Zeitoun

Zeitoun by Dave Eggers is the true story of one family's experiences in and around Hurricane Katrina.

Nola residents Kathy and Abdulrahman Zeitoun own and run a construction and painting company. They are known as good neighbors and loving parts of Syrian Muslim community. 

When the news starts talking of a storm headed toward New Orleans, Kathy decides to take the children to a relative's house farther inland. Zeitoun stays to watch the house and be available for their customers' needs. 

After weathering the storm with some leaks, water starts slowly flooding in. Zeitoun moves everything he can upstairs to keep it dry. He takes a used canoe out of the garage and ties it to the from porch. 

After the flooding, Zeitoun uses his canoe to search for people who need help. He finds one of their buildings that still have phone services and keeps in touch with Kathy. 

Then random police from all over the country arrive, volunteering to "protect the city" from looters. Zeitoun, his building tenant, an acquaintance from their mosque, and a stranger are all arrested. Having identification showing that be belongs has no effect. 

What follows is one of the failures of FEMA and law enforcement. Read this book. It is important to see what really goes on in times of chaos. 

Eggers, Dave. (2009). Zeitoun. New York: McSweeny's Books.

The Vaster Wilds

 

The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff is a look at life for women in the American colonies.

A servant girl has escaped from a starving colony. The colony is so destitute that there is no wood left to burn or food to eat. She thinks she has a better chance of surviving in the wilds that in a place that where people will do anything to make it through winter.

She has planned ahead and stolen a knife, an ax, books, a cup, a flint and two covers and wears all of the clothing she could fit on her body. 

She will try to make it in the wilderness - living off of the land and hiding from those sent to find her while avoiding the nations of the land and dangerous animals. 

Lauren Groff is one of the great writers of our time. She captures the feelings and harshness of the land while making readers root for a likely doomed young woman. This is a masterpiece of evocative writing. 

Groff, Lauren. (2023). The Vaster Wilds. New York: Riverhead Books. 

Small Game

Small Game by Blair Braverman is a view of what would happen if a reality TV survival show was not run well - leaving the contestants truly alone in the wilderness.

Mara works for a survival camping company in the Pacific Northwest. The take people out to spend the night alone - checking on the occasionally for safety. When a reality show about living off the land comes scouting, Mara thinks it is her chance for change. Each contestant to makes it six weeks will receive 100,000 dollars - certainly enough for a new start. 

Take by helicopter to a remove forest in the north of Wisconsin, each contestant has to jump from the chopper and swim to shore. Five contestants who have to choose one item while not knowing what the others have picked. 

The group will need fire, shelter, water and food - fire right away considering their swim. As the contest starts, Mara is concerned about both the lack of outdoor skills of a couple of contestants and how the show is being run. 

Then a few days in something goes wrong. The crew does not show up in the morning. And now the survival takes on a new level.

Braverman has been on a reality survival show and spent time in very remote places. Her novel is therefore very well imagined. While I read this quickly, the story has stuck with me for some time. Small Game is a great read - especially from the comfort of your own home!

Braverman, Blair. (2022). Small Game. New York: Ecco.

The Forest of Vanishing Stars

The Forest of Vanishing Stars by Kristin Harmel is the story of survival in the greatest of odds. 

Stolen from a wealthy German couple, Yona is raised in the forest by an old woman. Jerusza teaches her how to survive on what the land provides, how to avoid other people, and how to kill if necessary.

In 941, Jerusza dies, leaving Yona alone. While she stay away from the villages on the edges of the forest, she is starting to encounter more people in the woods. After a while she decides to intervene to help a family of three who will not make it without some guidance on how to live in the forest. 

They tell her of the Nazis and their abhorrent attempt to kill all Jewish people. Yona decides to help the Jews refugees who escape from the ghettos and make it to her forest.  

Harmel is a master of historical fiction story telling. This is an amazing book with a strong lead character whom we could all learn something from. 

Harmel, Kristin. (2021). The Forest of Vanishing Stars. New York: Gallery Books.

Island of the Lost: An Extraordinary Story of Survival at the Edge of the World

Island of the Lost: An Extraordinary Story of Survival at the Edge of the World by Joan Druett tells the tale of the Grafton's shipwreck on the Auckland Islands, 285 miles from New Zealand in the year 1864.

Two businessmen in Sydney came up with the idea of a crew sailing to an uninhabited island in the frozen ocean south of Australia and New Zealand, find a rumored mine and fill the ship with wealth. Captain Musgrave, one of the men's nephew, and Francoise Raynal set about finding a small ship and a crew.

