Adventure.

Arturo Pérez-Reverte is one of my favorite authors, ever since I stumbled across The Fencing Master.  Although he has a number of excellent stand-alone titles, Pérez-Reverte is best known for his musketeer-like Captain Alatriste series.  One of Spain's (and Europe's) most popular authors, he writes in what I think of as a deliciously old world European style - hard to describe - patient and eloquent, but not at all slow.  I find his writing similar to Gabriel Garcia Marquez (without the magical realism).

Diego Alatriste, an inveterate gentleman soldier and veteran of the Flemish Wars (17th century), is willing to fight for God, country and gold, but mainly for gold.  In Captain Alatriste, the first book in the series, he has been hired to assassinate two British visitors.  Always reluctant to shed needless blood, he spares their lives, opening a hornet's nest and infuriating the Holy Inquisition.  Not good.

Pérez-Reverte's works are excellent historical fiction picks for adults and (I think) older teens. If swashbuckling isn't to your fancy, Pérez-Reverte writes some other dynamite thrillers and even a narco-saga that is surprisingly entertaining given the rough subject matter.

Is this woman sane? That's what I kept asking myself as I read Helen Thayer's Walking the Gobi. In 2001, Thayer and her husband set out to walk across the Gobi desert of Mongolia. Camels carried their gear and water while they walked for over 80 days, over 1,600 miles, in scorching temperatures as hot as 123 degrees! Why would someone do this?! Not to mention Helen's bum leg and hip which were bothering her even before she even started the trip.

I almost had to quit reading because her decision to go on this trip made absolutely no sense to me, but as I read further I began to understand why they went -- they were able to see things that few will ever get a chance to see and make great friends. As she and her husband walked across this seemingly uninhabitable corner of the globe, they met many friendly and interesting families who make their home in the Gobi. Thayer shares the rich and interesting culture of Mongolian nomads through the story of her unbelievable trek.
 
Walking the Gobi is this year's selection for the Black Diamond, Maple Valley, and Covington Read Together event. Helen Thayer will present a lecture and slide show at the Covington Library on Sept 22 at 7pm, and book discussion groups will be held at all three libraries.
 
Book Discussion Groups:
 
Tuesday, Sept 8, 7pm, Maple Valley Library
Thursday, Sept 10, 2pm, Covington Library
Thursday, Sept 10, 7pm, Covington Library
Tuesday, Sept 15, 7pm, Black Diamond Library
Tuesday, Sept 16, 10am, Maple Valley Library
Wednesday, Sept 30, 6:30pm, Maple Valley Library

It was good thing I read Ada Blackjack on the hottest day of the year.  The author, Jennifer Niven was quite graphic in describing the bitter Arctic cold.  So I was quite comfortable reading in the 90 degree heat.  Niven captured the personalities of everyone in the story--the young men's sense of adventure, their over-romanticizing of life in the Arctic, and their belief that they could do it all.  Ada was shown to be a very naïve young woman who placed her trust in the wrong people.  Stefansson was the villain who believed in his own stories about the Arctic and believed that he himself was a great hero and explorer.

I read Ada Blackjack as part of The Big Read and I believe it ties very tightly in with The Call of the Wild; they are both stories of survival under extreme conditions and that the survivor isn't always

What do you do to celebrate those milestone birthdays?  Have a party?  Buy something you've been wanting?  Not content with the usual options, Helen Thayer took a trip for her 50th birthday--a trek to the magnetic North Pole, with her dog Charlie for company.   Since then, she has traveled through deserts and rain forests and returned to polar areas, sometimes alone, sometimes with her husband, Bill.  Thayer has chronicled several of these excursions in books that are informative, readable, and entertaining.  Three Among the Wolves tells the story of the year that the Thayers and Charlie spent observing and interacting with three different wolf packs in Canada's Yukon and Northwest Territories.

Charlie served as the ambassador into wolf society. His presence eased the distrust of the pack and helped the wolves view the Thayers as part of a "pack" of their own.  Camped within 100 feet of the den, the Thayers were able to view nearly all aspects of the wolves' daily activities.  The complexity of wolf society is acknowledged but little understood, and the Thayers' observations provided support for their subsequent activism and educational efforts on behalf of Arctic wolves. 

I know that I won't spend my birthday at either pole.  Nonetheless, Helen Thayer is an inspiration.  Whether you read Three Among the Wolves on its own or along with other books on our list for The Big Read, prepare to be amazed.

When I heard that The Big Read this year is tied in with the anniversary of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Expo of 1909, I immediately thought of a book I often recommend to reluctant readers called Jason's Gold by Will Hobbs.

On his trek he encounters some colorful characters and saves an abused dog who becomes his companion.  He also, in a clever plot addition, meets a young Jack London who clearly sees Jason's dog as the model for a dog named Buck in a little book

This book is a nice combination of historical fiction as well as thrilling survival tale.  Written for 5th-8th graders, it appeals to readers who want a quick-moving story and those who like reading stories about the past.  Check out this and other great stories as part of this year's Big Read!