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Reading Challenges > 2022 September Reading Challenge

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message 1: by Elizabeth (new)

Elizabeth (bethsmash) | 1224 comments Mod
This month the library is celebrating Wilderness Month! Celebrate the great outdoors all month long by reading a book that takes place primarily in the wilderness.

You could read a fictional survival tale like Ascent by Roland Smith, or a non-fiction survival tale like Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer. You can read a book on how to survive in the wilderness like Extreme Wilderness Survival: Essential Knowledge to Survive Any Outdoor Situation Short-Term or Long-Term, With or Without Gear and Alone or With Others by Craig Caudill or Wilderness Chef: The Ultimate Guide to Cooking Outdoors by Ray Mears. (If you do read this one, I hope you try out some of the recipes!) You could read John Muir's Wilderness Essays or Wilderness Journals of Everett Ruess by Everett Ruess.

Basically, if it takes place in the wilderness, or is about the wilderness you can read it!

For more information on Wilderness Month activities, please visit here:
https://www.slcolibrary.org/events/fe...

This is a special program about Survival at Granite Library
Thursday, September 15, 7–8 pm
Facing Challenges: Lessons Learned Climbing Mt. Everest at Age 61

Despite a fear of heights, world record holder Carol Masheter, PhD, is the oldest woman in the world to summit the highest peak on each continent. Hear about her journeys, challenges, and victories to inspire your next adventure. Part of Wilderness Month.


message 2: by Lisa (new)

Lisa | 57 comments I think I have the perfect book read for this topic my side of the mountain and the other side of the mountain by jean creighead George.


message 3: by Debbie (new)

Debbie (dashforcover) | 1219 comments I'm going to read Listening Woman by Tony Hillerman which takes place in the Four Corners region in the Navajo Nation. And that area really is wilderness!


message 4: by Elizabeth (new)

Elizabeth (bethsmash) | 1224 comments Mod
I just read my first Tony Hillerman book! The book I read really does have a strong sense of place. Makes me want to visit again.


Britt, Book Habitue (britt--bookhabitue) | 767 comments Bill Bryson has an interesting one about hiking the Appalachian Trail.
I'll have to look at what I have checked out....


message 6: by Audrey (new)

Audrey (niceyackerman) | 674 comments This might be a good time to reread The Martian.


message 7: by Audrey (new)

Audrey (niceyackerman) | 674 comments Debbie wrote: "I'm going to read Listening Woman by Tony Hillerman which takes place in the Four Corners region in the Navajo Nation. And that area really is wilderness!"

I just visited Mesa Verde this summer. Lovely area. I remember Anne Hillerman visiting Utah last year. Tony's daughter?


message 8: by Em (last edited Sep 20, 2022 03:11PM) (new)

Em | 69 comments I will read The Yosemite by John Muir. Completed 9/19. Now I want to find a biography about Muir.


message 9: by Debbie (new)

Debbie (dashforcover) | 1219 comments Audrey wrote: "I just visited Mesa Verde this summer. Lovely area. I remember Anne Hillerman visiting Utah last year. Tony's daughter?"

Yes she is and she is continuing the Jim Chee stories.

Mesa Verde is fascinating. Funny story. In 1992 I went there with a group of grad students from BYU. I have acrophobia, so it was a stressful place for me. One of the Chinese students, Ying, wanted a picture of all the students standing on the rim. Ummmm. They came up with a plan. They would stand in two rows. Once everyone was in place, Dr. Stirling would lead me, my eyes closed, and place me in the middle facing away from the rim. He would then go back and take the photo. If I don't see the edge, I can manage the panic. There we all were. He was getting where he could get everyone in the shot and someone touched my shoulder.
It was like one of those movie scenes where a character is standing by one door and an instant later standing by a door on the other end of the room. I do not remember moving. I was by Ying one instant and beside Dr. Stirling the next. One of the other students said "I never knew you could move that fast!" Well, neither did I!
So we went through the whole positioning thing again. Once I was in place, Dr. Stirling said "Nobody touch her!" He got the shot, then I closed my eyes and Ying led me back across the area to where Dr. Stirling was.


message 10: by Deborah (new)

Deborah | 184 comments I am going to stick with my challenge of reading Newberry award books and read My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George.


message 11: by Lisa (new)

Lisa | 57 comments debroah I decided I am going to read both my side of the mountain and the other side of the mountain by jean creighead george.


message 12: by Audrey (new)

Audrey (niceyackerman) | 674 comments Debbie wrote: "Audrey wrote: "I just visited Mesa Verde this summer. Lovely area. I remember Anne Hillerman visiting Utah last year. Tony's daughter?"

Yes she is and she is continuing the Jim Chee stories.

Mes..."


Definite acrophobia driving up the mesas. My youngest child freaked out. I was mostly okay when out of the car. There have been a bunch of fires since 1998; lots of burned areas still recovering.


message 13: by Elizabeth (new)

Elizabeth (bethsmash) | 1224 comments Mod
Britt, Book Habitue wrote: "Bill Bryson has an interesting one about hiking the Appalachian Trail.
I'll have to look at what I have checked out...."


I've read that. It was good! I read it after I saw the movie, which was also fun.


message 14: by Elizabeth (new)

Elizabeth (bethsmash) | 1224 comments Mod
Audrey wrote: "This might be a good time to reread The Martian."

Ooh! That counts, it's an extraterrestrial wilderness. But still survival in the wilderness, I like it a lot!


message 15: by Elizabeth (new)

Elizabeth (bethsmash) | 1224 comments Mod
Audrey wrote: "Debbie wrote: "Tony's Daughter?..."

