The Healing Power of Korean Letter Writing

Mun, Juhee. The Healing Power of Korean Letter Writing. New York : Ten Speed Press. 2025. Print.

First Sentences:

It's hard to find anyone who doesn't like letters. We feel a thrill when we receive them. One of their charms is that we can't see what's inside right away: there's an anticipation in unsealing the mysteries held within.

Description:

Sometimes we need a book that presents a reality that restores our faith in humankind. A world where people are friendly, curious, and good. A place where strangers seek to communicate in a kind manner, displaying their interest in the lives of others on a highly satisfying and very personal level.

Such a book is the delicate, wonderful The Healing Power of Korean Letter Writing, by Juhee Mun. Mun opened a small lettershop in Seoul in 2019 called "Geulwoll," which is "a native Korean word, a respectful term meaning 'letter'." In her shop she sells fine writing materials from high end pens and variety of luscious papers to envelopes, stamps and books about writing.

But most importantly what Geulwoll provides the public are letter-writing spaces for people to sit down and actually compose letters. Customers purchase products and often remain in the shop to create  letters.For me, that's an amazingly comforting sight to imagine. 

 

The shop owner/author also is fascinated by her customers and describes her experiences watching and helping them. She writes about her own personal preferences as well, including her best places to write, best times, best opening lines, drafts, endings, and even replies. Here are a few samples of what Mun observes in her shop and life:

• That which takes longer to arrive stays longer in the heart. I think that is why we turn to letters when we want people to remember us;

•  I believe that letter writing is an act of storytelling;

• Letters have the power to remind us of the people who've made us who we are today.

• Respite from loneliness, however brief, isn't found in the grand or the extravagant, but in the little, simple things -- a pleasant autumn breeze, a sweet dessert, or a letter just for me. Within simplicity we find serenity, and though the moment may be fleeting, our hearts grow peaceful for a while.

• When there's something I can't speak out loud, I can still write, no matter how uncomfortable it may feel to do so. Thus I try not to package up the letter solely as something beautiful; otherwise, it's impossible to be authentic as I sit before a blank sheet of paper.

There is also some charming advice that any correspondents might find useful, from selecting stamps to choosing the correct slot in a Korean mailbox, from using a post office itself to delivering the letter by hand. 

The shop also has an anonymous Pen Pal area where people may drop off letters into a box about their lives, questions, problems, etc. They then may select another anonymous letter to simply read or possibly begin corresponding with that stranger via the shopkeeper as go-between to preserve anonymity. 

For a few short hours, I found myself dreamily envisioning myself in Geulwoll, carefully perusing writing papers and even expensive pens for the first time, then settling down in a quiet corner to write to my wife, son, and a few other special people in my life. It's a magical image for me, one that flows throughout this brief book. Maybe it will transport you to that small Korean letter-writing shop as well.

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

 Youngson, Anne. Meet Me At the Museum

Simply a wonderful book about two people corresponding from half a world apart. The gentleness and affection for their worlds and eventually each other is transporting. It's the best. (Previously reviewed here.)

 Happy reading.

Fred

[P.S. Click here to browse over 500 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.] 

Hatchet

 Paulsen, Gary. Hatchet. New York : Simon & Schuster 1987. Print.

 

First Sentences:

Brian Robeson stared out the window of the small plane at the endless green northern wilderness below. It was a small plane, a Cessna 406 -- a bushplane -- and the engine was so loud so roaring and consuming and loud, that it ruined any chance for conversation. Not that he had much to say.


Description:

Just because a book is labeled as being in the "Young Adult" genre doesn't mean it is not worthy of attention by adults, too. Such is the case of Hatchet by Gary Paulsen. Many of you may already know of this book (and many of Paulsen's other works) after reading it to your youngsters or watching them become engrossed while reading its story for themselves as teens. 

