September 2015 Bookclub News

Dear Bookclub,

Big picture: Only a subset of our group (approximately 2/3 of us) was present today at our meeting and that group really liked "Dead Wake" for no other reason than we learned so much. I guess being ignorant of facts surrounding America's entry into WWI had us primed for page-turning Erik Larson's depiction of the Lusitania's demise. Admittedly, I have been obsessed with similar disasters since some childhood moment when I became aware of the Titanic (camp song?). The human element in the survival/death tales imbedded in Larson's heavily researched retelling of the events surrounding the sinking of the Lusitania drew me in. However, our big take-away was the baiting done to engage forces into combat, then and always.

Little picture: The individuals. From a Lusitania information website, http://www.rmslusitania.info/people/statistics/  :


How many people died in the Lusitania sinking?  How many survived? 

	Total	Survived	Died	Survival rate
Saloon (First Class)	290	113	177	39.0%
Second Cabin (Second Class)	601	229	372	38.1%
Third Class	370	134	236	36.2%
Deported Seamen (Third Class)	3	0	3	0.0%
Total Passengers	1,264	476	788	37.7%
Stowaways	3	0	3	0.0%
Band	5	3	2	60.0%
Deck Crew	69	37	32	53.6%
Engineering Crew	313	112	201	35.8%
Victualling Crew	306	139	167	45.4%
Total Crew (including Band)	693	291	402	42.0%
Total Complement (with stowaways)	1,960	767	1,193	39.1%

I have not yet done breakdown by nationality or age group, but those are worth considering for future updates.  Accounting for the four survivors who died not long afterwards, this becomes:

	Total	Survived	Died	Survival rate
Total Complement (with stowaways)	1,960	763	1,197	38.9%

 (Conclusion: be in the band)

Now it is time for some levity. Very nice wine at lunch....

Titles Terry recommended for consideration for upcoming read:
 "Purity" by Jonathan Franzen
"Among  the Ten Thousand Things"  by Julie Peirpont *chosen
"Go Set a Watchman" by Harper Lee
"The Shadow of the Wind" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Up next: "Euphoria" by Lily King

Happy Reading,
LK