Outlander - very interesting story, albeit long

Thanks to Mary for hosting again at her lovely home, which worked out perfectly for us as there were only the few and the brave who got through the whole book. To compensate, we watched the first episode of the TV series developed by Starz which premiered in 2014. The first book was published in 1990. Lucky us, it was really good!

As it turns out, the whole first book translates into 16 episodes, so we really just had an introduction.  I have to say, I was hooked. The story is really inventive, and the history is so interesting and purportedly (I haven't checked) quite accurate.

To recap the story, Claire, a nurse recovering from her horrors of World War II, goes to Inverness, Scotland with her husband, who also has his own emotional wounds from the war. They want to reconnect and start a family. Instead, they witness a pagan ritual that somehow leaves the circle stones charged. Claire goes back, touches a stone and ends up in 18th century Scotland, in the same area, confronted with her husband's ancestor who is very bad indeed.

Of course, a handsome Scot arrives just in the nick of time, along with his cohort, and a new adventure has begun. She uses her 20th century skills to the skepticism and amazement of the others and soon enough, the skeleton of her adventures for the these 8 books is set. I hear number 9 is on its way. While I will not be flipping the pages ferociously to get to the end, this is a great story and I certainly will watch the TV version. My husband by contrast, grabbed the book out of my hand and is lost to its charms for the time being, so each to his or her own.

The group generally really liked it, there are those among us who have read a lot of it and are big fans, which means a lot with this literary crowd. All in all, a good experience and insight into yet another phenomenon that had completely passed me by.

So on to another phenomenon, one with really lasting impact. There is a new book out on the making of The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway. It is called Everyone Behaves Badly by Leslie Blume. We are going to read that book and also Hemingway's book for our next outing. So two books, hopefully fairly fast reads. I haven't read The Sun Also Rises since I was about 14 and I expect much of it passed me by, so this will be really interesting!

We will meet on August 15 (Happy Birthday Claudia!) at 6:30 pm and the current plan is to have a picnic at the Deep Run Hunt Club. I will monitor the weather and if it is anything like today, we will find an air conditioned alternative.

All the best, so fun to see you all!