Joined by a cook and two seaman, the ship consists of men from 4 nations (England, France, Azores, and Norway), they embark on a get-rich-quick scheme that has them sailing some of the most dangerous waters on the planet.

Making it safely to the chosen island, there is no sign of a mine. To make up some of the revenue expended, the Musgrave and Raynal decide to stop in the Aucklands to hunt seals - something none of them has any experience with - to fill the ship.

A storm dashes them into the rocks of an island made of cliffs - scoured year round by wind and rain. Luckily, the ship remains partially intact, allowing them to make is safely to shore and take some supplies. What follows is a harrowing tale of survival accomplished by putting aside rank and focusing on needs, starting with building a shelter.

Told from survivor journals, and including the history of the Auckland Islands, the tale of the Grafton crew's two years on an inhospitable island is fascinating. The ingenuity of the crew and the ability to scavenge from the ship for materials to alter into tools is incredible. One of the best survival stories I have read.

Druett, Joan (2007). Island of the Lost: An Extraordinary Story of Survival at the Edge of the World. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books.

The Renegade

The Renegade by Amy Dunne is a post-plague dystopian novel.

The Red Death has been killing millions of people. Alex is the last in her family who is not sick. Before he became ill, her father trained her in how to survive - including getting her the best equipment and teaching her how to shoot.

No Alex is on the move, trying to avoid people like her father recommended. But when going through a city she hears voices and gets caught. After getting out of a dangerous situation, she has gained a dog. She didn't realize how lonely she was until she met Paddy.

When an infection knocks her out, she come is nursed back to health by Murphy. She is, at first, afraid that he will be like the men in the city but Murphy is a good guy. Once settled, they travel well together.

Other survivors are living at an abandoned Army camp. It has been named Rapture's Haven and is run by a cult leader, Elijah, who has set back the women's rights movement to the stone age. Once people are found and taken to camp they remain there. Evelyn Bennett is the camp's doctor. As such, you would think she had some say because of her expertise, but that is not the case.

When Alex is brought to camp, she and Evelyn are drawn to each other. But in a camp where the doctrine is procreation, it is a dangerous attraction.

Dunne has written a novel with the feel of McCarthy's The Road, but from the point of view of a single, queer woman traveling alone.

Dunne, Amy. (2015). The Renegade. Valley Falls, NY: Bold Strokes Books.

Desert Dark

Desert Dark by Sonja Stone is about a school that trains teens to work in the field of black ops for the CIA.

Nadia Riley is having a terrible time at the beginning of her junior year. Her best friend hooked up with her boyfriend. And her math teacher accused her of cheating - until she does another test in front of him. Now she is short on friends and just wants to disappear. But be careful what you wish for...

A man shows up at her house with an opportunity. There is a hidden test within the PSAT - sixty questions that test the way you think. The average student gets one or two right. Students who get recruited to the Desert Mountain Academy - a government funded private school - usually get about 20. Nadia Riley got them all right.

Nadia is assigned to a team that is already at school. She has some catching up to do. She will have to fit in with three different students to form a team that can work together and protect each other during the survival tests. Her team is Libby (her roommate), Damon and Alan with a team leader, Jack.

Along with trying to catch up and fit in, Nadia will be caught up in the rumor of a double agent at the school. The whole reason Nadia got to join the school is because the girl she is replacing was killed.

Stone's debut novel is a fast-paced, thrilling story filled with espionage, martial arts and puzzles. This is a great read!

Stone, Sonja. (2016). Desert Dark. New York: Holiday House.

The Edge (Peak #2)

The Edge by Roland Smith is the sequel to his book Peak - about a kid who climbed Everest in an attempt to become the youngest person to summit.

Peak Marcello still loves to climb mountains and rocks, but is happy escorting his younger twin sisters around New York City for the summer.

When the film crew who documented his climb of Everest show up, Peak is read to say no to what ever they are asking. And a climb sponsored by the billionaire Sebastian Plank, were 200 under 18 year-olds climb on the same day for peace sounds terrible. Peak prefers to climb alone. But his friends will not get the job filming if he does not agree to climb.

So it is decided that he and his mother, a world class climber in her own right, will join the team. At the last minute they learn their destination - the Hindu Kush Mountains in Afghanistan. And when they arrive, the camp does not look big enough for 200 climbers.

