"The Mountain: My Time On Everest" by Ed Viesturs

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• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone; Second Edition edition (October 8, 2013)
• ISBN-13: 978-1451694734

Although not exactly in my normally preferred reading genres, mountaineering has always intrigued me. I had vague aspirations in my younger year of climbing mountains, but as age advanced, my hopes to ever actually do it became fainter and fainter - eventually evaporating as a cloud on a summer's day. I do still enjoy reading about climbing though. I stopped for awhile after the 1996 tragedy. I have to agree with the Sherpas that were there at that time - mountains have spirits and become displeased with men/women and their ambitions at times. Perhaps that has something to do with my own Buddhist beliefs.

As well as a gifted mountaineer and one of the most celebrated high a;altitude climbers in the world, , Ed Viesturs is also a rather good writer, and I am finding that I am enjoying reading more of his books after I finished reading this book. 

He writes with clarity;  his words are economical, but they mange to convey the lure and the threats that climbing this legendary mountain exerts on it's acolytes. He does mention the tragedies of the 1996 season, but not in detail as there have been so many books written about that sad time by both himself and other members of the teams. Perhaps it is Jon Krackauer's "Into Thin Air" that most people seem to have read abut that pre-monsoon climbing season.

What I admire most about Mr. Viesturs is his pragmatism and his unalterable , fundamental, belief that that summiting is only half the journey. You have to have enough juice left in you to get back down.  I think he says that summiting is optional, getting down is mandatory. Best of all he follows his own rules, which has probably been what has always brought him home to his family. I have respect for his will, his abilities, and for his "sticking" to his own mountaineering philosophy.

This book provides a lot of background on high altitude climbing on Everest from time of Mallory in 1924. You will learn a lot abut the great high altitude mountaineers that stretched their endurance and climbed Mount Everest by almost unimaginably difficult alternate routes, men who challenged the mountain in an unheard of winter ascent and received little more for this feat that a footnote in Everest lore. This book is inspiring, and it goes a long way to explaining why this particular mountain consumes the drams of the ambitious and saps the reason from the most reasonable of minds. I did not want to stop reading - but I am now reading Ed Viesturs book about K2 with equal enthusiasm. Well done! 

I wonder what effect this year's (2014) April 27th avalanche disaster on Mt. Everest will have on future climbing excursions. Will it change the way people climb this goddess mountain at all?

"Making Wire and Bead Jewelry" by Janice Berkebile and Tracey Stanley

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• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Lark Crafts; 1 edition (May 1, 2012)
• ISBN-13: 978-1454702870

This review that is long overdue. I was graciously provided with a copy of this book for review purposed, and it languished on my bookshelf until I decided that I really wanted  to learn to make wire and bead jewelry. I pulled this book off the shelf, and then discovered what a really wonderful, well done book it really is!

If you want to learn the basics of beautiful wire work with beads this is THE book for you. The projects are all interesting and well worth making.The instructions are clearly written,beautifully illustrated, and easy to follow. 

What initially drew me to this book was a desire to make the earrings that are featured on the cover. I was a real beginner at wire work at the time, but thanks to this book and it's clear instructions I was able to make several pairs of these earrings in an afternoon!

Since I took this book down from my shelf and began to use it I have read and used other books on wire work, but this book still remains a favorite. It's really a keeper! 

The book begins with a particularly well done overview and description of all of the tools and materials of the trade. What pliers to use and why you use them for specific projects. Valuable, necessary information about various wires, stones, beads and baubles. The next chapter is so perfect - a particularly well done section on the basics of wire work. It will tell how to make eye loops. wrapped eye loops, spirals,caps, clasps - all you need to know to get going on your wire work journey.

A section on finishing follows and then the project chapters begin. The projects follow in other in teaching skill sets as you go.

Yes! I really am this thrilled about this book and I am so sorry that it took me so long to realize what a gem I had ben given. This book is a real winner and I will look for any further titles by these wonderful authors!

Winter King by Thomas Penn

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I have to admit to being a history geek. For me, history is alive and energizing - not something static and remote. My obsession is European history from the 12th through 17th centuries - especially British history - so of course this book piqued my interest immediately.

I had not read too terribly much about Henry VII in the past and, with this book, Thomas Penn, brings this most important of English monarch to life in a very enjoyable, very interesting, fashion. There is no pedantry about this book, although the historical research  and detail is truly remarkable . It is detailed to be sure but the details add to the read - they don't detract from the flow of the book as can become an issue with some dry historical missives. This book is lively, enthralling, detailed and enjoyable!

"Winter King" has put some of the names and historical circumstances into prospective for me. Although Henry VII was a power house of a monarch it is his son, Henry VIII, who generally gets most of the press. I learned more about the man who became the King; how he managed to cling to the monarch in a very uncertain time, how he found his way through a mire of intrigues & plots to depose him, and how, it is my impression, he was the King who really was spymaster. Mentally agile, ruthless,intelligent, thoughtful and canny, Henry VII is an engrossing historical character and this book is a winner!

Yes! I heartily recommend it for other history obsessives or Tudor fans. Well done!

'Winter King' by Thomas Penn

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• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (March 6, 2012)
• ISBN-13: 978-1439191569
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.6 inches 

I have to admit to being a history geek. For me, history is alive and energizing - not something static and remote. My obsession is European history from the 12th through 17th centuries - especially British history - so of course, when I was offered the chance to review this book, my interest was piqued immediately.

