Thanks go to Nancy for hosting the last meeting at her lovely home. The food was delicious, the view was incredible, and the company was delightful. We discussed the book Longitude, by Dava Sobel. We missed Adrienne, Chris and Claudia, and Melanie too! I hope that by posting here, we can coordinate our next meeting and all be on the same date and place!
We all really were amazed by the fact that the determination of Longitude was not something we had previously questioned, or thought much about. Our admiration for John Hamilton was very unanimous, and his aptitude and talent seems to have been less recognized by those who were in power at the time of his creation of the navigational clocks. Those who did realize his contribution were the captains and sailors who would put to practical use his inventions. We questioned why the solution to the longitude problem was not something we had learned about in school.
The author's thoroughness was noted and we all thought that the book was very well done, on a subject that would be foreign and fairly dry to many readers, including myself. I had to qualify my rating of the book as I listened to it on CD, (and watched the movie too!). Listening to a book is certainly a shortcut! I hope to hear from Debbie soon, about the final group rating, as I don't have it. As you might notice in the image I inserted here, there is an illustrated version of Longitude in publication
I have in my calendar that Chris (?) will be hosting the next meeting. I am going to email Chris to confirm this.. Our recent hosts have been :Nancy, Claudia, Adrienne, and Barbara - so the upcoming hosts should be Chris, Debbie, Gerry and myself - not necessarily in that order. Claudia and I were looking at the calendar today, and noted that the date we had chosen previously - September 23 (a Wednesday) is the same day as Entiat Open House. I do plan to attend the Open House, and we both thought it might be wise to give ourselves an extra week to read our next book, as it is fairly long. What do others think about postponing this for one or two weeks, either Wednesday, Sept. 30 or Wednesday, October 7? Please respond by comment, or by phone call to Esther at the library ( I will be on vacation from this Thusday, Sept. 3 through next week)
Green Dolphin Street, by Elizabeth Goudge - our next book - was chosen by Adrienne. First published in 1944, this magnificent epic of love, courage, and selfless devotion set in the Channel Islands and New Zealand in the 19th century is written with Elizabeth Goudge’s inimitable feeling for the intricacies of human emotions. Though the book is fiction, and the characters not portraits, it is based on fact. A stunning tale of loss and self-sacrifice, it is truly one of the most memorable love stories of the last century.
The following month Nancy's choice is going to be inserted as her title ,The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer is luckily available then, and would not be otherwise for at least another year. Barbara' choice Peace Like a River, by Leif Enger will follow.
Hope to hear from all of you soon!! Have a great Labor Day!
I am certainly enjoying Green Dolphin Street, although I am only a short ways into the book. I couldn't find an image of the original book cover, but did find several of Ms. Goudge. I believe the island of Guernsey is the setting of the novel. After a week vacation on the Oregon coast, the descriptions of the harbor, the various sections of town, and the clipper ship fit right into my imaginings of the lives of the first Oregonians. Another coincidence, we will next be reading (in fact it is now at the Entiat library) The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society. Isn't it odd how one book choice seems to influence and enhance the next? I felt that Longitude gave a sense of understanding of the vagaries of the lives of our predecessors who traveled the oceans by ship more often than we do in the 21st century.
"Ocean Wave"
"Wings"