glacier_kitty | Entries tagged with books read in 2016

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1. What did you do in 2016 that you'd never done before? Went to a slot canyon, etc
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year? It was to read "longer" books, which I did. I'm not really making any this year..
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Not super close..
4. Did anyone close to you die? Does Snowy count?
5. What countries did you visit? Just the US
6. What would you like to have in 2017 that you lacked in 2016? *shrugs*
7. What date from 2016 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? Dana's wedding, Hawaii, etc
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Reading 52 books, etc
9. What was your biggest failure? *shrugs* Gaining weight?
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Just like bruises and stuff lol
11. What was the best thing you bought? Books, etc
12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Anyone who did good things amid all the craziness
14. Where did most of your money go? Rent, groceries, etc
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Dana's wedding, going to Payson, etc
( the rest )

Wow..I can't believe it's the last day of 2016 already!! The year started off rough, but has been pretty great after discovering Prozac..I can live instead of exist and enjoy things again! Otherwise 2016 was crazy! Too many great people died..I hope 2017 is kinder

Here are all the books I read this year (one of my favorite parts about the end of the year LOL). I read 52 books..my second best year, woohoo! My goal was to read longer books I had been putting off, and I read at least three of them: The Worst Journey in the World, A Dance With Dragons, and Alaska. I never thought The Worst Journey would have affected my life this hugely though, wow..

January
The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard (Jan 4-18) (100/100. <3 Can't give this book enough stars LOL)
Kitty Cornered: How Frannie and Five Other Incorrigible Cats Seized Control of Our House and Made It Their Home by Bob Tarte (Jan 18-21) (3/5)
Home by Nightfall by Charles Finch (Jan 22-29) (4/5)

( the rest )

I don't think I'm going to set a specific reading goal for 2017 except to read as much as I can (I can't believe I only read 27 books in 2012, when I first started tracking my books haha. Being happy makes reading nicer too :P). See you next year!

The Sea Shall Embrace Them: The Tragic Story of the Steamship Arctic by David W. Shaw (Oct 30-Nov 2)
Farthest North: The Incredible Three-Year Voyage to the Frozen Latitudes of the North by Fridtjof Nansen (Nov 3-13)
The Last Viking: The Life of Roald Amundsen by Stephen R. Bown (Nov 14-20)
In the Land of White Death: An Epic Story of Survival in the Siberian Arctic by Valerian Albanov (Nov 21-22)
A Negro Explorer at the North Pole by Matthew A. Henson (Nov 27-29)

Also, my job is awesome:

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Aw yeahh, I love when books I've been wanting to read come in! Whoever donates books must read my mind, because that has happened a lot haha (another reason I love living in Alaska: books about polar exploration are easy to find!!). Epic win lol

( Day 14-Handwrite your LJ crushes )

Today's trivia: Jim Morrison, singer of the The Doors, was the first rock star to be arrested on stage

Current Mood: calm
Current Music: "Lord of the Thunder"-Rhapsody

The Loneliest Continent: The Story of Antarctic Discovery by Walker Chapman (Sept. 27-Oct. 3)
The Home of the Blizzard: A True Story of Antarctic Survival by Douglas Mawson (Oct. 3-13)
Alone: The Classic Polar Adventure by Richard E. Byrd (Oct. 16-19)
Karluk: The Great Untold Story of Arctic Exploration by William Laird McKinlay (Oct. 20-24)
Fatal North: Adventure and Survival Aboard USS Polaris, the First U.S. Expedition to the North Pole (Oct 24-29)

Some guy in the introduction to The Home of the Blizzard said that book outshone The Worst Journey in the World..umm no lol. They're both amazing survival stories in their own right (not that I'm biased or anything :P). Mawson's Will was one of the first Antarctic survival stories I read, after I moved up here..I was excited when I saw he had written a book too! I think Cherry was a better writer though lol

( Day 6-Handwrite your crush’s name )

Today's trivia: The founders of Hewlett-Packard flipped a coin to determine whose name would come first in the company

Current Mood: calm
Current Music: "Dark Wings, Dark Words"-HammerFall

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan (Sept 1-7)
Icefields by Thomas Wharton (Sept 8-10)
Ordeal by Hunger: The Story of the Donner Party by George R. Stewart (Sept 11-15)
At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft (Sept 16-20)
Moonwalker: Adventures of a Midnight Mountaineer by Alan Rowan (Sept 21-25)
Life With Badger by Maurice Wiggin (Sept 26)

I probably could have finished a 7th book this month, but it just didn't happen lol..darn :P

At the Mountains of Madness was DUMB..it sounded exciting since it took place in Antarctica, but it was dumb and boring lol. ( here's a review by someone on goodreads that pretty much sums it up and had me trying not to burst out laughing at work LOL )

The author of Moonwalker was hilarious..here are some passages that had me LOLing:

However, after a serious debate with myself, I bit the bullet--it was tastier than the power bar--and started the ascent to the summit of An Socach (I also learned Scotland has CRAZY names for their mountains, like Coire Mhic Fhearchair..how would you even say that??)

