August Authors – Alfred Lansing – Endurance

Author August – Stephen Baxter & Pink Floyd

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Bee says:

This month I challenge you to share one of your favourite authors every day. As an additional challenge also share a song that connects in some way with that author.

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As I mostly do, I’m featuring a favorite book instead of author. To me, favorite author means I get all their books and wish for more. If I like one book by an author, that doesn’t make them a favorite author, though the book might be.

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Yesterday I featured a book on a woman who survived being blind and alone in the Amazon jungle.

Today I was reminded of another type of survival story, a ship’s crew surviving being frozen in ice in the Antarctic.

My lovely blogging friend, Virginia, of Rosepoint Publishing, writes book reviews, and featured this book today. I recommend going to read her excellent review, of the book, the author, and  her thoughts, and also a video of a documentary of this tragic event in history. You can find her blog here: https://rosepointpublishing.com/2025/08/21/endurance-shackletons-incredible-voyage-by-alfred-lansing-audiobookreview-throwbackthursday/

Thanks, Virginia! 🙂

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Now, here is the review I wrote about this book a few years ago.

“Endurance”

This book cover in black & white, shows an old fashioned sailing ship stuck on a jagged field of ice.

ENDURANCE: SHACKLETON’S INCREDIBLE VOYAGE

This is a book review of the book “Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage” by Alfred Lansing.

Do you enjoy reading true stories about people who have overcome tremendous obstacles just to survive? This story , as it’s title says, is incredible. It was published in 1959.

It is the true story of the Antarctic expedition taken on by Sir Ernest Shackleton and his crew, in 1914, on the ship Endurance. Shackleton was an explorer, and this time he set out to cross the Antarctic. They were almost to the end of their journey, when the pack ice in the sea closed in on the ship, rendering it immobile. They were stuck, with only ice surrounding them. They were stranded there for over a year.

The book describes, in white knuckle imagery, the struggles and hardships encountered by the men on board. There are pictures and maps, and most details were taken from the diarys the men kept, of this harrowing time in their lives. The author writes in a way that makes you feel you are right there with them.

Another, more recent book, written on this subject, is by Caroline Alexander, “Shackleton’s Legendary Antarctic Expedition” (1998). There are even more pictures in this book.

I read this book, the first time, when I was in the 5th grade. I remember being enthralled at how awful it must have been. I could hardly put the book down, even reading while eating meals, and neglecting my homework.

I believe this one book got me started on reading other true stories of people surviving incredible odds…from plane crashes, mountain climbing expeditions, desert and jungle adventures. It has stayed in my mind all these years.

Now that I think about it, it was a bit prophetic that these men had to endure so much on a ship named Endurance.

You can find these books on Amazon.

Thank you for reading!

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Another interesting thing I found out about the Antarctic ice … It makes eerie sounds! Here’s alink to listen and read about this phenomena … https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/antarctic-ice-shelf-singing-it-sounds-eerie-sci-fi-soundtrack-ncna921676

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And here is a really good song I just found today…

“I Feel Like I’m Frozen”, by Fractal Silence, released on 6/6/2025, on the album, “Stuck In the Flame”.

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Lyrics

It feels like I’m frozen

Like the world moved on without me

Cracks in the mirror, frost on my breath

Numb in the silence, closer to death

All these voices under the ice

Call out my name, but they never sound right

Walls are breathing, time stands still

Buried alive beneath my will

Motionless in endless grey

Dreams dissolve and fade away

Shadows move but I remain

Still in fire, still in rain

It feels like I’m frozen — stuck in the flame

Screaming in silence, forgetting my name

It feels like I’m frozen — no way to bend

Staring at nothing, waiting to end

Glass in my veins, slow-motion fall

No direction, no one to call

Static in my head, can’t hear the light

Trapped in a dream that’s losing the fight

I reach but there’s nothing, not even pain

Just empty echoes that all sound the same

Paralyzed soul, frozen sea

I forgot what it meant to be me

I fade while the world won’t wait

Held in hands that hesitate

It feels like I’m frozen — no breath, no light

Stuck in the middle of endless night

It feels like I’m frozen — caught in the glass

Moments shatter, none of them last

Still here… still here

Can’t feel… can’t fear…

CAN’T MOVE! CAN’T BREAK!

I — CAN’T — WAKE — UP!

I am ice and I am flame

No more face and no more name

Break this shell or let me drown

If I’m not rising — pull me down

It feels like I’m frozen — and I can’t feel

Locked in a moment that never heals

It feels like I’m frozen — nothing to claim

Whispers inside me all sound the same

Frozen… frozen… frozen

It feels like I’m frozen

And I think I always was

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Thanks for visiting! Peace ☮️

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