Throwback Thursday (August 23) – Into Thin Air

Welcome to Throwback Thursday, a weekly meme hosted by The Housework Can Wait and Never Too Fond of Books!

It’s the nature of book blogging to focus mainly on new releases, but there are thousands of great books out there that haven’t seen the “New Releases” shelf in years. We hope to be able to bring attention to some older titles that may not be at the top of the current bestseller list, but still deserve a spot in your To-Be-Read pile.

You don’t have to be a book blogger to participate! You can put up a Throwback Thursday post on your non-bookish blog; or if you don’t have a blog at all, just use the comments to tell us about a book you remember fondly.

Here’s how it works:
1. Pick any book released more than 5 years ago. Adult, YA, Children’s; doesn’t matter. Any great book will do.
2. Write up a short summary of the book (include the title, author, and cover art) and an explanation of why you love it. Make sure to link back to The Housework Can Wait and Never Too Fond of Books in your post.
3. Link up your post at The Housework Can Wait or Never Too Fond of Books.
4. Visit as many blogs as you can, reminisce about books you loved, and discover some “new” books for your TBR list!

Feel free to grab the Throwback Thursday button code from the sidebar to use in your posts.

Thanks for participating, and we look forward to seeing which books you choose to remember!

My Throwback this week is…

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer

Yes, I’m picking another non-fiction book. I don’t even know who I am anymore.

Into Thin Air may be non-fiction, but it reads like a thriller. It is the true story of the ill-fated 1996 expedition to climb Mt. Everest, when a terrible storm and some bad judgement calls resulted in the deaths of five people and the terrible peril of the rest of the party. Krakauer was part of the expedition as a journalist, and his first-hand account of his party’s fear and struggle to survive in extreme conditions is in turns suspenseful, gripping, exciting, and haunting.

Krakauer writes with not a small amount of survivor’s guilt, like he’s trying to make up for what happened on the mountain. It’s sometimes hard to read, not because it is in any way bad, but because his emotions are so raw and real.

As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t read a lot of non-fiction. A non-fiction book has to be pretty darn interesting for me to even pick it up in the first place. But this is easily the most thrilling non-fiction I’ve ever read, and I tore through it the first time I picked it up in high school. Honestly, if you didn’t know it was a recount of Krakauer’s actual experience, it would be easy to believe its fictional, because the course of events is just that intense, and Krakauer tells the story like a seasoned novelist.

Maybe you’re like me and you don’t read a lot of non-fiction. Maybe you adore non-fiction and can’t get enough of it. Either way, I think this book will appeal to you, because it’s kind of amazing.

This is a blog hop! Link up your Throwback Thursday post below!