I had not read too terribly much about Henry VII in the past and, with this book, Thomas Penn, brings this most important of English monarch to life in a very enjoyable fashion. There is nothing pedantry about this book. It is detailed to be sure but the details add to the read - they don't detract from the flow of the book as can become an issue with some dry historical missives. This book is lively, enthralling, detailed and enjoyable!

"Winter King" has put some of the names and historical circumstances into prospective for me. Although Henry VII was a power house of a monarch it is his son, Henry VIII, who generally gets most of the press. I learned more about the man who became the King; how he managed to cling to the monarch in a very uncertain time, how he found his way through a mire of intrigues & plots to depose him, and how, it is my impression, he was the King who really was spymaster. Mentally agile, intelligent, ruthless, thoughtful and canny, Henry VII is an engrossing historical character and this book is a winner!

Yes! I heartily recommend it for other history obsessives or Tudor fans. Well done!

"Sister Queens: The Noble, Tragic Lives of Katherine of Aragon and Juana, Queen of Castile" by Julia Fox

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• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (January 31, 2012)
• ISBN-13: 978-0345516046
• US Release Date January 31, 2012

Another winner from Julia Fox!

I have been a fan of Julia Fox's writing since the publication of "Jane Boleyn". I was thrilled when I saw that her new book, "Sister Queens" was being published and jumped at the opportunity to read it.

Once again, Ms. Fox does not disappoint. This is a history book that reads as fluidly as fiction and her writing style can make you feel as if you are a participant in the history. A lot of the book is about Katherine of Aragon - in part I think because there is more extant historical documentation about Katherine's life than there is about Juana. I fell in love with the impetuous Juana when I read C.W. Gortner's historical novel "The Last Queen" - so I was even more happy to read some of the history behind the fiction in Julia Fox's book.Ms. Fox has carefully researched her subjects, cites historical documents, and covers the journey of these two women thoroughly - seamlessly weaving the threads of their lives taking you on a time traveler's glimpse into the time period and the other historical figures who formed the frame work of these women's lives. I've learned a lot from this book - and was entirely enjoyable. The author has a way of recounting history that makes some of the more cloudy history and relationships make sense and fall into place - no small feat with some of the more convoluted names and titles of British Aristocracy!

This book is enthralling and, for me at least, it was a book that I could not put down. I highly recommend this book for any history buffs like me, Tudor fans, or biography-philes. it's an excellent read!

This from Julia Fox's web site:

Katherine of Aragon, Henry VIIIs first bride, has become an icon: the betrayed wife, the revered Queen, the devoted mother, a woman callously cast aside by a selfish husband besotted by his strumpet of a mistress. Her sister, Juana of Castile, wife of Philip of Burgundy and mother of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, the most powerful man in Renaissance Europe, is still more of a legend. She is Juana the Mad, the wife so passionately in love with her husband that she could not bear to be parted from him even by death, keeping his coffin by her side for year upon year.

They were Sister Queens the accomplished daughters of Ferdinand and Isabella, the founders of a unified Spain. While their royal birth conferred entry into a world of privilege and plenty, it came at a devastating personal price. Since monarchs played their parts on an international stage, it was inevitable that the formidable Ferdinand and Isabella would send their children abroad as dynastic pawns. Katherine and Juana needed all their courage, resolve and inner strength as they confronted the harsh realities of life in a male-dominated world.

A gripping tale of love, sacrifice, the demands of duty and the conflict between ambition and loyalty at a time when even royal women had to fight for their positions in society Julia Foxs vibrant new biography teems with life. By placing Katherine and Juana squarely back into their family and Spanish contexts, she takes two remarkable women out of the shadows of the powerful men around them, showing us who they really were, how they coped with their setbacks and successes, how they gained the values by which they lived and died. Linked not only by blood but by cruel experience, their dual stories enrich our understanding of them both, casting a searchlight onto the turbulent age in which they lived. 

and this from the Amazon web page :

The history books have cast Katherine of Aragon, the first queen of King Henry VIII of England, as the ultimate symbol of the Betrayed Woman, cruelly tossed aside in favor of her husband’s seductive mistress, Anne Boleyn. Katherine’s sister, Juana of Castile, wife of Philip of Burgundy and mother of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, is portrayed as “Juana the Mad,” whose erratic behavior included keeping her beloved late husband’s coffin beside her for years. But historian Julia Fox, whose previous work painted an unprecedented portrait of Jane Boleyn, Anne’s sister, offers deeper insight in this first dual biography of Katherine and Juana, the daughters of Spain’s Ferdinand and Isabella, whose family ties remained strong despite their separation. Looking through the lens of their Spanish origins, Fox reveals these queens as flesh-and-blood women—equipped with character, intelligence, and conviction—who are worthy historical figures in their own right.

When they were young, Juana’s and Katherine’s futures appeared promising. They had secured politically advantageous marriages, but their dreams of love and power quickly dissolved, and the unions for which they’d spent their whole lives preparing were fraught with duplicity and betrayal. Juana, the elder sister, unexpectedly became Spain’s sovereign, but her authority was continually usurped, first by her husband and later by her son. Katherine, a young widow after the death of Prince Arthur of Wales, soon remarried his doting brother Henry and later became a key figure in a drama that altered England’s religious landscape.

Ousted from the positions of power and influence they had been groomed for and separated from their children, Katherine and Juana each turned to their rich and abiding faith and deep personal belief in their family’s dynastic legacy to cope with their enduring hardships. Sister Queens is a gripping tale of love, duty, and sacrifice—a remarkable reflection on the conflict between ambition and loyalty during an age when the greatest sin, it seems, was to have been born a woman.