Bookworm

Reading adventures

When I was a kid I always loved those adventure books, about people who took risks and escaped death and made friends with pirates and tamed dangerous animals and did all sorts of other completely unrealistic things. This year I have sort of found the grownup version of this genre, and I have been reading a lot of books about people dealing with extreme outdoor situations. I never though I was the type of person to read these books, but now I'm completely hooked.

It started a few months ago when I read "Into the Wild" by John Krakauer, about the life and death of Chris McCandless. I am nor rereading it for a class and I love it even more. Despite the fact that Chris died in the wilderness, the book inspires me to get out there and live life more fully and experience the beauty of creation. It's a great book, but it's so great that whenever I pick it back up it makes me want to put it back down and go outside! 

I'm also reading a book called "Three Cups of Tea," which is about a man named Greg Mortenson who tried to climb K2, the world's second tallest mountain. After nearly dying and failing to reach the top of the mountain, Mortenson rested in a small Pakistani village called Korphe, where Mortenson found out the children had no school. This inspired him to build the children a school of their own, and the book follows his struggles to raise money for the school while working as a nurse in the U.S. While the whole book is not about his outdoor activities, they are described in great detail and this crazy commitment to doing something great is what causes him to build 55 schools in Pakistan.

Does anyone have recommendations for other great adventure books? I'd be glad to hear them!