3 posts tagged “non-fiction”

I didn't have a clue that there had been an avalanche disaster at Steven's pass, just a few miles from where I live, until I first heard about this book, about an avalanche that took out two trains during a several days of snow storms in 1910.

About 100 people died. Reading about the experiences of some of the survivors, and the speculation about what it was like for the people who didn't die instantly, I felt pretty guilty for my morbid curiosity.

However, it was interesting to read about, and it made me think about how we take modern conveniences like car and air travel for granted.

Billion Dollar Kiss is Stepakoff's account of his career as a TV writer, starting from 1988, when he went to Hollywood, up through a couple of years ago.  The subtitle has caused some dumbasses on Amazon to give it bad reviews because they bought it thinking it's a book all about Dawson's Creek. There's some material about Dawson's Creek because Stepakoff worked on the show for several years, but he also discusses his time on the writing staffs of Major Dad, Sisters, The Wonder Years and a couple of other shows that got canceled pretty fast. This book was an enlightening look at the economics behind the TV industry, especially in light of the recent WGA strike.

This was my Fall non-fiction book, and it was totally charming. Isabella Bird traveled in the Colorado rockies in the Fall of 1873.

She went riding around through snowstorms, and bear encounters, all by herself and in the company of desperadoes, settlers, prospectors, and fellow travelers (she found many of the latter completely pretentious and obnoxious).

The following incident and quote is a good illusration of Bird's character. Traveling  to Estes Park with people she'd been staying with; the
husband iwas totally inept and the wife was a sourpuss. They had a hard
time getting their horses over some rough terrain, and everybody got
kind of banged up. She says: "A spine of cactus penetrated my foot,
and some vicious thing cut the back of my  neck. Poor Mrs. C. was much
bruised, and I pitied her, for she got no fun out of it as I did."

She didn't set out to write a book--it's actually a series of letters to her sister. And, of course, she wasn't writing for a 21st century reader, so there were a few references I had to look up, and a few things that I think were inside jokes with her sister.

The best part of all is that here is this lady trooping all over the mountains where it's so cold that your eyelids might freeze shut inside, and she originally started traveling because her doctor recommended a sea voyage for her "ill health."