Peak, by Roland Smith

Everest! What would lead a 14-year-old to Everest by surprise? Smith's story follows Peak Marcello, the son of two "rock rats" from his illegal skyscraper climbing in New York City to Everest. Most of the story is about the attempt at Everest, but there are also several other story lines with in the book including: political relations between China and Nepal, the relationships of climbers and sherpas, family dynamics, sensationalism in the news business and coming of age.

Smith always tells a good story and this one is particularly strong. It kept me up well past my bed-time to finish reading and I had trouble sleeping afterward. (Or it may have just been my biorhythms--who knows.) Although I am not a rock climber I have plenty of exposure to them (my daughter works at REI and there are many climbers in the area where I live). I've also read Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer another book about the various factors around the current craze of guided trips to Everest. I believe both have significant questions about the wisdom of continuing to allow this sort of activity.

Smith's webpage is a great resource, but I am having trouble accessing its content today. I had hoped to gather some information about his research for this book. I know Smith has been around the world and experienced many of the situations (or at least nuggets of them) that he writes about. I wanted to know more about how he researched this book. I'll try his site again later. www.rolandsmith.com

This will be a great read for any

The Skull Mantra, by Eliot Pattison, 1999

This was part of my reading for a book set to accompany Peak, by Roland Smith. I enjoyed the book, but it is definitely an adult book. Able high schoolers could read it, but it is relatively dense prose for the age group.

Pattison introduces a Chinese detective, Shan Tao Yun. He has been sentenced to a Tiberian prison for an offense against the Chinese Communist party in Beijing.

Much of the book focuses on the Buddhist monks and monasteries in Tibet. As someone who has been reading Thich Nhat Hanh for a couple of years now I was fascinated.

The book challenged me as a reader. The characters and motivations were were complex and I didn't take careful notes--that would have helped. I also faced some issues with the copy of the book I was reading. Some library patron before me had "edited" the book for "correctness" (and I disagreed with the corrections) and left fairly long notes written in the margins predicting plot and criticizing the author's writing. They mostly made me mad that someone would be so inconsiderate as to interrupt my "flow" while enjoying the book. It did however prompt me to find out more about the author. Pattison is an attorney specializing in international law. He has published five nonfiction books on international law and nine novels. This first novel received the Edgar Allen Poe award in 2000. I'm going to follow up with my local librarian.

I will be reading the next book in the inspector Shan series. And--hope that the local librarians can hunt down this book vandal.