"Because it's there" the famous reply of George Mallory to a journalist asking him why he wanted to climb Everest. It was far from being an enigmatic quote, but nonetheless it has found its place in history as an immortal phrase that up to this day motivates mountaineers in conquering Mt.Everest.

"Lost on Everest: the search for Mallory and Irvine" relives the Everest expeditions composed mainly of British climbers who were members of the Alpine Club ( the oldest mountaineering club in the world ). It was an adventure that will cause the loss of lives beginning in the 1922 expedition where seven sherpas were swept away by an avalanche and the ill fated 1924 expedition that will take away the lives of Mallory and Irvine.

The book will show a clear picture of George Mallory as a person through various correspondence, personal letters he wrote even amidst those cold sleepless night in Everest, his childhood, his early knack for mountaineering, climbing at the Alps, all of these while working as an English teacher in between serving in World War I.

The death of George Mallory and Irvine will haunt the mountaineering world for decades, even when Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay finally became the first men to set foot on the world's highest place. Questions still abound as to whether George Mallory and Andrew Irvine were the first to reach the top of Everest.

The answers lies on George Mallory himself, in 1999 a BBC sponsored expedition to Everest sets out with one particular goal, which is to locate the body of George Mallory, buried under the cold snow slopes of Everest.

A mission set in motion as far back as 1975, when a Chinese climber told a Japanese member of another expedition, about seeing a dead body somewhere in the treacherous North Col of Everest, whom he was certain that it was English and wore old and tattered clothing. The very next day that Chinese Climber was swept to his death by an avalanche, Everest will keep its secret for another 24 years.

The book chronicles the life of George Mallory, the three Everest Expeditions that he was a part of ( 1921 Everest Reconnaissance mission, 1922 expedition that left 7 sherpa dead and the 1924 expedition). And the BBC Everest expedition that were sent out to locate Mallory's body.

The ensuing theories and investigation following the discovery of Mallory's body, as everybody knew, Mallory and Irvine were last seen by Noel Odelle, a support climber at 12:50 pm, just 800 feet below the summit. Comparing it to present day, climbers usually have until 3:00 pm to go down from the summit of Everest to avoid the bad weather.

So from the time that Mallory and Irvine were last seen, going up 800 feet is very possible to reach the summit, the artifacts recovered in Mallory's body shows that the glacier glasses he's using is already stored in his side pocket, a big possibility that both Mallory and Irvine have managed to scale the top of Mount Everest and were going down by nightfall when the snowstorm killed them. But the biggest clue that suggests that Mallory may had reached the top was the picture of his wife Ruth, was not among those recovered in the body, according to family legend Mallory intended to leave Ruth's picture at the top of Everest.

Even though with the lack of conclusive evidence, as to whether Mallory and Irvine were the first to reach the top of Everest, as defined by a successful ascent to Everest states that the climber not only reaches the top but also reaches the ground alive, a feat that Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay achieved first.

But regardless of the failed attempt by Mallory and Irvine to go down alive, if they really reached the summit of Everest, their place in the mountaineering world are forever reserved with flying honors.

The myth and legend of George Mallory's life, up to this day motivates adventure seekers, Sir Edmund Hillary told afterwards that when he reached the top of Everest, the first thing he did was to look around and try if he can see the body of George Mallory.

The final piece to the puzzle may well lie on Mallory's missing camera, which he may had handed out to Irvine whose body is still missing after all these years.

But "whether George Mallory and Andrew Irvine made it on top of Everest or not, they both set the world an example, their determination, bravery and heroism inspired a generation of climbers" that includes Edmund Hillary, Reinhold Messner and the likes. ( like our very own Leo Oracion and Romy Garduce ).


*****

Highly recommended read, the biographical work on George Mallory was excellent, the personal letters and correspondence with each of the expedition members, Mallory to his wife, sisters and family members shows fine glimpse of the events as they happened.

Great historical accounts from previous Everest expeditions, the BBC expedition itself was an adventure already, up to the minute of the location of Mallory's body was both thrilling and absorbing...

What can i say? it belongs with the 'Ghost Soldier', 'Perfect Storm' and 'Das Boot' in my bookshelf, real life accounts of past tragedy, adventure and most of all, tales of personal heroism.

Other People a novel by Martin Amis is a haunting, probing and dark "metaphysical" thriller as critics calls it.

 

The book opens with a confession by the mysterious narrator
"I didn't want to have to do it to her. I would have infinitely preferred some other solution, still there we are"

Then it is followed by Mary Lamb leaving a hospital and getting lost wandering around London, as Mary struggles to locate past memories. She had difficulty remembering things like nouns, common terms, the names of familiar objects. The whole world is a riddle for her. Thus a newspaper is a 'dirty sheath of smudged gray paper that came and went every day'.

The story is then commented here and there by a second mysterious narrator who may very well be someone who holds the key to unlocking Mary Lamb's past.

As Mary walks barefoot in the streets of London she meets different characters that represent the shabby London society and at the same time leaving a trail of destruction behind ( Trev and Jock attacking her, as she was also at the same time sees sex as a strange practice she cannot get the hang of ) and a couple of obsessed men who truly looked out for her, but without a memory the notion of love still lingers past Mary ( Alan and Russ ) and the eventual tragedy that befell Alan.

The entire book can be seen as a living through or a living back of her life at or after the moment of her supposed to be death at the hands of her lover.

As Mary slowly by surely regains snapshot of previous memories, the very existence of a certain cop who calls himself Mr. Prince becomes more puzzling to her.