 

For me, it was cleaning out my bookshelves. I came across a worn version that both our son and I had read and re-read several times, although in my case not for many years. I decided I needed a bolstering adventure tale so started reading it again. In only a couple of days, I finished the nail-biting adventure, fully satisfied with the writing, characters, setting, and of course the survival story of thirteen-year-old Brian Robeson, lost deep in the Canadian woods.

Brian, flying in a small bush plane for a visit with his father in backwoods Canada, has to crash land the plane after the pilot suffers a heart attack and dies in the skies over the middle of nowhere. Brian manages to scramble out of his seat and finds himself in a dense, lonesome forest surrounding the lake where he crashed.

 

As a city boy who knows virtually nothing about the outdoors, Brian is faced with the conclusion that no one knows where he is or even whether he is alive. Therefore, left on his own, he must learn how to find shelter, eat, and ward off any threats to his survival.

 

The rest of the book follows his self-taught education into forest lore and the creatures and environment that surround him. He learns, slowly, frustratingly, and sometimes painfully how to manage his life day to day, alone.

 

And that is the story. I found the challenges faced by Brian to be realistic as were his solutions, including the choices he made that did not work in his favor. I was caught up in the life alone in the woods and continually wondered whether I would have addressed the situation and survived or just ... I don't know, gave up?

 

It is a gripping tale, a very personal experience narrated by Brian as he struggles with new challenges virtually every hour.  Author Paulsen is an extremely gifted writer of YA books and has related that he himself had experienced in his own life each of Brian's challenges, thus adding to the realistic adventures and mindset of Brian in his foreign world.

 

There are several other adventures in the Brian Robeson survival series, each one great although I enjoyed Brian's Winter the most for its completely different challenges he faces in the bitter cold season (see below).

 

Highly recommended for your own reading and especially to read aloud or give as a gift to a curious young person seeking adventure and a voice they can understand and identify with. 

  

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

Paulsen, Gary. Brian's Winter.

What if Brian had not been saved before the bitter cold of winter arrived in his woods? How could he survive, even using his newly-discovered forestry skills? A gripping adventure full of adventure, obstacles, hardships, and triumphs.

Happy reading.

 

Fred

[P.S. Click here to browse over 500 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.]

After the Fire

 Mankell, Henning. After the Fire. New York : Vintage 2017. Print.

First Sentences:

My house burned down on an autumn night almost a year ago. It was a Sunday.

Description:

Henning Mankell writes more than the captivating thrillers with Swedish Inspector Kurt Wallenger. He can also create brooding novels with off-beat characters who experience unusual situations. One piece of evidence is my latest read: After the Fire. 

 

As the opening sentence (a compelling beauty, right?) sets the scene, the narrator, Fredrik Welin, has lost his family cabin and everything he owns except for the pajamas and overcoat he was wearing when he fled the fire. Only the bright light of the burning ceiling woke him up and allowed him to escape. 

 

But investigation showed that the fire was an arson and Welin is under suspicion that he is the person responsible. And then a second house is burned down, but Welin is still regarded as a possible arson suspect.

 

The novel recounts, through Welin thoughts and words, information about himself as a retired surgeon now living a solitary life in the family cabin on an isolated island in northern Sweden. He has his own routines, including a morning plunge into the lake by his cabin, even during winter when he has to chip away a hole in the ice.

 

We read about his wandering, estranged daughter who has only had sporadic communication with him for years, but who has  arrived on the island after hearing about the fire to inspect the damage and share news of her own life.  

 

Welin talks about interactions with the community in which he lives and the ordinary, if somewhat quirky townspeople he encounters. There is the former postman Jansson who seems to know and share every rumor and was generally assumed to read all mail before delivering it. A local newspaper reporter arrives to write a story about the fire and captures Welin's attention. Then there is the unknown person who visits Welin's campsite and leaves it in pristine order after departure.