Teams of five young climbers will be climbing mountains all over the world - all caught on film to make a documentary about peace that will air on television. Peaks team includes a climber from Japan, Ukraine, Australia and France. The two he notices are from Australia - because the guy is obviously more talk that skill - and France - because she is really cute and a great climber.

But before the day of the big climb, Peak awakes from a nap after a long afternoon of filming to find everyone missing. Two guards who were their to protect them are dead and the only other climber still in camp looks like he fell to his near-death from the wall. Peak's mother and the other climbers and crew have been kidnapped.Peak will do whatever it takes to follow their trail and find his mother and friends.

Smith has written a great sequel that could be read on its own. This is a great adventure book with enough technical detail to make the story come alive but not enough to overwhelm readers who do not climb. If you like adventure, suspense, mystery, or survival books - this is for you.

Smith, Roland. (2015). The Edge. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Torn Away

Torn Away by Jennifer Brown is the story of surviving a natural disaster and its aftermath.

Jersey Cameron has always lived in the Midwest. She grew up loving storms, even with the tornado drills they had to do at school. She loves dancing in the summer rain.

Now, a couple of weeks before the end of her junior year, all she wants to do is be lazy. When her little sister asks to teach her the East Coast Swing that she learned in dance class, Jersey says no. When her mother and sister leave for dance class, Jersey finally drags herself off of the couch to do chores and get dinner ready.

Just as she starts cooking a tornado warning siren goes off. She considers ignoring it. There are so many false alarms. Then she decides she should go to the basement where she spend the most terrifying fifteen minutes of her life.

When she emerges from under the pool table, bruised and battered, but alive, she is surprised to find that most of her house is missing. She has no cell phone service, and she doesn't know where her mom and sister are, or her step-father.

Brown has written the story of a girl whose life is ripped away from her. She has to grieve while also learning how to survive. She is sent to live with family who might as well be strangers - people her mother warned her about.

Brown is a great writer who tackles tough issues with amazing characters. Her books are strong and her stories thought provoking and sometimes heart wrenching. Check one out today.

Brown, Jennifer. (2014). Torn Away. New York: Little, Brown and Company.

Adrift

Adrift by Paul Griffin is a survival story about five teen off of Long Island, New York.

Matt and John are working in the Hamptons for the summer. They are from Queens and are trying to save money for college. They both work more than one job.

During their job selling ice cream on the beach, Matt and John meet three rich kids. Driana is from Manhattan and her cousin Stef and her boyfriend Jojo are visiting from Rio. Dri invites Matt and John to a party at her father's house.

Matt is instantly smitten with Driana. John does not want to hang out with them at all, but usually follows Matt.

When they see Dri and Jojo a couple of nights later they are looking for Stef. It seems she has borrowed the neighbor's wind surfing board and is hitting the waves - in the dark. Jojo and Dri are going after her with a small boat. Matt and John join them.

After they catch up to Stef, they are surprised to see how far out they have drifted. Since it doesn't seem like anyone has used the boat for a long time, there is not much fuel. They do not have enough to make it back to shore.

What follows is five teens stranded at sea and the tensions between them. As the story unfolds readers will learn of the character's pasts and the story becomes more complex than a simple boat adrift.

Griffin, Paul. (2015). Adrift. New York: Scholastic Press.

Tumbledown (Sequel to Desolation Point)

Tumbledown by Cari Hunter, a sequel to Desolation Point, is a thriller that will have readers biting their nails until the end.

Alex Pascal and Sarah Kent survived a terrible chase through the wilderness in Washington state two years ago. After their ordeal and escape, the FBI told them to lay low. They were not put into witness protection, but there was a chance that the white supremacist group would try to find them to exact revenge for spoiling their plans.

Now Sarah and Alex, using a new last name, are living in a small town in Maine. Alex is on the local police force and Sarah is a first responder studying to become an EMT. Their lives are good. They still keep a watch around their cabin and have a good lock on the gate, but life is what they want it to be.

When Sarah gets called to assist with a birth (because the only ambulance near by has already pick up a heart attack case) she gets her picture in the local paper. When Sarah and Alex find the picture, they are worried that it will be seen. But it is such a small town...

Caleb Deakin has not stopped looking for the two women he blames for his father's death. He has paid a lot of money for a computer that will scan for their names and images each day. When he gets a hit he immediately packs for a trip to Maine.

Hunter has created another book that will keep readers up late for the thrill ride.

Hunter, Cari. (2014). Tumbledown. Valley Falls, NY: Bold Strokes Books.

