Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

She climbed and protected so we all could enjoy

Up, Up, Ever Up! Junko Tabei: A Life in the Mountains by Anita Yasuda and Yuko Shimizu

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I am not a sports person. I am not an outdoors person. I am not a hiking person. And I am certainly not a mountain climbing person. I am a person who will read a book outside (but it’s a porch and there better be running water/bathroom and cool drinks nearby). And I am a person who will read a book about someone who is an outdoors, sporty, mountain climbing person. And  Up, Up, Ever Up! Junko Tabei: A Life in the Mountains by Anita […]

A Historic Mystery on the Mountain

The Third Pole: Mystery, Obsession, and Death on Mount Everest by Mark Synnott

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Many moons ago I read Into Thin Air and it sparked a Mt. Everest fascination in me. I can’t say that before 2015 I thought overmuch about the highest peak in the world, and I’m someone who enjoys a good walk but has zero intention of ever tackling anything like mountain climbing. But… I have been devouring content about the mountain and other thirteen 8,000-meter peaks ever since. So, when I spotted reviews of Mark Synnott’s The Third Pole I added it to my list and […]

Sorry, I’m just not the audience

Above All Else by Dana Alison Levy

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Dana Alison Levy might be a lovely person; but as I do not know them personally, I cannot say one way or the other. However, I am sure I do not like her characters in Above All Else. In fact, I am disliking them so much, I just cannot finish this book. I am very glad I was able to get this in an e-reader format because even keeping my uncle (the logger) in a job would not ease my soul for taking the life […]

“We were too tired to help. Above 8,000 meters is not a place where people can afford morality”

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer

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With the best bit about my last, ultimately disappointing read turning out to be the actual climbing of Mount Everest, I decided to stick with that theme but turn to real life for my next read. I’d enjoyed other books by Jon Krakauer and so decided that he’d make a good guide for me. Into Thin Air did not disappoint. Sent by the magazine he was employed by at the time, the story Krakauer came home with was very different to the one he’d intended, […]

Because It’s There

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I’ll never forget the first time I read Into Thin Air. It was about 10 years ago, and I held my breath for most of the second half. Even today, after reading it probably four or five times, it’s an incredibly exciting experience that is exactly what reading is supposed to be about–taking you places you’ll never be able to go yourself. This time, after finishing it, I decided to read The Climb for the first time. Both books are about the same thing: the […]

Karma’s a Bitch, but so is Hubris

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Here are a few facts about climbing Mount Everest: one in ten people die trying to get up and down the mountain; most fatal accidents happen on the descent; it’ll cost you on average between $30,000 and $80,000 excluding transportation and equipment; and once you get above camp four, you’ll be in something called ‘the Death Zone.’ Among climbers, it is also known as ‘Rainbow Valley’ because of the wide variety of coloured clothing worn by the bodies that lie strewn about. One of these, […]



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