I Should Be Posting About Visby

Instead, because I read it on the flight over, I'm going to note that, in my opinion, Under the Banner of Heaven is by far the most readable and interesting thing Jon Krakauer has written. I also believe, in all seriousness, that this is due to the fact that he has banished the first person singular pronoun from the bulk of the narrative. The story moves. The interviewees and historical figures are allowed to speak for themselves. Yes, it's history and true crime through an auctorial lens, but at least we're not getting auctorial lens flare on top of it - and it reads well. It reads really well.

For the record, he allows himself to re-enter the narrative only in the last chapter, the Author's Note. I counted 11 uses of the word "I" or "my" in the first paragraph. I read no further.