The Martian

The Martian by Andy Weir has been called a Robinson Crusoe on Mars.

Ares 3 from NASA is the first manned mission to Mars. After a few unmanned explorations and fourteen flights to deliver equipment, Ares 3 is on Mars with six astronauts. They are to be there for less than a month and then use the Mars Ascent Vehicle, or MAV, to get back to their ship.

On day six a massive wind storm his the base. Due to needing everything to be as light as possible to get enough lift to get back into orbit, the MAV is fragile. If it tips more than 13 degrees off of the base, there will be no escape. As the winds get stronger, the mission commander orders an evacuation. Visibility is down to almost nothing.

Leaving teams of two, astronaut engineer and botanist Mark Watney is struck by part of an antenna, thrown backward into the dust and his crewmates think him dead. Commander Lewis spends as much time as she can looking for him, but has to get in the MAV to save the rest of her crew.

Watney is not dead. Because he landed face down, blood sealed the hole in his suit and prevented too much oxygen from escaping. Now he must figure out how to make enough food for six people to last one month last him four years until the next mission is due to land on Mars. As far as he knows, everyone on Earth thinks he is dead.

Weir has created a science fiction book that is sure to become a classic. Watney is a creative and humorous character who is a cross between Robinson Crusoe and MacGuyver. The science is as accurate as possible, both with his fixes and with NASA's reaction. Even readers who didn't know they liked science fiction will find this a great read. The Martian is sure to become a classic.

Weir, Andy. (2014). The Martian. New York: Broadway Books.

The Raft

The Raft by SA Bodeen is a survival story in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Robie lives on Midway Atoll, a 2.4 square mile island northwest of Hawaii. When she gets stir crazy on the small island mostly filled with researchers, she visits her aunt in Hawaii.

After staying with her aunt for a few days, her aunt has to fly to the mainland for work. Robie, at sixteen, is too young to stay on her own in the city. A friend of her aunt promises to check on her each day, but on her first night alone Robie walks to get food after dark and is attacked by a crazy man. After she escapes she decides to fly home.

Residents of Midway can catch a ride on any of the supply planes with no ticket or reservation. As long as there is room (or something can be taken off for the next flight to keep under the weight limit) they can fly home. Robie show up at the small airport about an hour before the flight is to leave. At the last minute she is put on the plane and they take off - a few hours behind schedule. Neither her aunt or her parents know she is going home.

A couple of hours into the flight they hit a storm. After a while of turbulence, one engine dies. Max, the copilot, tells Robie to put on a life vest and get ready to open a life raft once she is outside of the plane. Then he throws her out the door.

Max and Robie make it into the life raft but have no way to know where they are, no way to steer even if they knew which way to go, no fresh water, and one bag of Skittles for food.

Bodeen has written a harrowing tale of survival against the odds. Readers will enjoy the story while being glad they are not in Robie's shoes.

Bodeen, S.A. (2012). The Raft. New York: Feiwel and Friends.

Rise (Eve #3)

Rise by Anna Carey is the final book in her Eve trilogy - about a post apocalyptic United States called the New America run by a king and his army from the City of Sand (Las Vegas).

Eve grew up in a school ever since her mother died from the plague. She was taught that when she graduated she would learn a trade and be sent to the capital city to help in the recovery of America. She could choose her career and she would have a great apartment and a job. But in reality everyone who graduates from the school goes across the water, not to further her education, but to become an incubator for the upper class families in the city who can no longer have children due surviving the plague. However, Eve is the exception. Her father is the king. And he wants her in the city to marry and give him an heir.

Now Eve feels she has little left to lose. She is willing to do almost anything to see her father overthrown and the rebels put in place - with an elected government like in the old United States. But can she go through with the order from the rebel leader to kill her father?

The Eve trilogy is a great dystopian series. It has all of the fascination and horror of one possible future - with the appeal of the Handmaid's Tale or When She Woke or The Road, but with more hope of a potentially better outcome for the masses because the is more than one person fighting the system. 

Carey, Anna. (2013). Rise. New York: Harper.

Wildfire Run

Wildfire Run by Dee Garretson is a high adrenaline adventure.

Luke is the son of the President of the United States. Everywhere he goes he is followed by his own team of Secret Service agents.

While at the presidential retreat at Camp David, there is a major earthquake. The president is getting ready to fly to the epicenter. Luke and his friend Theo convince Luke's dad to let them stay at Camp David.

