Year. I am excited about the discussions coming our way!
From the article Books that Linger, by John Buchanan (The
Christian Century, April 2015), our nonfiction selection The Boys
in the Boat is listed along with
- Lila, book 3 of the Marilynne Robinson's trilogy
- Birds Without Wings, by Louis DeBernieres (the final days of the Ottoman Empire & the emergence of modern Turkey)
- All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr (our book discussion from last December).
"a raw, unsophisticated teenager with no family to speak of and no resources beyond his own determination and strength." Through the
sport of rowing, the path of self confidence and redemption is claimed.
This story gives us an American Olympic triumph (9 working class boys from the Depression) in Nazi Germany.
Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark & the spending of a Great American Fortune.
Pultizer Prize-winning journalist Bill Dedman stumbled upon this story
when looking for a house outside of New York City. Out
of curiosity, he googled real estate listings in the astronomical range.
Here he found a $35 million dollar home reduced to $24 million,
that had sat unoccupied since it was purchased in 1951. The owner, did
not live in this or any of her opulent dwellings including an estate in California & 3 apartments, totaling 40 rooms, on Fifth Avenue in New York.
This book connects 19th century Gilded Age Wealth with a 21st Century battle over a 300 million inheritance. Secretive Heiress Huguette Clark died at the age of 104. This is her story.