2 books, 2 weeks

Just finished two books in the last two weeks: The Life of Pi and The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex. One's true, one's not, both deal with folks getting shipwrecked and having to subsist in extremely harsh conditions. And I enjoyed both immensely, but for different reasons.

The Life of Pi is lyrical, prosaic. It attempts to place the narrator's suffering in a philosophical context. As such, it takes on (at times) the feel of a Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel, usually when its protagonist, Pi, is undergoing the harshest suffering. Told from the perspective of someone looking back on their ordeal, there's no surprise that Pi survives the wreck. Rather, the surprise is that he survives with so much of his humanity intact, particularly when he survived on the same boat as a 500 lb. Bengal tiger for 200-odd days.

Essex, which is a true story, takes a more historical approach. Exhastively researched and entertainingly told, it's not just the story of a shipwreck, but also a lens into life on the island of Nantucket in the 1700s and 1800s. Philbrick (the author) clearly and cleanly lays out the story, drawing logical conclusions on what the men were most likely thinking and feeling from the time the boarded the ship, through their harrowing ordeal across the Pacific, and after they make it back to their community.

I highly recommend both books.

In other news, I'm open to suggestions for my next book--feel free to post your recommendations as comments.