April Bookclub News

 

 

 

Sargent's Robert Louis Stevenson and His Wife

 

Dear Bookclub,

Lunching at a cozy Cafe Luna table on a chilly April afternoon to discuss Camille Peri's "A Wilder Shore", we were gratefully distanced from the discomfort of the many locales and ordeals Robert Louis Stevenson and his wife, Fanny, experienced in their quest for a healthy and peaceful life together.

not Samoa

"The Romantic Odyssey" subtitle mystified while notice of Louis' maladies and Fanny's dedication illuminated an offbeat emphasis. Disease lurked in Louis and Fanny's contributions were minimized yet their colorful world beamed. Peri's introduction states her desire to inspire "anyone seeking a freer, more unconventional life".  The magic and magnetism of the circle of writers and artists in this odyssey would be quite impossible to conjure up with even the most exquisite amount of inspiration from Peri's research. We were duly amazed and impressed by RSL and Fanny, recognizing unique.

John Singer Sargent's portrait fascinates. It is currently in Steve Wynn's private collection. Please enjoy this essay from a JSS virtual gallery:

https://www.jssgallery.org/Paintings/Robert_Louis_Stevenson_and_His_Wife.htm 

19th century laudanum

 

Laudanum and other outdated toxic remedies jumped from the pages alerting our present day sensibilities. Check out this piece, interesting not only for its content but also for its existence - the Museum of Health Care at Kingston Blog:

https://museumofhealthcare.blog/laudanum-freedom-from-pain-for-the-price-of-addiction/ 

 

Val's suggestions for an upcoming read:

 "Wild Dark Shore" Charlotte McConaghy *chosen

"Rabbit Moon" Jennifer Haigh

"Medicine River: The Story of Survival and the Legacy of the Indian Boarding Schools" Mary Annette Pember

 

 

Up next:

 Happy reading,

LK

March Bookclub News

 

Dear Bookclub,

Discussion of Purnell's Pamela took a backseat to hours of catching up and reminiscing. Nostalgia lingered on our bookclub day-drinking from years-gone-by.  Consuming tea and water, we finally got down to business to decipher the "Kingmaker". 

Astounded by the finesse of Pamela Churchill Harriman, her long list of conquests, and her 'involvement' in many historic events, I wonder if the enchantment came naturally. Her attraction to the naughty great-great Aunt Jane Digby, certainly suggests an inherited gene or emulation or both. 

Jane Digby is amazing and naughty or not, you decide:

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/clips/around-the-world-in-80-days-s1-who-is-jane-digby/#

 PBS Masterpiece Series!
 

Four centuries of Digby fortune welcomed Pamela at birth. A minor naval engagement, 'Action of 16 October 1799', part of the French Revolutionary Wars, involved British and Spanish forces and resulted in the acquistion of the wealth by  Sir Henry Digby, an Admiral. Please enjoy this description:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_16_October_1799 

 

HMS Ethalion in action with the Spanish frigate Thetis off Cape Finisterre, 16th October 1799, Thomas Whicombe. 

The wealth waned yet Pamela's launch was impressive. Perhaps the poster child for Helen Gurley Brown tactics, who once famously quipped, "Good girls go to heaven. Bad girls go everywhere.", Pamela did indeed get around. Remember these??

 

 

 

My suggestions for an upcoming read:

"Sargent's Women" Donna M. Lucey

"Mutinous Women" Joan DeJean* chosen

"Be Ready When the Luck Happens" Ina Garten

 

 

 

Up next:

 

 Happy reading,

LK