With mixed company, I could not lounge around with just a thin piece of Lycra keeping my carrot and two onions in check. The snugness of the shorts meant I was acutely aware that I was showing more than the gold medallion boys with their Speedos on any Mediterranean beach

There are many methods of removing ticks--tweezers, talcum powder, playing anything by James Blunt--but the one not now recommended is the old method of burning them off.
"Aye, hold a lit cigarette to their rear and they'll soon let go."
Hold a flame to the backside of 99.99999 per cent of any creatures on this planet and they will release their grip, screaming in agony. The exceptions, of course, being some members of the House of Lords, who would pay extra for this service

On several occasions I believed I could see someone ahead of me. That person invariably turned out to be a tree. After a few similar mistakes I started to relax and went with the flow. It was an almost dream-like state, an out-of-body experience and the results were some interesting conversations.
"Hi, there. Oh, you're a tree. Amazing. And how long have you been a tree?"

( next meme: pictures )

Saturn Run by John Sandford and Stein (July 28-Aug 9)
A Walk to the Pole: To the Heart of Antarctica in the Footsteps of Scott by Roger Mear (Aug 9-16)
Legs on Everest by Mark Inglis (Aug 16-20)
A Cat Named Squeeky by Vic Reskovic (Aug 21-22)
Cherry: A Life of Apsley Cherry-Garrard by Sara Wheeler (Aug 27-30)
Crossing Antarctica by Will Steger and Jon Bowermaster (Aug 23-31). This book sounded like a modern Worst Journey in the World..I'm surprised Cherry was never mentioned! (Though they did mention Scott, but still :P)

Sara's book had lots of great info about Cherry, but man the last half of the book was depressing..poor Cherry. :( He had bad health the rest of his life (I'm actually surprised he lived into his 70s) and felt guilty he couldn't save his friends. He sounded like a great guy before all that..he was grumpy when he was older. Here are some other things I learned:

His full name was Apsley George Benet Cherry-Garrard. Wow. He was originally just Apsley Cherry and then inherited Garrard from his great aunt's will (and a lot of money..but they had to become Garrards to get it. The Apsleys and the Garrards sounds like an awesome band name lol)

He was almost 5'10, so he must slouch in pictures lol. At 5'4, Birdie was pretty short, and I think another guy was around 4'11!

He took fencing and Latin in school..how awesome is that??!

He was shy, introverted, caring, loved animals and nature, prone to anxiety..he kinda reminded me of myself! The other people on the expedition were always writing how caring and selfless and helpful he was..he got the nickname "Cheery" because he smiled all the time. Awwww. <3 He said that his years in the Antarctic were his happiest. After he got back home he helped other members pay for medical things and stuff

He didn't get glasses till he was 15! I can't imagine not being able to see properly for that long! He was VERY self-conscious wearing them though, which is why there are practically no pictures of him with his glasses on. I like trying to spot them though, like one time I spotted them on his plate haha!

He was scared of women (he said so himself) and didn't think he'd ever be comfortable marrying someone..but he did! She was 20 years younger than him and they got along great (must have been hard when his health was bad..there was one time he couldn't get out of bed for a year!). I also feel I'd never be comfortable in a relationship, but if Cherry did it, maybe I can too!

It took him 10 years to write The Worst Journey in the World..wow. He was encouraged by George Bernard Shaw to write it. He also knew people like A.A. Milne, H.G. Wells, and went to school with George Mallory, who disappeared while climbing Mt. Everest in the 20s

He only ever did one TV interview..he was too shy to do any more. I wonder if that can be found anywhere..I'd love to hear his voice!

I don't really want to write about his later years, it depresses me too much..though he did have good months in between illnesses. Younger Cherry was great though, and I love his friendship with Birdie! (Birdie was a great guy too, he never tired, even after doing the heaviest work and was always optimistic. He offered Cherry his down sleeping bag when Cherry's was basically a lump of ice..Cherry didn't want to accept because he didn't want to "feel like a brute" but Birdie insisted so he could get some sleep. He asked Birdie if he'd be ok and he said "I'm alright, I'm always alright." Just..wow. I'm so sad he died with Scott after they went to the South Pole :(). Even if it was depressing, I'm glad there's a biography about him. It would have been cool to have known him when he was younger, he sounded like a great guy :D

( Name your first CD )

Today's trivia: Cephalgia is the scientific term for headache

Current Mood: calm
Current Music: "No Sacrifice, No Victory"-HammerFall

Darkness Descending by Ken Jones (June 30-July 4)
Shattered Air: A True Account of Catastrophe and Courage on Yosemite's Half Dome by Bob Madgic (July 5-8)
Antarctica by Kim Stanley Robinson (July 8-24. Loved!!! A novel, but full of Antarctic history, and lots of mentions of Apsley Cherry-Garrard, who wrote The Worst Journey in the World)
Enduring Patagonia by Gregory Crouch (July 24-27)
Glaciers by Alexis M. Smith (July 27-28. This book was a LIE..it only mentioned glaciers a couple times..FAIL. lol)

Today I was reading about trees growing on glacier moraines and then I came across THIS sentence: "Where the tongue of Allen Glacier licked the Copper River..." Hilarious mental image of a glacier with a real tongue licking the river like a dog haha!!

