Dear Bookclub,
Amor Towles' "The Lincoln Highway" was adored by all. 'Our' table at Cafe Luna, near the terminus of the Ted Williams Parkway, welcomed the companionship and discussion. Endeared to Towles' writing style, amazed by his range of themes among his books, and entertained by the tale of "The Lincoln Highway", we reminisced about portions of the book, debated a bit, and moved on to lunch.
The Lincoln Highway:
* First road across the U.S. for automobiles, conceived in 1912 and dedicated in 1913.
* Runs coast to coast from Times Square in NYC to Lincoln Park in San Fransisco.
* Originally running through 13 states, a removal ("Colorado Loop") in 1915 and a realignment in 1928 through the northern tip of West Virginia, brought the highway through a total of 14 states, with an official length of 3,389 miles.
To learn more, please visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Highway
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| you know him as Abe |
Ted Williams Parkway:
* Travels East-West as a connector of I-15 and I-5, 9.210 miles in length.
* SR 56 was added to the state highway system in 1959 as Legislative Route 278, and renumbered SR 56 in 1964.
* Completed in 2004 after numerous lawsuits from environmentalists over concerns of the destruction of farmland, marshland and willow scrubland, the habitat of the endangered least Bell's vireo.
* Officially named after Ted Williams in 1993 by the California Legislature.
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| least Bell's vireo |
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| Ted |
Holding up to the test of a second read in a few months, I greatly enjoyed the repeat performance. Still fascinated by the <- spoiler alert!!! - > demise of Duchess, the ambiguity about malintent from Emmet, remained. Towles is crafty.
A charming 8-minute listen with Amor Towles discussing the pleasures of character development and reading a small excerpt is a worthwhile listen:
https://www.npr.org/2021/10/13/1045800389/amor-towles-the-lincoln-highway-interview
If you would like to hear more, much more, here is a fabulous interview with Kerri Miller of Minnesota Public Radio, where she delves into his mother issues(!) and characters without parents so Towles can keep that foxhole clear:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-WrAszGhsg
Wanda's suggestions for an upcoming read:
"A Registry of My Passage Upon the Earth" Daniel Mason *chosen
"The Promise" Damon Galgut
"French Braid" Anne Tyler
Up next:
Happy reading,
LK