 

While this may sound like a simple story, in the hands of a master like Mankell, there are mysteries all around. Some are only hinted at, seen out of the corner of Welin's eye and which he cannot determine whether they are just an ordinary situations or possibly hold a key to the happenings in the community. Learning about these people and happenings are quietly unfolded in this engrossing novel. It puts you right in the midst of the cold isolation of a small town experiencing two (and maybe more in the future?) arson cases.

 

So plunk down in a cosy chair and sink yourself into the isolated world of northern Sweden with all its subtle goings-on. A very nice way to spend some time. 

 

 

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

Mankell, Henning. The Pyramid

Five short stories about the back story of Swedish Investigator Kurt Wallander, how he came onto the police force and early cases, all sprinkled with details of his early personal life.. (Previously reviewed here.)

 Happy reading.

Fred

[P.S. Click here to browse over 500 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.]

Island at the Edge of the World

Pitts, Mike. Island at the Edge of the World: The Forgotten History of Easter Island. New York : Mariner Books 2026. Print.

First Sentences:

This story about statues begins on Easter Sunday, 1722, on what was then the remotest inhabited island on Earth. This was the day the first European set eyes on Rapa Nui, the start of the final century when Islanders were in control of their own world. It was the day when everything about the island began to change, so that within a few generations no one there could say what the statues meant or who made them.

Description:

No one can deny a secret fascination with Rapa Nui (Easter Island). After all, it's a barren island thousands of miles from the nearest land, with no trees, few inhabitants, and hundreds of huge stone statues of heads and bodies scattered throughout the land. How was this island ever discovered and by whom? Where did all those people go? Why are there no trees? And, of course, who carved the gigantic heads and for what purpose?   

 

Mike Pitts, in his extensively researched Island at the Edge of the World: The Forgotten History of Easter Island, looks deeply into original documents recorded by the first seamen who came across Rapa Nui in the 1700s, as well as the diaries and notes taken by early researchers, Katherine and Scoresby Routledge, who in 1910 lived for months on the island with to study and understand its people, culture, and history. DNA and radiocarbon dating were also studied. He also included research by Thor Heyerdahl from the 1960s, although Pitts feels many of Heyerdahl's conclusions, while extremely popular with the public, were based on legends, misconceptions, and racism which perpetuated many untruths about Rapa Nui and its history.

 

Little is known of Raga Nui prior to 1760, with only scattered eye-witness records of Europeans from 1722 on and before the slave traders, missionaries, and South American governments took a self-centered interest.

 

Author Pitts divides Island at the Edge of the World into sections to explore several major questions. He focuses his studies about each subject on related hard evidence and original documents to draw conclusions based on facts rather than legends and unsupported rumors:

• First settlers? - Pitts research indicates that Polynesians were the first settlers around 1200. They were masters of navigating long distances and had already colonized other islands using huge outriggers that could carry sufficient men, women, and children as well as animals, tools, and food to start a colony. Easter Island culture is full of Polynesian art, building style, traditions, etc.

• First Europeans? - In 1760 a Dutch East Indian Company ship stumbled upon the island on, guess what, Easter Sunday, 1760. Other voyages followed, including those of James Cook and explorers from other countries as well. Pitts searched out these first-hand observations as the most reliable accounts of island life and people.

• What happened to the people? - Pitts found records indicating the immediate influx of Peruvian slave traders who captured most of the population as slaves. A decade later when the Chilean government passed laws to stop this human trading and return captured islanders, the released captives brought back diseases which decimated the population even further. The arrival of Christian missionaries spread more disease, further diminishing the culture and population. Investors bought the abandoned homes and gardens of deceased islanders and turned it into sheep-grazing land, destroying cultural centers, farms, houses, and religious symbols. The island was "sold" by the Chilean government in 1897 to one man who turned all the land to sheep grazing. The population was rounded up and placed in a single large community behind walls and not allowed outside that compound. Only a hundred or so people survived in 1877, down from an estimated population of 6,000  only a decade ago.

