I love everything that Erik Larson has written. I usually read them, but I went with the audiobook version for this one. It took me an entire year to get through – but that was no fault of the book. You see, I like happy endings. The ending here is no surprise, and I stopped listening to this one when it reached the last morning of the voyage. I just couldn’t do it. Then, I found myself on a long solo car trip with my […]
The Art and Poetry of War
I teach British Literature to 17 and 18 year olds of various levels and degrees of interest (in different classes). Something that I’ve noticed over the years is that just about all my students feel something when we read World War I poetry. I don’t know if it’s because it’s visceral, perhaps they appreciate the simple plain language, or maybe they can relate to the poems where the young authors express regret and naivete about their involvement in the war. Because come on, I remember […]
Live Until You Die
You told me, once, to just remember to breathe. As long as you can do that, you’re doing something Good, you said. Getting rid of the old, and letting in the new. And, therefore, moving forward. Making progress. That’s all you have to do to move forward, sometimes, you said, just breathe. Have you ever had a friend so close that you could finish each other’s sentences? How about so close you could finish each other’s lives? Etta and Otto and Russell and James is […]
Historical footnote brought vividly to life by a master of non-fiction writing
Erik Larson (Devil in the White City and Thunderstruck to name a few) writes non-fiction that reads like a novel, enthralling the reader and keeping them up page-turning with the same intensity as a beach read thriller. Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania is no exception. History tells us on May 7 1915 a German submarine attacked and sank the British cruise liner, RMS Lusitania, on a voyage from New York City to Liverpool with several hundred American citizens on board. This act […]