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| Naï Zakharia |
Dear Bookclub,
David Grann's "The Wager" rocked and shocked with the details of an unimaginable journey exposing the extremes of human will and deadly forces, both natural and man-made. While Grann's research clearly went deep, the telling was at times "a slog", as some of our crew described the read. Yet, the survival struggle is one we love (diminishes our daily annoyances) and we meekly dismissed the point of sacrifice for the empire.
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| Dion Graham |
The audible, narrated by Dion Graham(clearly not Grann's son as I'd erroneously piped up ... (Grann sounds like Graham?) was d-r-a-m-a-t-i-c. TG appreciated it greatly while TVD and myself found it annoying. TG, you have the last word with this one! From Wikipedia:
"Dion Graham is an American actor and narrator. As an actor, he has worked both on and off-Broadway, as well as in TV series and film. As of April 2024, he has narrated at least 280 audiobooks.[1] He has earned a place on AudioFile magazine's list of Golden Voice Narrators, as well as Audible's Narrator Hall of Fame. Further, he has won 11 Audie Awards, 71 Earphone Awards, 3 Listen-Up Awards, and 1 Odyssey Award.
Book Riot called Graham "the best of the best" in audiobook narration, saying, "His voice is rich and emotive, making even the driest bits of a long biography or history come alive. His ability to inhabit characters seems limitless; his myriad character accents are always flawless."[2] "
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dion_Graham#cite_note-1
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| my nerve center |
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| Grann in his Westchester County home office |
Definitely a rung below me on the Martha Stewart's best ideas for a working office, Grann left his to research Wager Island. The quote, from a Wall Street Journal article shared below, is Grann's description of the journey that took him out of his comfort zone exploring archives and into the sea:
The
boat was maybe 50 feet, heated by a wood stove. When we set out into
the open ocean, it gave me my first taste of these terrifying seas. In
front of us was a mountain of water, behind us was a mountain of water.
And all you could do was sit on the floor, because if you stood you
could get chucked and could break a limb. I sat for eight to 10 hours on
the floor. I put on a book tape of Moby-Dick, which in retrospect was not the most soothing thing to do.
Please enjoy the full article:
Ginger's suggestions for an upcoming read:
"The Mercies" Kiran Millwood Hargrave *chosen
"Sandwich" Catherine Newman
"Lake of the Woods" Tim O'Brian
Up next:
Happy reading,
LK
