The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon (David Grann)

Hardcover

The "hero" of the book is Percy Fawcett, who became obsessed with finding the fabled city of El Dorado (which he dubbed "Z").  Such was his mania that, on his last attempt to get there in the '20s, he deliberately left obfuscating clues as to his intended route so that no one might get there first -- which, of course, foiled attempts to rescue him.

It was interesting, sure, but I so despised Fawcett that I had a hard time caring about his passion.  He was, pure and simple, an asshole with a one-track mind.  He abandoned his family -- in abject poverty -- for years at a time and held everyone he met to an impossible standard.  Because he was, by all accounts, blessed with a superior constitution, he had little patience for those who dared to get sick on an expedition.  He's definitely an imposing figure, but not a very sympathetic one.

It's doubtful I would've finished this if it hadn't been book club pick.

B-
Non-fiction #7

Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You (Sam Gosling)

Audiobook

Gosling starts off his book with a great anecdote about receiving a "mystery box" full of contents from someone's bathroom to examine.  He does so and deduces a lot, correctly, about the owner of the items.  That was cool.

Too bad that the bulk of this book was either obvious (people who put candy on their desks or have open doors and comfy seating are inviting others to stop by and spend time with them; they're probably extroverts!  those who close their office doors want to be left alone; they're possibly introverts!) or not in keeping with the title's hook.  I was interested in some of the studies, like the accelerated question/answer period that turns people into fast friends or the one that suggested that whites take special care not to admit noticing race whenever possible...but will drop the act if cash is offered -- but how is that about stuff and snooping?

This is basically a jumble of interesting factoids and studies about personalities and their manifestations -- but it's not a cohesive book.  Shoehorning a phrase like "as an experienced snooper" into the narrative dozens of times doesn't mean that there's much snooping really going on.

C-
Non-fiction #6

The View From Saturday (E. L. Konigsburg)

Hardcover

On the surface, this is a story about four diverse New York students, all of them "nice," coming together as secret friends who then become the youngest-ever middle school champion quiz team.

"The Souls," as they call themselves, are:
Noah - is an almost-abrasive know-it-all
Nadia - a transplanted Floridian with a genius dog
Ethan - a quiet wannabe theater geek born into a farming family
Julian - an out-of-step Indian who brings them together through tea parties

The team sponsor/coach is Mrs. Olinski, who's teaching again for the first time since the accident than made her a paraplegic.

Honestly, I was lost some of and bored most of the time.  All five of the characters narrate sections of the story and I couldn't keep the peripheral characters straight nor care about their character quirks.  Also, there seemed to be a desire to make it a bit "magical" -- Mrs. Olinski had been on the verge of choosing a different student over Julian to round out the quiz team and, somehow, The Souls knew this.  At the end of the story, Mrs. Olinski asks the group "Did I choose you or did you choose me?" and The Souls reply is "Yes!"  Uh, whatever.

D+