• Who built the stone heads (moai) and why? - Although the earliest interviews with the islanders were recorded by the Routledges in 1910, the current people did not know the origin of the carvings and purpose even at that early date. Recent carbon dating puts the stone carving between 1200-1680CE. Pitts concludes that the slave trade removed the men who knew how to carve the statues, as well as those who understood the purpose and traditions the carvings represented. Recent archeological digs have uncovered human bones at the foot of these stone heads, indicating the giant heads might be grave markers and protectors of ancestors.

• How were the statues moved? - Almost 1,000 heads were found scattered all over the island. They must have been moved from the quarry to their varied locations. But this barren island never provided enough trees to use as rollers under the statues, a difficult undertaking with any trunks that were not perfectly cylindrical. Rope-walking the heads was also tricky as statues were likely to fall, unable to be raised again. Pitts tested and soon felt the answer was sleds made of palm fronds and a couple of trunks which could easily slide the heads into desired locations.

• What new research is there? - DNA and radiocarbon dating have become very sophisticated, allowing anthropologists and archeologists solid data on the age of the stone carvings, the tools used, the ancestral history of the surviving people through buried bones, and the beginning of understanding of the few pieces of writing and pictures found.

Each of Pitts' conclusions was reached after exhaustive research into ancient records and visits to Raga Nui himself. Interestingly, he located records from Katherine Routledge, (the first person to actually study the island and culture), including her diaries, maps, statue counts and descriptions, sketches of petroglyphs, and interviews with natives. These documents had long before been seized and suppressed by her husband, Scoresby, after he had her forcibly committed her to an asylum for her paranoid behavior. Pitts also visited and described what few artifacts exist in museums around the world, including several carved heads, some untranslated writing on wood planks, and a feathered helmet.

 

Sorry this review is so long, but it is a fascinating subject full of thorough research clearly presented to try to unlock the secrets of Rara Nui. Many of Pitts' findings counter Heyerdahl's and other popular theories, with Pitt feeling these accounts relied on unproved rumors and conjectures by the writers, and did much damage to the real story of these islanders by suppressing the cruel influence that Europeans had thrust upon them. 

 

So read or at least skim this book for what I consider the true history, culture, and fate of this most mysterious of isolated islands: Rara Nui, also known as Easter Island. 

   

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

 Heyerdahl, Thor. Easter Island: The Mystery Solved

Read Heyerdahl's own explanation of the history of Easter Island, the stone carvings, writings, and original settlers. He proposes very different answers to the questions raised about the island, its people, and carvings. (Note: Mike Pitts, in the above book, thinks Heyerdahl is mistaken in almost ever explanation he proposes, but it is interesting to contrast their research and conclusions.)  (Previously reviewed here.)

 Happy reading.

Fred

[P.S. Click here to browse over 500 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.]

First Light

 Wellum, Geoffrey. First Light. New York : Viking 2002. Print.

First Sentences:

There are some days in the early spring when the weather is such that, no matter where you are, either in town or countryside, England is at her best and it's good to be alive. I notice that it is just such a day as I emerge from the underground at Holborn, turn left, and walk down Kingsway....I am seventeen and a half years old and, I suspect, a rather precocious young man. It was some six months ago when I first wrote to the Air Ministry...and very much wanted to fly an aeroplans, so could they give me a job, please?

Description:

I've only been up in a small plane a couple of times, but the thrill and freedom of soaring in the air made a lasting impression. So I was captivated by the very personal memoirs of World War II RAF airman Geoffrey Wellum in this memoir First Light. 

 

In this compelling stream-of-consciousness book, Wellum details his adventures learning to fly for the RAF and then entering numerous combat and escort missions during the War...all starting at the ripe old age of 17 1/2 years old. (He lied about his age and got into the RAF, even though he had no knowledge of planes or how to fly). One month after entering RAF training, England entered the War, making Wellum's flight instruction more intense and rushed (and real).

