Book Review | Book Chatter

The Lost City of Z
By David Grann
(Vintage, Paperback, 9781400078455, January 2010, 448pp.)

The Short of It:

A well-researched treat for the armchair traveler.

The Rest of It:

In 1925, Percival Harrison Fawcett and his eldest son, disappeared on an expedition to find the lost city of “Z”, his name for an uncharted city in the dense jungles of the Amazon. The trip was well-documented by Fawcett himself, but the facts leading up to his disappearance were sketchy enough for explorers everywhere to take a stab at what actually happened. Here, David Grann, a journalist, attempts to unravel the mystery surrounding Fawcett’s disappearance while interspersing his own stories and experiences of visiting the Amazon.

Before reading this book, I had no idea who Fawcett was. So I was quite surprised at how many explorers have gone out into the Amazon looking for him, only to fail or be killed while trying. Grann, who is definitely not an explorer, but a journalist, gives us a well-researched, methodical account of Fawcett’s trip. Using Fawcett’s journals and accounts from other explorers, he pieces together that fateful trip. The only problem, and something nearly everyone in my book club noticed, is that Fawcett could have written anything he wanted. Just how accurate were those papers?

The pacing of this book was a tad slow at times and often repetitive since many of the occurrences (parasitic attacks, malaria, etc.) repeat themselves throughout the telling. Overall, I felt as if I were part of the adventure and I do believe that is what Grann intended when he wrote the book. Some of the book club members felt that it could have been edited down a bit. I felt that way as well, but by the end of the book, I understood that Grann was attacking it from all sides and addressing different viewpoints so the extra bit of detail he included, didn’t keep me from enjoying the book.

I was worried that there wouldn’t be enough to discuss but I worried for nothing. Here are some little known facts about Fawcett as noted from Wikipedia:

Arthur Conan Doyle based his Professor Challenger character partly on Fawcett, and stories of the “Lost City of Z” became the basis for his novel The Lost World.^[15]
Fawcett has been proposed as a possible inspiration for Indiana Jones, the fictional archaeologist/adventurer.^[16]^[17] A fictionalised version of Fawcett aids Jones in the novel Indiana Jones and the Seven Veils.^[18])
According to an article in Comics Scene #45, Fawcett was the inspiration of Kent Allard, an alter ego of the Shadow.^[9]
Aloysius Pendergast, a fictional FBI special agent from the novels by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, is a Fawcett’s great-great nephew.

There were rumblings of a movie in the works with Brad Pitt backing it, but that rumor seems to have petered out.

Readers who enjoy adventure will appreciate this book, as will anyone who appreciates thorough research and tales of obsession.

Note from Ti: The ‘ick” factor in this one is probably a 5 on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being extremely icky. There are maggots and open, oozing sores and casual mentions of cannibalism involving babies but these parts are not overly graphic. Just mentions.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories
By Joseph Gordon-Levitt
(It Books, Hardcover, 9780062121660, December 2011, 88pp.)

The Short of It:

A short, snappy little book filled with creativity.

The Rest of It:

When I first heard about this little gem, I knew I had to read it for myself. HitRECord, founded by Joseph Gordon-Levitt (3rd Rock from the Sun, Inception, 10 Things I Hate About You) reviewed contributions from thousands of writers and artists to create this collection. The stories are only one or two pages long. Some are humorous, some of thought-provoking but the real challenge here is telling a story in just one or two pages complete with illustrations.

The book itself is very well done. It would make a fabulous gift and honestly speaking, the writing is pretty clever, too. I also enjoyed the illustrations. When it came in the mail, The Girl took off with it thinking it was for her. She read about half of the stories and then asked if she could keep it. Uh, no. Maybe later, like after I’ve read it! So you see, it’s a tasty little morsel.

Here’s one of my faves from the collection. Click on the photo a couple of times to view it larger.

Aside from all the fun of reading a book like this, I think it’s important for people to be able to feel as if they have a creative outlet. Often, we want to be creative but the process often seems too difficult or overwhelming. If you are an artist who would like to contribute works for volume 2, check out the web site.

Also, here’s a video to tell you a little more about it: