Listen now to NPL live classic books show – July 2010 or download here NPL classic books.
A mysterious classic
On July 12th, we had a lovely evening and a lively discussion with guests at the Norwich Public Library. This was our first jam cast in front of a live audience, and we must say audience participation leads the conversation in all sorts of interesting and thought-provoking directions.
The podcast lasted a record fifty-one minutes and covered lots of “classic” ground from Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped to The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne and then onto Hermon Wouk’s Caine Mutiny and Anya Seton’s Katherine and The Winthrop Woman. All this in just the first fifteen minutes.
A classic woman
While you have to listen to the jamcast to determine whether we are right, we believe most of the books mentioned were memorable because they were either superb adventures, coming of age stories or provided a distinctly atmospheric experience for the reader. Other books we discussed include:
Classic Truman
Great adventures: Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, The Terror by Dan Simmons, Brave Companions, Truman and John Adams by David McCullough.
Atmospheric excursions: Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier, For Whom the Bell Tolls and the Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway, Jane Austen’s works, Maisie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear.
Coming of Age Stories: To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder, The Yearling by Marjorie Rawlings, Heidi by Spyri, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, The Bluest Eye, (and then Zula, Beloved) by Toni Morrison.
There even ensued a spirited discussion of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (two fans/two passionate non-fans) and there was even a reference to the book Toilets of the World in connection with Rand’s The Fountainhead. You’ll have to listen to the actual jamcast to find out why and how.
We also mentioned Girl in Translation; Worst Case Scenarios Adventure Guide, Confronting Collapse, The Tipping Point, Bill McKibben’s works and Collapse by Jared Diamond.
THANK YOU to our three guests from Norwich – Mary, Jody, and Chris and Roy from neighboring Wilder. Thank you to the Norwich Public Library for the space, the cookies and lemonade and to Ms. Beth who kept the library open when we ran late.
