Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage

since everyone survives, i hope it’s ok for me to say it…. this book is so funny. i love how despite their miserable situation they are still cracking jokes, writing disses about one another, dreaming of pudding and cream, cutting one another’s hair in an ice cave while their friends foot is getting amputated…. there are so many moments where i just burst out laughing. i think it’s because in the midst of all the tension and bad fortune, these small tender interactions are all the more precious. i haven’t read a book like this before, at least not in a long time. even when i put it down to do other stuff my mind was still on that ice floe, running around with everyone and smacking seals on the nose with an oar.

i love every character, and i love how the author always gets just the right excerpt of someone’s diary to pinpoint the mood. for example when their ship was first beset, and one wrote they were like an almond in the middle of a chocolate bar. oh man. i adore this book. i smiled so much, and i’m so glad that everyone’s ok and no one had to eat a human. i cannot believe this swashbuckling adventure is a true story and that i’m living in the same timeline.