Cold Enough For Ya? Reads from the Frozen Continent

When a healthy winter snowfall blankets our city with its chill, some of us long for warmer landscapes: sunny beaches, tropical islands. Some of us, however, loop on another of Granny's knitted mufflers and say to winter: Bring it on! This post is for those readers who still love to tromp around in snowdrifts (at least for an hour or two) and who can't help but think: what if it were really cold?

Antarctica, aka The Frozen Continent, where temperatures this time of year average 36 below, is a fine setting for books meant to inspire a pleasant chill in your bones. So if your vision of a winter's night involves an après-ski lounge on the couch under a cozy afghan with a tale of pack ice and randy penguins, read on!

Stories from the Heroic Age of Polar Exploration

The Worst Journey in the World by Aspley Cherry-Garrard - this aptly titled book recounts the tragic final expedition of Robert Falcon Scott, who in 1910 set off in a race to reach the South Pole and perished in the attempt. Cherry-Garrard was a 24-year-old assistant zoologist for the trip, and his survivor's story, first published in 1922, is a classic of the polar adventure genre. 

The Birthday Boys by Beryl Bainbridge - this fictional account of the 1910 Scott expedition received wide praise for Bainbridge's skill in evoking the thoughts and voices of Scott and his brave and doomed companions. 

A Polar Affair: Antarctica's Forgotten Hero and the Secret Lives of Penguins by Lloyd Spencer Davis - a popular science biography of the doctor and zoologist George Murray Levick, who accompanied Scott in 1910 and remained at a coastal camp, where he studied a colony of Antarctic penguins. Levick's documentation of diverse sexualities among the species (such as homosexuality) offended the sensibilities of the British science establishment and his findings were deliberately suppressed. Davis, a scientist who also studies penguin sex, draws from his own research to flll out the bawdy facts behind this fascinating tale. 

Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing - the trans-Antarctic expedition led by Ernest Shackleton in 1914 has gained renown for Shackleton's courageous leadership under extreme adversity. The expedition's ship Endurance was crushed by pack ice and the team camped for months on a drifting ice floe before escaping in a risky 800-mile sea crossing. Lansing's book, originally published in 1959, draws on trip diaries and interviews with surviving crew members to produce a classic account. 

Tales of Modern Adventurers

The Black Penguin by Andrew Evans - in describing a 12,000-mile bus trip from Washington, D.C. to the tip of South America, and by ferry to Antarctica, Evans, a travel writer, also shares stories from his youth as a gay Mormon. 

The White Darkness by David Grann - a master of nonfiction narrative brings us the indelible story of Henry Worsley, a British special forces officer who repeatedly travels to Antarctica to recreate the journeys of Scott, Shackleton, and other explorers.  

Women on 'The Ice'

Terra Incognita: Travels in Antarctica by Sara Wheeler - in her pathbreaking account, Wheeler shares her observations as the first woman writer invited to live among the research scientists at McMurdo Station. 

South Pole Station by Ashley Shelby - a fictional portrayal of day-to-day life at an Antarctic research station, which begins when our heroine, a 30-year-old artist, realizes she's just desperate enough to fit in with the quirky characters who seek out postings at the end of the earth.

Weird Polar Tales 

The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allan Poe - the only novel written by this pioneer of the macabre depicts a characteristically nightmarish voyage endured by a stowaway aboard a whaling ship bound for the Southern Ocean.  

Pym by Mat Johnson - a satirical retelling of Poe's tale that skewers the earlier book's conception of racial difference by following a modern-day disgruntled professor of literature who sets to sea with an all-Black expedition to Antarctica.  

You can find these titles, along with additional Antarctic tales, in this booklist. If you prefer Arctic adventures (or if you just dislike penguins), try this earlier post about keeping your thoughts cool on hot summer days.

 

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Mark is a Job Information Resource Librarian and member of the Connected Communities team at the library's Business & Career Center. He enjoys graphic novels, arranging his books by size, and looking for turtles in Prospect Park Lake.