the choices are mine, it was very gratifying. Of course I was curious as to what would happen if I made other choices so I reread it several times, choosing the opposite choice and getting injured again and again and dying again and again and surviving to climb another day again and again. My favorite end would have made the story approximately 15 pages when you decide to eat an apple pie, get cramps, and fall and break both wrists.

It was a quick read. It was a fun read. It was most definitely worth the $0.25 that we paid for it.

Peace and Love,

Pastor K