Paths of Glory

The last thing I would have ever expected is that I would be reading a book by Jeffrey Archer. However for some strange reason I just read (in one night) The Paths of Glory, the tale of George Mallory and the possible first ascent of Mt. Everest. The book was actually very good, and true to the heroic and tragic story. George loved his wife Ruth very deeply and their relationship was portrayed endearingly. His love for climbing was also related vividly and viscerally. Mallory was the man who supposedly, when asked "Why do you do it?", answered "Because it is there."

He died in 1924 on his third attempt to summit the tallest mountain in the world, also known as Qomolangma. His body was recovered in 1999 by Conrad Anker. Ruth had sewn a little bag for Mallory to keep in his pocket. There were small mementos in it. There was also a photograph of Ruth, his favorite picture of her. He had promised to place it on the summit when he reached the top. When he was found, just a couple of hundred feet from the top, the picture was missing.

There's a novel out now that's written in the form of an auction catalog. It's called Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion, and Jewelry. I think it'd be interesting to look at, especially after going to an auction in Philadelphia to buy books for our bookshop, but I've heard that the book itself is a little too cute. It seems like lots of young people, or maybe just people, love collecting objects. For instance, I knew a group of people who bought the entire ball cage from a grocery store and put it in their living room. I also knew a guy who bought a collection of children's gas masks from eBay, put a different colored light in each one, and hung them on his wall. He also had a hair drying chair in his bedroom, and lots of taxidermy animals.