What they don't know is that a forest fire has started not far from Camp David. Soon the entire Camp is being evacuated. But during the evacuation there is an accident and Luke, Theo and Callie (the daughter of the chef) are trapped inside of the electric fence. The controls to the fence have been damaged and the fire is moving ever closer.

Garretson's book is an action-packed adventure where three kids have to save themselves against impossible odds.

Garretson, Dee. (2010). Wildfire Run. New York: Harper.

Mayday

In the style of a John J Nance novel, Nelson DeMille and Thomas Block joined forces to write Mayday. Originally published in 1979, an updated version was released in 1998.

Trans-United flight 52 from San Fransisco to Tokyo is in a Concorde-like plane, a Straton 979. Capable of flying at 930 miles per hour, or Mach 1.8, the supersonic jet flies higher in the sky than the average passenger plane. In fact, other than the space shuttle, the only other planes that fly at 62,000 feet are military jets and spy planes.

Today flight 52 left the gate 30 minutes late due to a maintenance issue.

At the same time, aboard the USS Nimitz, the Navy is conducting a secret test of a new missile. The missile will be shot at a drone to test its ability to find a target 500 miles away. This test will be done high in the atmosphere where few other things can fly.

When the missile hits flight 52, the jet loses cabin pressure. Anything not tied down is pulled out the hole in the fuselage by the pressure differential. Oxygen masks drop from the ceiling but are useless because they require pressure to work.

After a highly intense few pages, only a few people on flight 52 are conscious. None of them are part of the team that was flying the plane. But one man is a weekend pilot - of planes that could practically fit into the Straton 979's cargo area.

Do not read this book right before you fly! DeMille and Block packed more adrenaline into this book than some readers can handle. But adventure readers will be sucked into this book like a flying projectile.

DeMille, Nelson and Thomas Block. (1998). Mayday. New York: Warner Brothers.

Peak: A Novel

Peak by Roland Smith is an adventure novel in the extreme.

When Peak Marcello is arrested for climbing the Woolworth building in NYC, he is given the choice of juvenile detention until he turns 18 (just over three years) or leaving New York. He chooses to leave. The judge releases Peak to his father, Josh Wood, a famous mountain climber.

When they leave New York, Peak thinks they are on their way to Chaing Mai, Thailand. But Josh has other ideas. He sets everything up before he tells Peak that they are one their way to Mount Everest - the highest mountain on the planet.

If Peak makes it to the top of Everest, he will be the youngest person ever to summit.

Smith is a great YA storyteller. His books are exciting, fast reads that will appeal to many readers.

Smith, Roland. (2007). Peak. New York: Harcourt, Inc.

Death Mountain

Death Mountain by Sherry Shahan is a harrowing tale of survival in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

Erin is a bit dismayed to find herself on a bus from her grandmother's house in the Sierras to So Cal to visit her mother - the woman she hasn't heard from in almost a year. When she gets off of the bus at a rest stop, her ticket is stolen. She has to decide whether to find a ride back to her grandmother's cabin or to L.A.

Mae and her brother Levi are on their way to an alpine lake for a swim. (Apparently they don't know about the temperature of alpine lakes!) They give Erin a ride and she joins them on their hike.

On the way to the lake a storm hits that separates Erin and Mae from the rest of the people on the trail - resulting in an adventure in wilderness survival. Will they make it back to safety before they run out of food or get hurt? The book is called Death Mountain - something must die in the telling...

Shahan, Sherry. (2005). Death Mountain. Atlanta: Peachtree.

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Aron Ralston's Between a Rock and a Hard Place is a true account of his time trapped in Blue John Canyon. The book is filled with great climbing and hiking stories.

In April of 2002 Ralston, an experienced climber, skier and all-other-outdoor adventurer, became trapped in Utah's Canyon Lands. On a Saturday at 2:45, a boulder shifted as he climbed over it, falling and trapping his right hand against the side of the slot canyon. He spent the next five days trapped - trying to free himself as he ran out of food and water. It is a harrowing tale that once again proves that you should never give up.

The book eases the tension of the situation by flashing back to his previous hiking and climbing experiences. Some of the time I was not sure if the previous experiences were to show how much he had learned along the way - as it to emphasize that anyone can have a freak accident and become trapped. Or if they were to show what crazy risks he has already taken and somehow lived through!

Overall, this is a great read that inspires the reader to spend more time outdoors (once s/he has left a detailed note of when and where).

Ralston, Aron. (2004). Between a rock and a hard place. New York: Atria Books.