Page 89 - Phonebox Magazine November 2010

Book Review
By Oxfam Bookshop, Olney
The Wildest Dream by Mark MacKenzie
IN 1999, WHILE climbing the North-East Face of Everest, Conrad Anker spotted ‘a patch of white’ standing out against the rock. Close examination proved this to be the frozen body of george Mallory, who had disappeared with his climbing companion, Sandy Irvine, whilst attempting to reach the summit in 1924. This remarkable find caused a sensation around the world, and raised the question, ‘Did Mallory and Irvine reach the summit of Everest before they fell, making them the first men to achieve this?’
In 2007 Anker returned to Everest with a team of climbers and a film crew, intent on discovering whether it might have been possible for those earlier climbers to have reached the summit before their fatal accident. As part of the investigation, Anker and Houlding, his climbing partner would attempt a section known as the ‘Second Step’ wearing clothing based on that which the earlier climbers would have worn and carrying similar equipment.
Mark MacKenzie’s account of this expedition, and the earlier one, reads like both an adventure story and a mystery: an adventure story because of the thrilling, detailed account of more than one attempt upon this challenging mountain; a mystery because of the doubt surrounding that earlier attempt. Could Mallory and Irvine have reached the top in 1924?
This book is now a motion picture, and some of the stills are included as part of the account. However, it is so well-written that it stands alone as a great story, bringing two great expeditions to life.
review by Sandra Metcalf
The Love Letter by Cathleen Schine
Helen is an independent, intelligent, sometimes capricious woman in charge of her own life and career as a successful bookshop owner in the small seaside town of Pequot, where she grew up. She may enjoy flirting with her customers as she sells them books they didn’t know they wanted, but a failed marriage is enough to keep her in control of her emotions. That is until the love letter arrives.
The letter is not addressed to Helen and she knows that its passionate words are written to someone else - but its mysterious appearance in the shop and its strangely disturbing content haunt her imagination to the point of obsession. “How does one fall in love?” the letter asks. “Do you trip? Do you stumble, lose your balance and drop to the sidewalk, graze your knee, graze your heart? . . . Is there a precipice, from which you float, over the edge, forever?” To her dismay Helen finds herself trying to answer these questions as she suddenly finds herself in the midst of an inappropriate and
review by Thelma Shacklady
inconvenient – but none the less overwhelming - love affair.
Written with a sharp and knowing edge this may have the title of a romantic novel, but it does not read like one in the conventional sense - it wants no truck with romantic clichés even while it acknowledges that love itself is a cliché – provided, of course, that you’re not the one involved in it. This is not so much a love story as a story about love. It is about Helen and Johnny's passion, which fairly crackles on the page, but it’s also about the town in which they live, its history and its personalities (Miss Scattergoods is a scene- stealing joy) and about the loves of other characters too; some of whom are old enough to know better. (When are we ever old enough to know better?!) But then, there is no set age for anyone to discover that the time has come to stop considering all the consequences for others and go for what, and who, you want.
Reviews brought to you by Oxfam Books & Music Stanley Court, Olney
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The books reviewed above are from Oxfam Books and Music, Olney, which sells donated books, records, CDs, tapes and music to raise money for Oxfam’s work in combating poverty around the world.
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Phonebox Magazine 89