 

Wellum and his fellow students are rushed into action before completing their training. Aerial combat exercises were never undertaken. Nevertheless, he is assigned to the newly-formed 92nd Squadron and, at 18, is by far the youngest pilot. Unlike the older, veteran 92nd squadron pilots, Wellum has no dog-fighting experience, much to the consternation of his commanding officer who feels Wellum will be useless for the foreseeable future. 

 

Wellum is shown for the first time a new Spitfire plane, much different from the bi-wing planes of his training and, with no instruction, told to take it up to get used to it. What follows is a harrowing take-off, flying, and landing sequences that Wellum feels are so bad they will bump him out of further training and the RAF completely. His first night landing is so far off course that he clips a landing tower and takes off one of his Spitfire's wings. 

 

And we readers are with him in the cockpit throughout these and all his future flights as he clearly, if nervously, narrates his thoughts, fears, and unwillingness to give up. We are with him post-missions in the officers' mess and local pubs where friendships are sealed and recently-departed comrades remembered. 

 

We are all young, all paddling the same canoe, and as the evening progresses [at the local bar] the certain knowledge that few, if any, of us will survive to see the end of the war bind us even closer together....the thought of the possibility of being killed is not unduly worrying or upsetting. One just ignores it. Each is convinced that it cannot possibly happen to him. 

 

Wellum and the 92nd Squadron begin flying missions to defend England from attacking German planes. Two, even three sorties are required each day, all of them exhausting, tense, and death-defying. We readers experience what such fighting, terror, confidence, and survival tractics a pilot experiences during these encounters. 

 

And Wellum loses his friends and fellow squadron companions on a regular basis. Sometimes they are seen being shot down; others simply fail to return from a mission. And still the flying missions continue.

 

As the War begins to turn, Wellum' squadron is assigned to escort huge British supply convoys across the Channel from England to France, providing air cover and dog-fighting with any German planes which try to attack these ships. Sometimes the loss of these British boats and their contents signal a huge setback to the troops in France, while others that Wellum helps slip through enemy fighters provide relief that bolsters the Allies' war effort. Longer and longer distances to each flight are required as Allied forces push deeper into France, requiring air support for all troop movement even all the way to Malta.

 

The narration is breath-taking in its clarity of each flying situation and how Wellum responds. Sometimes he almost panics, sometimes he gets lucky, and sometimes he draws on extraordinary calm skills to see him through the flight and back to base.

 

I was fully engrossed in this man and his adventures aloft, constantly reminding myself that he was only a teenager taking on these incredibly taxing, dangerous missions. Fortunately, Wellum took copious notes daily of his missions and thoughts, so his accounts of life in the RAF are highly detailed and personable, reflecting his and other pilot feelings about fighting the enemy in the sky:

Coupled with fear, I now also feel a sense of anger. What right has this German to fly his snotty little aeroplane over our England and try to kill me? Who invited him?....The bloody arrogance of it! Well, you'll not shoot me down you black-crossed sod. 

For anyone interested in flying, World War II dog-fighting, and aviation training along with the teamwork and execution of aerial missions, First Light is your book. Highly recommended. 

Often, after take-off and on the climb up, especially if we are top cover at 25,000 or more, a wonderful remote feeling of unreality seems to come over me. It's almost like a drug. Complete freedom from earthly worries or fears for the battle that will almost certainly develop after we cross the French coast. I just can't be bothered to get scared any more....I find it an environment of great beauty. It brings on a happiness and, almost, I look forward to the next operation before the one I'm on is finished. It's like getting your second wind.

  

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

 Dahl, Roald. Going Solo

The children's book author relates his adventures learning to fly in World War II and later entering combat missions in Africa and Greece. Riveting as he takes you right into the cockpit with him and tells you his thoughts throughout each step in his aviation and combat experiences. (Previously reviewed here.)

 Happy reading.

Fred

[P.S. Click here to browse over 500 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.]

So Help Me Golf

Reilly, Rick. So Help Me Golf: Why We Love the Game. New York : Hatchett 2022. Print.

