110. Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer

 I really liked this book. I listened to the audiobook while up in a pressurized cabin of a plane surrounded by the thin air of 36,000 feet. I looked out my window once our plane had descended to the height of Everest (29,029 feet), and I marveled that men and women would risk their lives to summit this formidable mountain. This first-hand account is gripping. Krakauer can write. I couldn't put it down and listened to much of my transit time from Basel, Switzerland to Portland, Oregon this week.

There is really no one to blame for this tragedy on May 10, 1996. It was an act of God. It will probably remain a mystery as to why the leader of his group stayed up beyond the cut off time that he usually adhered to. So many lives lost.

My book club gave this book an 8 out of 10, and many were reading it for a second time and enjoyed it. One of our book club members, Michelle, read a letter from the father of Scott Fischer, who died in the tragedy. Michelle's mom purchased a condo from him and asked him to give us his thoughts on the tragedy. Such a poignant moment for our group.

This book is on the 1000 Books to Read Before You Die list, and that is why I recommended it to the group. Here is what the author says about why it is on the list:

Krakauer’s gripping account of the events of that tragic day, from the rigors of his own experience to the deadly horrors the fatal storm delivered, is one of the most riveting and harrowing adventure stories ever told, set down, as the author puts it, in “the calamity’s immediate aftermath, in the roil and torment of the moment.”