The deadliest read.

A while ago a friend of mine hooked me up with LibraryThing, a site for avid readers and bibliophiles. Aside from great book reviews, and being able to list your collection of books, the site hosts an Early Reviewers feature. Each month LibraryThing receives a few hundred early review advance copies of books, and you can request books. A lottery system determines if you win or not. So far I have been requesting books for a little under a year, and I've won twice.

Which brings me to today's book review, Time Bandit. This is the story of brothers Andy and Johnathan Hillstrand and their Bering sea crabbing boat the Time Bandit. You may think these names sound familiar - that's because they're one of five crews who are also part of the Discovery Channel's The Deadliest Catch.

Crabbing, according to the brothers, is like the most extreme of extreme sports. This may explain why I'm not always tuned in to the series, and why I didn't have super high expectations for the book. (Those of you who know me know that I'm not into anything with the word extreme in it, unless it relates to knitting!)

I was, however, pleasantly surprised. The book is really gripping and chilling, and was an enjoyable read the way Into Thin Air was; if you put aside your horror at what these people are doing, they are truly amazing individuals, much, much different from you and I. I learned a lot about fishing and crabbing, as well as a lot about Alaska (although I don't think it improved my diplomatic relations with Russia, unlike some people....).

I would heartily recommend this book!