Old Book, New Book #21: A Swiftly Tilting Planet -> The Lost City of Z

A Swiftly Tilting Planet was the main reason I started reading Madeline L'Engle's Wrinkle in Time series again. I always remembered thinking it was cool when I'd read it as a kid but that maybe I didn't quite understand it all. But I didn't want to just read that one again without re-reading the others in the series leading it up to it, for fear that I'd miss some of the details. Anyway, turns out that I do still like A Swiftly Tilting Planet better than A Wrinkle in Time or A Wind in the Door. I enjoyed the time travel theme and the interwoven storylines of two families linked throughout that timeline. It was also interesting to discover (since I didn't really remember this detail from before) that the dictator in the book (Mad Dog Branzillo) hails from a fictional republic in Patagonia (Vespugia) where I served my mission and that some of the story deals with the idea of Welsh settlers going to Patagonia, which is something that actually happened. There's a town named Gaiman in the province Chubut that was founded by Welsh settlers and has a famous tea house where princess Di visited at least once. I never actually went to Gaiman, but there is a branch of the church there. Anyway, I found that detail interesting.

I finished A Swiftly Tilting Planet about a week ago, and since then when I've had time to read, I've had to settle for a couple issues of ESPN the Magazine that I had laying around and hadn't gotten around to digging through. (About a year ago, I got a 2 year subscription for $7). Mainly because I wasn't sure what I wanted to read next. I know there are two more Wrinkle in Time books, once of which I've read before (Many Waters). But I guess I thought it might be a nice time for a change. Finally, I decided to read a book that I'd bought my dad for Father's Day a year or two ago: "The Lost City of Z". I know it's a little strange that I would buy him a book that I personally have not read, but I'd heard good things about it, and it seemed like one he would like. He did like and has since recommended it to me, so when my family came into town on Friday for the holiday, I asked him to bring it. It's a true story about explorers searching in the Amazon in the 20th century for a lost civilization. And also, apparently, the author got caught up in the search as well, so it includes the stories of explorers from the early part of the century as well as the author himself searching the Amazon for this lost city.