First Sentences:

When I was one, my family was staying at a mountain cabin in Evergreen, Colorado. Apparently, my dad had hit a rough patch with work and we had no place to live, so we stayed in my grandfather's vacation cabin until things turned around. 

Description:

Do you love or at least enjoy watching or playing golf? The sweeping fairways, the brilliant shot-making, the unbelievable escapes and shanks, and the colorful players themselves? Well, then, I've got the book for you:  Rick Reilly's So Help Me Golf: Why We Love the Game.

 

This is a collection of his very short pieces about his life playing and writing about golf. Each essay is only 2-4 pages, giving you an clear, often very funny insight into the workings of the game beyond the scores and standings found in general sports reporting. Reilly interviews the ordinary people as well as the stars behind each profile, giving a human touch to every story.

 

And oh, the things you will learn about the game and the figures who make it unique. Here are just a few examples from Reilly's interviews and research:

• Bob Gustafson played 536 rounds of golf in one year, usually about 63 holes a day, rain or shine, which he worked in before work, between job breaks for lunch, before dinner, and a quick nine after dinner;

• In a 1943 German Prisoner of War camp, Stalag Luft 3, American aviator pilots found a woman's 7-iron, pulled together scraps of string and rubber from their boots to make a small ball, and constructed a golf course. (This was the same Stalag where the Great Escape took place, with prisoners digging tunnels underground while others played golf above them.)

• Ricky Meissner, a journeyman player trying to qualify, learned he could make enough money to get to the next tournament by robbing a bank in the tournament town. In one year, he robbed 19 banks before being caught.

• Reilly, while preparing for his Mall of America book signing, noticed there were 200 chairs set up and ropes in place to control the lines of expected attendees. Food and beverage were available. But when he finally got started, only one scruffy man was sitting in the sea of chairs, urging Reilly to give his full presentation. When done, Reilly asked if he had any questions, and the man responded, "Can we eat them cookies?";

• On the Tour, the caddy of the winning player has to buy the other caddies a chicken dinner with beer, originating the phrase, "Winner, winner, chicken dinner."

• After falling from a horse following the second round, Mike Reasor, a 10-year Tour player was still required to play the final two rounds in order to qualify for automatic entry into the next tourney. With a separated shoulder, two torn ribs, and damaged knee ligaments, he went out on Saturday and Sunday with just a 5-iron and putter (those were the only clubs he could swing ...one-handed), and shot 123 and 114...but got his automatic entry into the next tourney;

• World Champion poker player Daniel Negreanu made a $500,000 bet with fellow pro poker player Phil Ivey that Negreanu, in one year, couldn't shoot an 80 on a chosen course. Negreanu took the bet, but ignored practicing for it for 11 months. Finally, in last-minute pratice, managed to shoot an 86. But with one week to go, he started a fantastic round that ended up with one putt on the final green to win that bet: a 5-foot putt worth $100,000 a foot; 

• RJ Smith of Minnesota went out every day with his wife to collect balls while she played (he did not like the game). He'd bring his haul back to their barn, sort them (by brand, number, style, as well as themed ones like NFL teams, Super Bowl balls, car manufacturers, etc.), and eventually collected over 70,000 balls carefully organized into egg cartons and crates.

Sorry to be so long in this review, but there were so many great, funny, off-beat stories to share with you I couldn't decide which ones to choose. Also included in the chapters are Reilly's own stories about his troubled relationship with his alcoholic father, an family environment that drove him to golf.

 

A well-written, humorous, easy-to-get-lost-in book that is perfect for these warmer days of spring and our own chance to get out on the course or at least watch the pros hit their magnificent shots. Enjoy. 

 

Will Rogers said. "Golf is good for the soul. You get so mad at yourself you forget to hate your enemies." 

 

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

 Reilly, Rick. Who's Your Caddy?

Author Reilly humorously documents the year he spent as a caddy for famous golfers and celebrities, recalling their wisdom, cheating, and his own ineptitude, all the while rejoicing in the beauty of the game of golf.