Mr. Prince is the first person to confront her that she may be Amy Hide not Mary Lamb. The reader then became more engulf in the mystery. Is Mary Lamb the innocent Dr Jekyll figure of this novel, and Amy, as her Mr Hyde?

The more Mr. Prince gives Mary the clues the more you will wonder what kind of a dark past that Mary as Amy Hide has?

Things just go more interesting from here on...

And then ""She had torn through the glass and come back from the other side. She had found her again. She was herself at last"

Mary Lamb is now Amy Hide. And the chilling conclusion where Mr. Prince will once again try to finish the undone task. Which in his own words " I didn't want to have to do it to her. I would have infinitely preferred some other solution".

The last part of the book closes with a 16 year old Amy Hide finding herself back home just prior to meeting her demon-lover.


A great read indeed !!!!.....

A magical, wicked story of Richard Mayhew, after encountering a bleeding girl on the sidewalk of London, helping her, Life turned out, or real world as he knows it to be something entirely different.Again Neil Gaiman vividly created a world within a world setting.

"the marquis scratched the side of his nose, "young man" he said. "understand this: there are two London's, there's London above - that's where you lived and London below - the underside - inhabited by the people who fell through the cracks in the world, now you're one of them" - Neverwhere...

Leaving London Above for a journey on London Below, Richard Mayhew encountered a cast of colorful characters, the mysterious girl named Door, the Marquis de Carabas, a female bodyguard who answered by the name of Hunter, talking rats, bungling, hilarious yet vicious and violent pair of villains named Mr. Croup and Mr. ValdemarThrough secret passageways, non existent ( in London above ) subway stations, floating market, hidden doors, angels?, friars, dirty sewerage, humongous beasts, strong gravitational pull. "Neverwhere" truly takes you on a wild, uplifting, fun filled imaginative journey with surprises and thrills aplenty.

Think Harry Potter meets Alice in Wonderland meets Peter Straub and Stephen King = Neil Gaiman's "Neverwhere"

Written in three stages of working class Joe Martin's life, first part happened in the year 1977, the definitive Punk era of the Clash, Ramones, Sex Pistols, Sham 69 and the likes.

Growing up in a sleepy town in the UK countryside called the sloughs, with fellow mates Smiles, Chris and Dave, they went on with their life, listening to punk bands, going to pubs that plays reggae music, disco girls, being beaten up, beating poofs ( a term for homo's ).

Life is sweet for Joe Martin, he's got the best mates, a summer job picking cherries with the gypsies until one nasty event when he and his best mate Smiles was beaten up and thrown at the grand union canal.

Fast forward to 1988, Joe Martin is now working at a pub in Hongkong away from the memories of home until a news from home forces him to make the long journey across central asia, moscow and London aboard the Trans Siberian Express, as he prepares himself in coming to terms with a tragedy.

Last part is the present day, year 2000, Joe Martin is working as a DJ, selling fight and concert tickets, life is sweet again until a face from the past made him re deal with the fallout of the year 1977.

***************************************

i really loved the 1977 part, it clearly defines the punk era of that time, when people talk about "PUNK" i only seem to recognize that movement in the 70's clearly no other punk bands had succeeded to even come close as the ones in those years...there's a lot of reference to the importance of bands like The Clash, The Sex Pistols and The Jam is mentioned over and over again throughout the story. Joe sums it up best by saying,

“Some people get their ideas from books, but for us lot the likes of Rotten, Strummer, Pursey and Weller were the best writers, producing the sort of literature that dealt with our lives. They didn’t need to fake anything, do any research, just wrote what was already festering inside them and connected with millions of other people who felt the same way.”

“Human Punk” also has the requisite drinking, fighting, fucking, humor and social commentary that makes this one a juicy read.

After reading this feel free to refer to those who pissed you off as "cunT" ( with capital T )

I finally snagged a copy courtesy of Fully booked at gateway mall, by far the best bookstore in the country..Truman Capote's masterpiece about the true killings of a family in a small town in Kansas.

Capote read an article depicting the killings, became interested, went down there to dig further into the crime.

the result is "best true-crime novel you ever couldn't put down"

Capote wrote it in chapters
1 is "the last one to see them alive"
in here he depicts the Clutter family as how they are perceived in their community, the father is a rancher, well respected in a town where no ones bother to locked up their doors, his wife who had some bouts with depression or mental illness, the Clutters have 3 daughters and a son...most prominent of whom is the youngest daughter Nancy...

reading this chapter makes you much closer to the Clutters, makes you think they are one of your next door neighbors, and the fate that awaits them makes it more shocking and profound.

2: is persons unknown
tells the story of the people who would be involved in the massacre, a clear and valid look at the world of the would be killers, its a fine read, keeps you magnetize, it will make you double check the door before you sleep, make sure it is locked...

3. is the answer here Capote vividly details the crime itself, the reasons based on the important files and interviews he had with the investigators, witnesses and clues gather on the crime scene.

4.was a detailed description of the investigation...

i hope i never spoiled anything, if you want to read a great crime novel, this one is for you...not for the fainthearted though...

In Cold Blood will remain one of literature's finest gifts to all of us...i had a great time reading it, as harrowing is the subject or the story, its one hell of a ride, makes me sick of the world, the violence, also makes me understand the deepest depth a human soul can venture into...

no one is safe...lock your doors before you sleep...

here are some of the review of Truman Capote's "In cold blood"

"one of the stupendous books of the decade" - sunday express
"the best example of the new journalism" - tom wolfe
"this book has not dated one iota and is a must for every self respecting reader and would be writer" - Cris Sullivan ( LOADED )