Missing Out On A Great Read: The Lost Mind of Me

I was out of BOOKLEAVES for most of the summer because of my trip back to the US, summer camp and all that. Before I left, though, Shanna suggested The Lost City of Z as a future read. At some point, it was decided that this would be our book for the August 29th meeting. I made note of the title and the time when I received Veronica's update.

Perhaps I was distracted by the end of the semester business and busy-ness. Perhaps I was focused on my upcoming trip and didn't pay attention to Shanna's description of the book. I must have had my head elsewhere or I would have noticed the book's subtitle.

However the events transpired, I somehow got the idea that The Lost City of Z was a children's book or perhaps an SF/Fantasy novel. Long story short, I didn't make much of an effort to find this book during Bybee's Book-Buying Binge (BBBB) 2010.

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When I got back to Korea and was giving all those bookly props and bookish devotion to What The Book?'s new location and its luscious contents, I still didn't seek it out. In my mind, I'd already moved on. So what if I didn't read it? I reasoned. Book group members skip books all the time. Some of the greatest sports heroes in history have warmed the bench a time or two. This would be one of those times for me.

Imagine my surprise and subsequent mortification when I went to the meeting and found out that The Lost City of Z is NOT a children's book nor is it part of an SF/Fantasy series. I can't go on; I'll let Publisher's Weekly via Amazon take over:

In 1925, renowned British explorer Col. Percy Harrison Fawcett embarked on a much publicized search to find the city of Z, site of an ancient Amazonian civilization that may or may not have existed. Fawcett, along with his grown son Jack, never returned, but that didn't stop countless others, including actors, college professors and well-funded explorers from venturing into the jungle to find Fawcett or the city. Among the wannabe explorers is Grann, a staff writer for the New Yorker, who has bad eyes and a worse sense of direction. He became interested in Fawcett while researching another story, eventually venturing into the Amazon to satisfy his all-consuming curiosity about the explorer and his fatal mission. Largely about Fawcett, the book examines the stranglehold of passion as Grann's vigorous research mirrors Fawcett's obsession with uncovering the mysteries of the jungle. By interweaving the great story of Fawcett with his own investigative escapades in South America and Britain, Grann provides an in-depth, captivating character study that has the relentless energy of a classic adventure tale. (Feb.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

The Lost City of Z is nonfiction! I like nonfiction! It's about an expedition! I like reading about expeditions! The expedition was ill-fated -- even better!

.Realization was slow to dawn, but as Veronica, Bernadette, Jill, Sandra and Shanna all discussed the book in-depth, insightfully and intelligently, I began to warp-speed through Kubler-Ross's famous 5 stages. Swears poured from me like lava. By the time the book was passed to me and I saw the really cool photos and maps and read snippets here and there of David Grann's intriguing prose, I was past swearing. All I could do was make sounds like "gluhr" and "fuhmyop", punctuated by whimpering. I was so flummoxed that I wanted to smite my own forehead, but I wasn't sure I could locate it properly.

.This has been a hell of a month in Bookworm Central. September can only be better.