<i>Not Without Peril</i> by Nicholas Howe

I have trouble with some books like this where the author inserts himself to hike in an area or otherwise give their own opinion on the topic when the rest of the work is focused on retelling the stories from a more historical perspective. Here Howe describes a death or near death experience on Mount Washington then in many cases describes where you can find traces of the incident or describes his own experience going there.

Generally the stories of trouble on the mountain are very interesting. Especially the early ones when there were fewer people in the area and the hikers did not have modern equipment. Reading about how they hiked through fluke summer storms and missed buildings by 50 feet was very engaging and remind me why we carry all that extra gear in our bags.

I could have generally done without Howe's interjections. Particular on the story about Jesse and her fall while ice climbing. That was a compelling enough story on its own. I did not need the author's memories of her to get there.

Overall, an okay read. Good for camping and other times when you are pitted---even slightly---against nature.

6/10

<i>Living to Tell the Tale</i> by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

I generally liked this book Marquez tells the story of his early life in the same style that he uses in 100 Years of Solitude. I was expecting fantastic things to happen at every turn. Generally, though since this is a story of real life, there were few fantastic occurrences. Despite that, I enjoyed the adventures he told of his early years and the stories that had grown into his family's legends about how both his parents and maternal grandparents had met, courted and married.

Marquez's father is a bit of an enigma. He would leave the family for large amounts of time, then call for them when he had secured a location to open a pharmacy or had otherwise arranged a place for them to live.

As much as a I enjoyed Marquez's stories of living with his grandparents, going to school and otherwise growing up, I struggled to make it through the sections where he was talking about the newspaper industry in Columbia. The stories outside the paper would good---finding a new place to live, the riots, etc., but much of the rest seemed merely like name dropping. He gave lists of people who were important in the industry and who he spent time with, serving little other purpose other than just to list the names.

Overall, I learned a bit about the history of Columbia and enjoyed the stories of Marquez's childhood and personal struggles.