I started November all gung-ho ready to participate in non-fiction November, but like most of my blog enthusiasms, I participated for just the first week, and now I am doing the last week.
One reason for my non-participation is that I got hooked on to a massive slow-reading chunkster all month – A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S.Naipaul. Generally, I am pathetic at multi-tasking. If I am not very productive on the blog, it means that I am hooked on a book. Conversely, the more posts I have up on the blog, it means that I am not reading anything particularly engaging.
But now, the book is done. And I have raised my head to see that I have missed the rest of non-fiction November. I was going to skip this week too, but I liked this prompt so much that I just had to participate. This week, we join our host, Christopher @Â Plucked from the Stacks, to talk about our favorite non-fiction that’s stranger than fiction.
My contribution to this one would be Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer.
This book is a true-life account of a disastrous accident climbing Mt. Everest, which resulted in the death of eight climbers.
Why do I say this book is stranger than fiction?
For one, even though the book is non-fiction, it reads like a novel – a fast-paced adventure novel. There are the good guys, the problematic guys, and then there are the heroes who risk their lives and battle the elements to rescue the lost and stranded people.
Krakauer’s account of the disaster is intensely moving, dramatic, and gripping. Hollywood even adapted this book into a movie.
This book also has its fair share of controversy where Krakauer criticizes several of his fellow climbers – people he deems unfit to make the climb or guides he thinks didn’t do enough to save people.
All this controversy adds to the intrigue—definitely, a book stranger and more dramatic than most fictional tales.
Have you read Into Thin Air or any other gripping non-fiction? Please let me know in the comments below. Also, if you have taken part in this week’s topic, please share a link to your post.
This is one I’ve been meaning to get around to because, based on what I know about the story, it sounds wild. Glad you got to participate this week!
I’ve absolutely done the whole first week starting strong thing! Don’t worry about it. That’s why this community is so great, we have all been there.
Love your pick for this week!
Into Thin Air was so good!! Great pick.
I did read “Into Thin Air” and it was very good. The movie was meh. “The Perfect Storm” is another good example of this genre, the movie version of which was also not only meh but rather distorted. (In fact, if I remember correctly, most everyone involved in the movie version got sued by the real people involved, but the author of the book, notably, did not.) For something similar which was never, as far as I know, a book, but was a most excellent documentary (not fictionalized), I would highly recommend the movie “Maiden”, about the first all-female crew participating in an around-the-world sailboat race back in the late 80s, I think it was.
I agree. Both Into Thin Air and The Perfect Storm were boring movies.
I haven’t read The Perfect Storm, but if it’s different from the movie, I”ll pick it up.
I”ll check if Maiden is available streaming here. I’ve been looking for some good shows/movies/documentaries to watch.
I finally read this book this year, and you’re absolutely right, it’s definitely stranger — and much scarier — than fiction! It made me really uncomfortable even, it was so terrifying to consider. He’s really an incredible writer!
Yes, he is. I want to read his other books now! He makes non-fiction sound as exciting as fiction!
He really does! Under the Banner of Heaven is my favorite of his, about murders in a Mormon family.
Ohh, this sounds interesting. Will look out for it in my local library. I always find stories revolving around Mormons intriguing.
Then you will LOVE that one! It’s a very bizarre story focusing on an extremist group but I learned a lot about Mormonism in general from it.
Into Thin Air is a perfect choice for nonfiction that is stranger than fiction!
Glad you got to jump in and join us, even if it is at the end of the ride.