 Happy reading.

Fred

[P.S. Click here to browse over 500 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.]

Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont

Taylor, Elizabeth. Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont. New York : New York Review Books 2021. Print.

First Sentences:

 

Mrs Palfrey first came to the Claremont Hotel on a Sunday afternoon in January. Rain had closed in over London, and her taxi sloshed along the almost deserted Cromwell Road, past one cavernous porch after another, the driver going slowly and poking his head out into the wet, for the hotel was not known to him. 

Description:

This book is a bit of a switch for me. Short, cosy, quiet, not much action. But Elizabeth Taylor's Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont got ahold of me with its characters and concise writing style and wouldn't let go until the very surprising end.

 

First published in 1971, Mrs Palfrey is the eleventh of twelve novels written by Elizabeth Taylor (not that Elizabeth Taylor), and  was short-listed for the Booker Prize. Taylor, once one of the most renowned of British women writers, seems to have fallen off the "To Be Read" list of modern readers. But with Mrs Palfrey, I stumbled onto her work and was immediately captivated.

 

Laura Palfrey, the main character, is a recently widowed mother to estranged daughter Elizabeth and equally distant grandson Desmond. She recently decided to move into a modest hotel to live out her days. The Claremont was located in London near the National History Museum and other attractions, favorable points in selecting that hotel although Mrs Palfrey and her other permanent residents in that hotel never have the energy or desire to visit these attractions.

 

While the Claremont is a regular hotel with temporary guests, there are several elderly women and one man who have made it their permanent home. Living sheltered lives of gossip, loneliness, and boredom, these residents exist on routines of checking the daily posted menu for each meal, eating, watching a TV serial, and knitting. The sole male, Mr. Osborne, spends his days writing complaint letters to The Times and buttonholing the hotel staff with dull stories and crude jokes. Mrs Burton, another resident, loves nothing more that obtaining drinks at the hotel bar, while the others content themselves with observing passersby on the street and gossiping about the lives of other people.

At the Claremont, days were lived separately. One sat at separate tables and went on separate walks. The afternoon outing to change library books was always taken alone. 

Highlights for each person is a visit from a relative, even though that is usually a matter of obligation for the visitor. Mrs Palfrey has only one grandson, Desmond, nearby who works in the British Museum and has little interest in visiting her. So Mrs Palfrey, alone in her days, by chance meets an impoverished young writer, Ludo, who becomes a friend and even visits her at the Claremont.

 

The trick: Ludo with Mrs Palfrey's insistence, pretends he is her grandson, Desmond, to show her fellow residents that she, too, has relatives who visit her. For Ludo, Mrs Palfrey gives him ideas for characterization of people in the novel he is slowly writing, so his intentions are not altogether altruistic. But for Mrs Palfrey, he is a godsend to her life and her relationship with the residents.

 

Taylor writes this novel as a series of scenes rather than a narrative. Mrs Palfrey is a keen observer of her world and its inhabitants, as well as the motivations and shortcomings of herself and others. While not much happens in the routine world of the Claremont, each page is full of quiet insights into the behavior of people, something I found fully absorbing. Taylor's writing style is compact, straightforward, yet loaded with insight, compassion, frustration, loneliness, and yes, some humor.

Sometimes when I was a young, married woman, I longed to be freed -- free of nursery chores and social obligations, one's duty, d'you know? And free of worries, too, about one's loved ones -- childish ailments and ageing parents, money troubles....But it's really not to be desired -- and I realise that that's the only way of being free -- to be not needed. 

In rereading this recommendation, I'm not sure my enthusiasm for Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont comes through. But let me assure you, if you are looking for a quiet, challenging, people-centered story of quirky, yet very human characters, you cannot go wrong with this novel. Give it a whirl and see for yourself.

