Welcome to Shelf Control — an original feature created and hosted by Bookshelf Fantasies.

Shelf Control is a weekly celebration of the unread books on our shelves. Pick a book you own but haven’t read, write a post about it (suggestions: include what it’s about, why you want to read it, and when you got it), and link up! For more info on what Shelf Control is all about, check out my introductory post, here.

Want to join in? Shelf Control posts go up every Wednesday. See the guidelines at the bottom of the post, and jump on board!

Title: Journey
Author: James A. Michener
Published: 1988
Length: 366 pages

What it’s about (synopsis via Goodreads):

One of the premier novelists of the twentieth century, James A. Michener captures a frenzied time when sane men and women risked their very lives in a forbidding Arctic land to win a dazzling and elusive prize: Yukon gold. In 1897, gold fever sweeps the world. The promise of untold riches lures thousands of dreamers from all walks of life on a perilous trek toward fortune, failure—or death. Journey is an immersive account of the adventures of four English aristocrats and their Irish servant as they haul across cruel Canadian terrain toward the Klondike gold fields. Vivid and sweeping, featuring Michener’s probing insights into the follies and grandeur of the human spirit, thisis the kind of novel only he could write.

How and when I got it:

Here’s my super-battered paperback copy:

I bought it at a used book store ages ago — probably 10 years, at least!

Why I want to read it:

Michener books are essential travel prep for me — I read his Alaska before my first trip to Alaska, and I can’t even express how much richer my experience was because of this.

Journey focuses on the Klondike gold rush, which does come up in Alaska as well, and I’ve always wanted to read more about it. Plus, Michener just knows how to spin a great tale, and thankfully, this book is much shorter than some of the hefty novels of his that I’ve read.!

What do you think? Would you read this book? 

Please share your thoughts!

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Want to participate in Shelf Control? Here’s how:

• Write a blog post about a book that you own that you haven’t read yet.
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Have fun!