I'm kinda in denial that it's August. D: Where did the summer go??

( List three words to describe your dream house )

Today's trivia: Due to time zone shifts, if you had flown from London to New York on the Concord, you would arrive two hours before you left

Current Mood: calm
Current Music: "The Haunting (Somewhere in Time)"-Kamelot

Alaska by James A. Michener (May 22-June 18)
James Herriot's Cat Stories by James Herriot (June 19-21)
Paw Prints in the Moonlight by Denis O'Connor (June 22-24)
My Cat Spit McGee by Willie Morris (June 24-26)
Sherpa: The Memoir of Ang Tharkay by Ang Tharkay (June 27-30)

How is June over already? D: Summer goes by too fast!

( List one word to describe your style )

A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin (Apr 10-May 6) (Yay!)
Crossing Denali: An Ordinary Man's Adventure Atop North America by Michael Fenner (May 8-13)
The Fur Person by May Sarton (May 16) (I read this one in less than an hour..I read May's book in May! Haha I just noticed that :P)
Riding the Ice Wind: By Kite and Sledge across Antarctica by Vere Alastair Nicoll (May 17-21)

I probably could have finished another book, but I decided to read another long book I've been putting off: Alaska by James Michener. I feel like it's taking forever to read since the print is so small haha (I've also read Texas and Hawaii by him, and they took awhile to read too lol)

( List one Starbucks drink you like )

Today's trivia: The first monarch to live in Buckingham Palace was Queen Victoria in 1837

Current Mood: calm
Current Music: "Ghosts of Forgotten Worlds"-Rhapsody

One Mountain Thousand Summits: The Untold Story Tragedy and True Heroism on K2 by Freddie Wilkinson (Mar 30-Apr 9)

Only one book finished this month? Why? I'm FINALLY reading A Dance with Dragons!! I was tired of being behind and spoiled lol (I think I'd been procrastinating on it for at least two years haha). It's over 1000 pages, so it's taking me awhile to read it..I reached page 800 this morning, so I'm getting there lol

( Name something associated with Christmas )

Master of Thin Air: Life and Death on the World's Highest Peaks by Andrew Lock (Feb 29-March 7)
The Good, the Bad and the Furry: Life with the World's Most Melancholy Cat and Other Whiskery Friends by Tom Cox (March 8-13)
Shackleton's Boat Journey by Frank A. Worsley (March 13-19)
The Windhorse by Elaine Brook and Julie Donnelly (March 20-24)
The Accidental Explorer: Wayfinding in Alaska by Sherry Simpson (March 25-29)

That's more like it :D (The first book was over 300 pages, so I guess that counts for a "longer" book for the month lol)

And this is crazy:
The January through March (JFM) 2016 late winter season was exceptionally warm across all of Alaska. A number of communities had the warmest late winter season of record. At Barrow, the three month average temperature of -3.9°F was nearly ten degrees above normal and is by far the warmest of record. Other long term climate sites that had the warmest January through March include Juneau (37.4°F), Kodiak (37.3°F), Cordova (36.9°F) and Bethel (21.5°F). This was the second or third warmest late winter in most other areas. March finished up with a bang across the southeastern quarter of the state as temperatures on the 31st soared to some of the highest levels ever seen in March. Klawock, on Prince of Wales Island in southern Southeast hit 71°F. This is the highest reliable temperature ever recorded in Alaska in March, eclipsing the previous state record of 69°F set at Ketchikan more than a century ago. Anchorage International Airport topped out at 53°F, the warmest March temperature of record there. The high of 68°F at the Cordova Airport was possibly the most remarkable temperature of the day. This not only shattered the previous monthly record of 59°F, but is the warmest temperature so early in the spring by nearly four weeks.

Wow, 71 degrees in March?? That's amazing lol

( 19. A celebrity crush that maybe even you don’t understand )

Shadow of the Titanic: The Extraordinary Stories of Those Who Survived by Andrew Wilson (Feb 1-11)
Borderline by Nevada Barr (Feb 16-23)

Reading "longer" books makes my monthly book lists look sad :P

( 5. A habit you find disgusting )

Today's trivia: Strawberries have more vitamin C than oranges

Current Mood: calm
Current Music: "Ocean"-Tyr

The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard (Jan 4-18)
Kitty Cornered: How Frannie and Five Other Incorrigible Cats Seized Control of Our House and Made It Their Home by Bob Tarte (Jan 18-21)
Home by Nightfall by Charles Finch (Jan 22-29)

This list may seem small compared to my lists last year, but The Worst Journey in the World was over 500 pages long haha. It's interesting to read books from the early 1900s and see how not politically correct they were..like they called their black ship's cat Ni***r and one of their horses Chinaman (WHUT). So weird :P

( Day #22: An overrated movie )

Today's trivia: Albert Einstein was offered the presidency of Israel when that nation was founded, but he declined