Yes! She is still writing, and she recently (within the last year or two) released a new title Stargazer was one and The Sacred Bridge is the other.


message 16: by Elizabeth (new)

Elizabeth (bethsmash) | 1224 comments Mod
I had a friend come visit me from England. And I took her on an epic road trip, and we went to Canyonlands and the Grand Canyon. And I knew she was scared of heights, but she said she was okay looking OVER vistas. Mainly it was crossing bridges that was her issue. Or something where there was a steep drop away. And that was true of Canyonlands. But she couldn't do the Grand Canyon at all. She got out, looking for part of a second and got back in the vehicle.

Luckily, the Grand Canyon was more of a driving through and stopping at certain look off points on our way elsewhere.

I felt SO BAD. She also thought she could do it. (She helped me plan the trip, after all) She just wasn't really prepared to see it in person.


message 17: by Audrey (new)

Audrey (niceyackerman) | 674 comments Our Western scenery has got to be very different from anything found in Europe.


message 18: by Debbie (last edited Sep 03, 2022 12:12PM) (new)

Debbie (dashforcover) | 1219 comments Audrey wrote: "Our Western scenery has got to be very different from anything found in Europe."

As you get into the southern parts of Germany and into Austria, it is very like our Rockies. Our twisting bus ride up to Berchtesgaden (where Hitler had his famous Eagle's Nest) had some of the folks from Kansas panicked. The road reminded me of the trek up the road in Little Cottonwood Canyon in it's contortions. But a much, much longer drive.

And there are the Alps.


message 19: by Debbie (new)

Debbie (dashforcover) | 1219 comments I had the same experience in Canyon Lands and the Grand Canyon as your English friend, Elizabeth. I can get to about 8-10 feet from an edge and that is it. To go closer requires intense concentration to even move my feet and something to hang on to to pull myself along. And I'd gone to Grand Canyon with a plan to take the mule trek to the bottom! Bwahahaha! Fortunately, we had not paid for that trek in advance because I quickly realized that, to do it, I'd have to be blindfolded. And since the point of the trek is the beautiful scenery, why bother?


message 20: by Deborah (new)

Deborah | 184 comments I finished My Side of the Mountain today. September challenge is complete!


message 21: by Brittany (new)

Brittany | 120 comments For this month's challenge I am planning to read Breathless by Amy McCulloch. It is a mystery thriller that is also a mountaineering story which takes place on Manaslu, the eighth-highest peak in the world.


message 22: by Teresa (new)

Teresa | 255 comments I read Into the Mist. It's post apocalyptic, society breaks down, they are stuck in the Oregon mountains.


message 23: by Debbie (new)

Debbie (dashforcover) | 1219 comments I have finished Listening Woman by Tony Hillerman ( Review ) and quite enjoyed it.


message 24: by Audrey (new)

Audrey (niceyackerman) | 674 comments Debbie wrote: "I have finished Listening Woman by Tony Hillerman ( Review ) and quite enjoyed it."

We just bought that book on our vacation this summer.


message 25: by Greg (last edited Oct 01, 2022 03:40PM) (new)

Greg (danceyeah) | 289 comments I read Under the Stars by Dan White.

7/7 for the year.


message 26: by Alyson (new)

Alyson | 98 comments I just finished Dusti Bowling's "Across the Desert" and realized it totally counts--and it was really good, too!


message 27: by Brittany (new)

Brittany | 120 comments I just finished Breathless by Amy McCulloch. It was so fascinating to read about the experience of climbing one of the largest mountains in the world, and the thriller murder mystery was lots of fun too.


message 28: by Linda (last edited Sep 26, 2022 05:51PM) (new)


message 29: by Sandy (new)

Sandy (sngrant) | 7 comments I read Sign of the Beaver to my kids.
I am also working on reading Frightful's Mountain with my son.


Britt, Book Habitue (britt--bookhabitue) | 767 comments I read River of the Gods about finding the source of the Nile.


message 31: by Elizabeth (new)

Elizabeth (bethsmash) | 1224 comments Mod
Alyson wrote: "I just finished Dusti Bowling's "Across the Desert" and realized it totally counts--and it was really good, too!"

I love that book so much!


message 32: by Elizabeth (new)

Elizabeth (bethsmash) | 1224 comments Mod
Only a few more days to let me know if you have finished the September challenge.


message 33: by Audrey (new)

Audrey (niceyackerman) | 674 comments I read Ten Low for Reader's Choice, but it's mostly about traveling across a lot of wilderness.


Britt, Book Habitue (britt--bookhabitue) | 767 comments I also read The Hobbit which fits nicely.


message 35: by Debbie (new)

Debbie (dashforcover) | 1219 comments Oh Britt, I hadn't thought of that, but you are right. I read The Hobbit, too.


message 36: by Tanya (new)

Tanya | 36 comments Ack! I read my book but I forgot to post about it. I took some advice from this page and read My Side of the Mountain and I really liked it. Thanks for the tip!


message 37: by Elizabeth (new)

Elizabeth (bethsmash) | 1224 comments Mod
Em is our prize drawing winner for September 2022’s reading challenge for reading The Yosemite by John Muir.

Congratulations!

p.s. I'm curious. Did you ever find a biography to read about John Muir?


message 38: by Debbie (new)

Debbie (dashforcover) | 1219 comments Good job, Em!


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