panWell that was gigantically disappointing.
There were hints of a story I wanted to read: a mysterious, possibly cursed object with a long history of doomed adventure, investigated in the present day by a pair with their own secrets/possible dark pasts, the promise of answers to both historical and contemporary mysteries; 1/?
Polar explorer math. 🤦🏼♂️ Or is that accounting? 🤔
pickThis was a pretty fascinating bit of narrative non fiction. I‘m interested in the lost city / lost world theme so when I heard about this on a podcast it sounded excellent. Gruesome, but excellent. For a lighter tone, watch the Disney movie Jungle Cruise after reading it 🤣 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
pickAnother excellent Litsy recommendation that I thoroughly enjoyed. I would not have fared well on any expedition into the Amazon 😂
pickCandace Millard wrote a thoroughly researched, yet exciting, narrative nonfiction which is quite the adventure! The source of the Nile River was a mystery in 1850 until two British men were determined to discover the answer. Speke and Burton were highly invested, intelligent explorers who clashed during their expeditions. Burton was a highly skilled linguist who spoke 25 languages and translated the Kama sutra into English. Good but long!
pickCuriosity, bravery, greed, pride, and ambition brought these two men to the heights of fame and the pit of infamy. Speke, the Burtons, and Bombay come across as imperfect people in a perfect storm of exploration and politics. I am determined to read all of Millard‘s works of nonfiction but I hope she is working on something now as I have only one left.
so-soJournalist Chris Stewart became fascinated by explorer Ted Morde, who traveled into #Honduras in 1940 and reportedly found the fabled Ciudad Blanca. He tells Morde‘s story beside his own travels to that country to try to find what Morde found. While I enjoyed reading this, the author‘s reasoning for going to Honduras made little sense to me. Preston‘s Lost City of the Monkey God is much better.
#ReadingAmericas2023
pickI‘ve been reading a lot of middle grade graphic novels lately and they do not disappoint! This one started out with a sad event but quickly moved on to adventure and mystery. Something about the thread of the story seemed convoluted at times but not so much that i lost it altogether. Loved the artwork! 4/5⭐️
(July 9, 2023)
