Alaska, James Michener

The first word that comes to mind when thinking about Alaska is "big." The second is "adventure" (Ok, "cold" might be another one, but just bear with me). Put them together and you get the essence of this book: a big adventurous saga. In typical Michener fashion, he crafts a 1,000+ page series of stories that revolve around the cultural history of Alaska, starting from its geological formation to the time the book was published (1988). 

It begins with stories about mastodons, woolly mammoths, and the Asiatic migrators who crossed the Bering Land Bridge during the last Ice Age. Then it goes far ahead in time to the Age of Exploration, when Vitus Bering and Georg Stellar became the first Europeans to land on those cold shores. The many clashes between natives and Europeans, particularly the Russians, entail a large portion of the first half of the book. Trofim's fate as a redeemer against animal cruelty was a touching story, as was Cidaq's struggle against an abusive husband and the Christianization of her native land. 

Stories about the Gold Rush occupy a huge chunk of the book. No character makes more appearances than Missy Peckham, a vagabond gold-digger turned staunch feminist. Her resilience for fair regulation in Alaska really drives the long march to statehood forward. I'd say of all the social issues addressed in the novel, none are more prominent than the lack of government regulations in light of such a vast territory being purchased. The period from 1867-1959 was one of quasi-anarchy, in which a great number of swindlers took advantage of a lacking judicial system in the territory. 

Scenic descriptions abound in the book, including the Aurora Borealis; the icy rivers and extensive glaciers that flank the high mountains; the many waterways that carve the southern coast; and the frozen tundra of the far north, but none of them compare to the first sighting of (arguably) the most imposing mountain in all of North America: Denali. Of all the memorable moments in the book, and there were many, none are greater than LeRoy Flatch seeing this masterpiece of sculpted Earth from the air for the first time. Remarkably, Michener leaves no section of the state untouched. The Aleutians, the Panhandle, the craggy interior, and the northern tundra are all covered in these stories. Being that Alaska's so enormous, it's a wonder that he was able to touch on all the right historical events and locations and still find a decent pace to the stories. 

I even recall a delightful story about a migrating salmon! Who knew? 

Alone

    Alone.  A word.  A buried silence.  All yearnings converted into structure.  The balance is lost, the day falls.  Night covers my soul, a dungeon of ice.  Every day I get on the same bus, every day I get off.  There's always one more guest to check in, one more homeless guy to kick out.  My karma bleeds with every cut from the knife of duty.  That which forces benevolence on the rich and privileged, forces dejection on the needy and vulnerable.  It's not my fault, but it still hurts.

A Little Life, Hanya Yanagihara

Wow, reading this was absolutely mortifying. Anyone interested should be warned; it’s an intense psychological examination of Jude St. Francis, the victim of extreme childhood abuse who struggles with suicide and self-injury his whole life. Author Hanya Yanaghira is so talented at streamlining the inner thoughts of a deeply troubled mind that one wonders if she struggled with similar issues, or knew someone very closely who did. At times it even felt like I was reading my own thoughts, back when I had such little self-worth that the world became unbearable. 

The book has been a rewarding challenge for thousands of brave readers who aren’t bothered by such dark details. It’s one of the few books I’ve rated 5 stars that I wouldn’t recommend anyone reading. Nonetheless, it will stand among the giants of literature for quite some time, as a prime example of the horrible things people are capable of doing to each another. We can only hope that books like this won’t be used to judge the defects of our culture hundreds of years from now, though it wouldn’t surprise me if they are.