Booksology If you couldn’t already tell this about me, I’m a highly atmospheric guy. I only burn fall candles in the fall. I only cook certain recipes at the holidays. And, I like to accentuate the season by reading books accordingly – Christmas books at Christmas, swampy books in the summertime, and books that just feel cold in the wintertime. That’s Icebound: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World by Andrea Pitzer. And, there’s no better time to light a candle, cuddle up under the warmth of a blanket, and read something icy.
Courtesy of Goodreads:
Long before Bering or Amundsen, long before Franklin or Shackleton, there was William Barents, in many ways the greatest polar explorer of them all. In this engrossing narrative of the Far North, enriched by her own adventurous sojourns in the Arctic, Andrea Pitzer brings Barents’ three harrowing expeditions to vivid life–while giving us fascinating insights into one of history’s most intrepid navigators.
The style with which Pitzer lays this incredible story out blends on the side of ‘narrative.’ Some history books can be quite dense, and while Icebound is well-sourced in its own right, it doesn’t fall into the trap that so many history books do of feeling like you’re reading a textbook. I understand how some history buffs may want a more informational tone, but for me, the narrative-driven format made this book an absolute breeze to read. I’m stoked I waited until January to crack this thing open. I mean, when I say this book is as cold as ice, I felt cold reading it. Ships passing through chunks of ice…eternal winter…being exposed to the elements…endless wind and snow. It is winter personified, and I’d recommend stashing this one away for the next time you get snowed in.
But, at its core, this story of William Barents and his crew is one of intense human perseverance. To imagine being frozen in ice in a highly remote part of the world…having to build a cabin in the middle of the frozen terrain…mostly out of boards from the ship they could spare….enduring months in such harsh conditions…with waning rations and icy surroundings closing in on them….it’s all a little incomprehensible. For crying out loud, these men build a cabin, and it’s such a struggle to keep it warm that ice forms on the inside of the walls. They have to fend off a polar bear what feels like every other day at a time in the world when no one knew what a polar bear even was. Can you imagine? It would be like going into the woods and fending off a Bigfoot every other day. The subject matter was intriguing and the style with which this book was written made it a breeze. I appreciated traveling back to a time with a real sense of wonderment for exploration of the unknown…a time when our maps hadn’t yet been charted, and real adventure beckoned. Icebound was one of the best nonfiction books I’ve read in some time.
My rating: 4/5.
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, second on Football & Other F Words, analyst for Stacking The Inbox, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, the NFL Draft, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.
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