We conducted an informal poll at my local book club – The Blue Ridge Readers. We have been reading and discussing books for over ten years now and lately asked the question:
What is your favorite kind of book?
There were the Historical Novel lovers,
the Romance Seekers (aren’t we all?),
Avid Gourmet Foodies,
the Humorists,
Non-fiction Devotees,
and
Dor the Doomsdayer.
When I somehow stammered out the ugly truth, that I love doomsday books, there was a shocked moment of silence and twitters of nervous laughter in our normally all-accepting, socially correct gathering of serious readers.
And someone finally said, “You are the last person I would think would like that kind of reading.”
“Well, it is my contention,” I replied, “that one should not only enjoy reading, but one should try to acquire wisdom and learn something useful in the process.”
The above haughty approach is what I meant to say but what I really said was,
“You know, I like survival stories.
and by way of further explanation,
“I LOVE reading about the Plague and am now engrossed in The Year of Wonders, by Geraldine Brooks, where a small English village is left nearly empty of people and the roads are overgrowing with grass for lack of use (since everybody dies of course).”
This explanation did not help much to explain the pleasures of doomsday reading to my book group. I went on,
“I really enjoyed reading The Great Influenza. Now that’s a winner and it’s all true stuff.”
“And I loved Isaac’s Storm about the devastating 1900 hurricane in Galveston, Texas and the arrogance of man against nature. Did you know that most of Galveston is only ten feet above sea level? “
Silence.
But then there was a hint of a giggle from the back and that ended up in all-group laughter. And they weren’t laughing at me (at least I don’t think so). They were laughing with me for a preoccupation with surviving encroaching tragedy.
I am also preoccupied with stocking up for a potential pandemic but there was another post about that. Did you know they have found edible honey in Egyptian tombs?
But, finally to prove my point to my Blue Ridge Reader friends, the last book we discussed at meeting, (which everybody seemed to love) was The Widow’s War, by Sally Gunning, a novel about a brave woman struggling to keep her home and stay afloat after her husband drowned at sea. Her “widow’s war” was a fight for her rights to an independent life and to own property in Massachusetts in 1761.
The Widow’s War is a perfect survival story.
The poor widow had to make her own cheese you know. Could I do that? I need to find a book on how to make cheese.
And she made her own candles too. That was fascinating even though she practically burned her house down in the process.
But you get the idea right?
There is something to be said for doomsday reading.
Or are you laughing with me like the rest of my book club?
I like them too, but no one would be surprised if I said so. They’d be more surprised to find out that I read romance novels from time to time.
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I’m not laughing. At first I thought “Doomsday Books” sounded depressing but when you described the ones you liked I realised that I would probably like them too because I like history and I like reading about how people once lived. You just happen to like reading about how people overcame hardship and survived. If there were no such people we’d have a lot less history I guess. I once read a book by an Australian called A. B. Facey who described his early life and experiences in outback Australia and at war. He had a rough time. The name of his book? “A Fortunate Life”. If you haven’t read it I suspect you might like it.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1189454.A_Fortunate_Life
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Okay you may laugh at me for commenting about my grandson’s books. Remember the “We Were There …” series when we were young? I was dismayed that they are hard to find now. because I thought he could learn so much from them. Son is engrossed in the “I Survived…” series. Similar to being there, but not only that…surviving!
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Actually, every one of those books sounds fascinating. Really. And maybe you found a new nickname, Dor the Doomsdayer! 😉
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Oh no, I’m not laughing, Dor. All of the books you mentioned sound intriguing. I think reading books such as these remind us how good we really have it.
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Would love to have been at that meeting. I have known about your little secret and think of you when I come across a doomsday book.
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I’m not laughing at all because I love those books too. I mean what is life but survival. We all go through hard times and fight like hell to get through them, but sometimes reading about really horrific survival stories is a reminder of how good our lives really are. I have a couple of survival novels to recommend to you that are fantastic – Spirit of Lost Angels and Wolfsangel, both by Liza Perrat. I think you would like them.
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Of course I’m not laughing. I loved “Year of Wonders” almost as much as “People of the Book”, also by Geraldine Brooks. To tell you the truth, Dor, I am less and less satisfied with my book club’s choices but go for the camaraderie, wine, and “discussion.”
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I loved “People of the Book” too and it’s in my never-let-this-book-go library. My book club is fairly serious and we only have one social occasion a year (now). The rest of the time we meet for precisely one hour (unless we can get an author speaker) at the library. No food or drink but lots of camaraderie anyway. 🙂
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I am writing down your recommendations Cindy! It’s wonderful to have a fellow book lover pen pal! 🙂
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It’s wonderful to hear from you Libby! Want to come to our book club Xmas party? It’s the 16th at 4:30 PM – Jane’s house. Lemme know if you need more details. Call me too, when you are in the area visiting the family… let’s get together. Happy Holidays and thanks for connecting! 🙂
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It certainly is :). Book lovers are the best friends to have!
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Better than Dort the Snort huh? 🙂 Thanks Cindy.
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I like that idea. Sometimes we get so off-track that the book is left in the dust. Sigh. There are some good ones on our list for next year though so hope springs eternal!
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Could be that I may have learned to love survival stories from things I read in childhood. Makes sense. And isn’t life all about learning to live better, longer, happier? Maybe every book is basically a survival thing – even the fantasies and cookbooks. Ooops. I am getting profound again, but thanks so much for your thought provoking comment. 🙂
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Thanks so much for that recommendation Taswegian! I will definitely follow up. And you have certainly hit the truth of why I love books about overcoming hardship.
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Hahaha! We are evidently kindred spirits even though people wouldn’t recognize the similarities. 🙂
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Doomsday books generally aren’t quite my cup of tea, but the books you described sound really interesting.
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They are Sheryl! Almost as good as your grandma’s diary! She too was a survivalist in a time of harder living.
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Not laughing, Dor, but was a little surprised you went with fiction. I like the genre which were published in the late 90’s which explained how to live in a post Y2K world without electricity or gasoline 😉 Lots of interesting tidbits there, and interesting skills to master. I go more with historical fiction, but agree with you that one should learn something interesting and useful from what one reads. Great format for a book review 😉 Best wishes, WG
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Thanks for your comment woodlandgnome. I too go for historical fiction – not just fiction. I must not have said it clearly in the post. In fact, “The Great Influenza” is non fiction and just as fascinating.
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Generally “truth” is more interesting than fiction 😉 Have you read Joseph Farrell? Another good author/researcher who writes the more interesting version of history 😉 Best wishes, WG
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Hi Dora, As you know most of the books I read have something to do with Ancient history, Archaeology Geology and so on but I very often break away from the scholarly stuff and go to the extreme, and pick up a tale of romance or tragedy hoping it is going to have a happy ending .I love Biographies and ,true life stories. I agree with your choice of book Dora, they always have an in depth meaning.
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I think you are being optimistic to be attracted to survivalist writing. It means you are a survivor yourself!
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Hi Rita, I think seeking the truth from Ancient history is a form of survival investigation. We hopefully learn from the practices (and errors) of the past. And breaking away in the search for happy endings is a must as well.
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