Currently Reading

I am currently working my way through the following books. As I am somewhat vision impaired, I do all of my “reading” via audiobooks.

The Audible Publisher’s Summary:

A 500-year-old legend. An ancient curse. A stunning medical mystery. And a pioneering journey into the unknown heart of the world’s densest jungle.

Since the days of conquistador Hernán Cortés, rumors have circulated about a lost city of immense wealth hidden somewhere in the Honduran interior, called the White City or the Lost City of the Monkey God. Indigenous tribes speak of ancestors who fled there to escape the Spanish invaders, and they warn that anyone who enters this sacred city will fall ill and die. In 1940, swashbuckling journalist Theodore Morde returned from the rainforest with hundreds of artifacts and an electrifying story of having found the Lost City of the Monkey God – but then committed suicide without revealing its location.

Three quarters of a century later, best-selling author Doug Preston joined a team of scientists on a groundbreaking new quest. In 2012 he climbed aboard a rickety, single-engine plane carrying the machine that would change everything: lidar, a highly advanced, classified technology that could map the terrain under the densest rainforest canopy. In an unexplored valley ringed by steep mountains, that flight revealed the unmistakable image of a sprawling metropolis, tantalizing evidence of not just an undiscovered city but an enigmatic, lost civilization.

Venturing into this raw, treacherous, but breathtakingly beautiful wilderness to confirm the discovery, Preston and the team battled torrential rains, quickmud, disease-carrying insects, jaguars, and deadly snakes. But it wasn’t until they returned that tragedy struck: Preston and others found they had contracted in the ruins a horrifying, sometimes lethal – and incurable – disease.

Suspenseful and shocking, filled with colorful history, hair-raising adventure, and dramatic twists of fortune, The Lost City of the Monkey God is the absolutely true, eyewitness account of one of the great discoveries of the 21st century.

I have read this one before, a few years ago, but I wanted to reread it for the purpose of giving it a review. This well-written book is both true and incredible. 

Current Progress: 30%

The Audible Publisher’s Summary:

Now a modern classic, this story of two boys’ friendship at an exclusive New Hampshire prep school as it parallels the inescapable and escalating atmosphere of World War II, is intense and engaging to the last word.

©2003 John Knowles (P)2002 Audio Bookshelf

After mulling over what fiction book I should read next, I finally decided to revisit one to which I vaguely recall having an emotional reaction in high school. I don’t remember the plot well, so this should feel pretty fresh. 

Current Progress: 5%

My Wheel of Time re-read efforts charge forward. I have been working through recap and reaction posts for each chapter, of each book, in this very lengthy series. You can find my previous Wheel of Time posts HERE:

The Fires of Heaven is a fantasy novel by American writer Robert Jordan, the fifth book in his series The Wheel of Time. It was published by Tor Books and released on October 15, 1993.

I currently have published recap and reaction posts through Chapter 33. There are fifty-six chapters in total. I probably won’t finish the book until about April, I think. 

I haven’t decided what non-fiction book to tackle when I’m done with the current project, however, my future fiction endeavors are likely to be from among The Outsiders, Invisible Man, Catch-22, and The Stranger, though the order for that has not yet been determined.

My completed book reviews are HERE: