Our May book, The Elephant Whisperer by Lawrence Anthony, was certainly brought to higher grounds ... marching in glory with all nines and eights (plus my deviant five and Jan’s seven)
Apparently it was just THE book to elevate our spirits in these rather dull covid times.
Thank you all ladies (eight!) participating our Zoom meeting, special thanks to Christine B for organizing the zoom conference, and to Suzanne choosing the book and hosting the meeting.
The book scored a whopping 8.0 out of 10 points!
The subject apparently rose way above the author’s literary merits. While the majority agreed that the book was not well written, it got excellent ratings; elephants must be magic- they are “animals with extreme sensitivity and loyalty” to quote Suzanne. Totally agree with Suzanne there, but as for the book, I’m sorry I didn’t quite get it! Maybe I should go and see this Thula Thula place in first hand ? Safari at 4,300$/ night ...hmm... I think I better just read the book again when in the right mood!
I scribbled down some comments such as
“Light, fun, educational - it’s about passion , not money!”
(Lindsay)
“A good read, passion, true to me, relations with wildlife..”
(Jennifer)
“No literary prices... emotional rollercoaster ...”
(Andrea)
The comment I liked best however comes from Dorothy, our visitor, so I actually asked Christine to send me the original text.
Here it is:
‘I loved the book. I’m giving it an 8 only because I think there are some books that are even more important - but an 8 is really high. I also read her follow-up book, which I found terribly sad because of the poaching and other issues she had to deal with. I fell in love with elephants - I knew the old saying about an elephant never forgets - and now I understand the truth of that, and how intelligent and sensitive to human emotion they are. The book plus David Attenborough’s nature programs have - I hope - made me more aware of how interconnected we are to the other species on the planet.’
Thank you everyone who has come forward with book suggestions. I did say I’d have a draw between all and everything, but must confess that had to discard some entries - not that they were bad books, not at all, but just because I thought they were either too heavy, difficult or just written to attract rather limited audiences.
Here is our reading list.
The meetings are always the last Tuesday of the month at 10 am.
The book for June is:
Mrs Gaskell and me by Nell Stevens
July: The Dutch House by Anne Patchett
August: Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Winer
Many curfew restrictions released for the up coming weeks already, the Hurricane season starting, and I heard that retailers allowed to open too, so I think I’m rushing my order to pick up a real paper copy of the books - something I don’t have to stay six feet apart - something I can hug !!
See you zooming again soon , as I do anticipate we more than six attending again!
Meanwhile , happy reading !
Kirsti
ILC Book club coordinator
