anna reads - 2 memoirs

I just finished two memoirs, which were both wonderful in their own ways. The first was My Life in France by Julia Child (and her husband's nephew Alex Prud'Homme), and the second was Into Thin Air by John Krakauer.

          

The first is about Julia Child's time living in France while her husband, Paul, and her journey to write her famed cookbook: Mastering the Art of French Cooking. 

The couple’s 1956 Valentine’s Day card. Courtesy of the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University.

The second is also about a journey, but in the literal sense of the word.  Into Thin Air chronicles the author's personal assent up Mt. Everest during the infamous 1996 trip that would ultimately end the death of eight of his fellow climbers. 

Anatoli Boukreev, Mike Groom, Jon Krakauer, Andy Harris, and a long line of climbers on the Everest upper Southeast Ridge, with Makalu behind, on May 10, 1996 - Into Thin Air Illustrated Edition (Jon Krakauer) book

While the topics of the two memoirs are exceedingly different, both books are highly informative while also being very fast reads. I recommend both books.

PS: I post whatever I'm reading at the moment on the "Reading Now" tab to the right.