  

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

Willett, Jincy. Amy Falls Down

An elderly woman stumbles and falls in her backyard, only to awaken in a hospital as a celebrity due to something she recently wrote but now no longer remembers. Her quiet life is soon changed. (Previously reviewed here.)

 Happy reading.

Fred

[P.S. Click here to browse over 500 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.]

Moby-Dick

Melville, Herman. Moby-Dick: or The Whale. Oak Park, IL : Top Five Books 2026. (originally published 1851). Print.

First Sentences:

Call me Ismael. Some years ago -- never mind how long precisely -- having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear or every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off -- then, I account it high time to get to the sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball.

Description:

Please do not be afraid of taking on Herman Melville's Moby-Dick: or The Whale. I know, I know, there are many reasons to avoid this masterpiece of literature and history. 

• Too long (600+ pages with 135 (short) chapters); 
• Too much whale info (from species differences to killing to processing to the value/use of spermaciti); 
• Too difficult a language (in 1850s style, why use one adjective and a short sentence when ten adjectives in a 50-word sentence works even better?); 
• Too much symbolism (everything comes in three's, too religious, fate vs. free will, etc.); 
• Too tragic (obsessive, vengeful doomed captain vs. maniacal, equally vengeful whale); 
• I simply don't have the time and don't care about this book.

But you will be denying yourself one of the greatest work of historical fiction ever created. You would want to at least give such an immersive novel a chance, wouldn't you? I thought as much so keep reading. 

 

To warm you up, I have included several more opening sentences above, more than just the first words of this novel. After all, who doesn't know "Call me Ishmael," probably one of the familiar opening three words in literature? 

 

But you need to notice and absorb the rest of these enticingly rich, revealing opening sentences to get a sample of what lies ahead. What you are presented with immediately are the evocative, highly-personal musings of the narrator, Ishmael, as he contemplates his current lack of funds, boredom with life, thoughts of death, the growing dominance of his "hypos," along with a weakening "moral principal" which prevents him from "knocking people's hats off," and his growing attraction to "pistol and ball" to end his life. 

 

To address his musings, Ishmael turns to his usual remedy: he takes to sea and impulsively joins the crew of the Pequod whaling ship.

 

Thus Melville introduces the character whose role is to observe and relate his tale to any land-lubber readers unfamiliar with a seaman's life and whaling. From his first musings and descriptions of the world and people around him, Ismael reveals his serious eye for detail and contemplation, a masterful use of language, and even some humor. He becomes an ordinary man on board a whaling ship in the 1850s among a company of shipmates with distinctive personalities. In these first sentences, we are given a penetrating picture of this thoughtful character.

And his fellow Pequod crew members are all under the leadership of captain Ahab who, Ishmael soon discovers, only took on the captaincy of this whaling ship so he could pursue and take vengeance on Moby Dick, the white whale that chewed off Ahab's leg on a previous voyage. Collecting valuable spermaieti from whales, the PequodI's investing owners' goal, would be only a secondary task to Ahab and his crew.

 

Here are the main characters:

• Ishmael (narrator) - "A simple sailor";
• Quequeeg (harpooner) - A heavily tattooed Islander who could hit a spot of tar across the ship deck with his harpoon (which he shaves with), and a friend to Ishmael;
• Starbuck (First Mate) - Voice of reason who tries to convince Ahab to abandon his quest of vengeance;
• Stubb (Second Mate) - Happy-go-lucky, pipe-smoking officer who enjoys eating raw whale meat; 
• Flask (Third Mate) - "A short, stout, ruddy young fellow...who somehow seemed to think that the great leviathans had personally and hereditarily affronted him";
• Fedallah (Ahab's harpooner) - Parsee (fire-worshiper) and predictor of the future; 
• Ahab (Captain) - Glowering, facially scarred, peg-legged, tragically-driven, vengeful leader of the voyage and crew.

  

We all know the story of Moby Dick and its tragic ending, so I won't re-tell it here. But beyond the plot, what makes this book fantastic is the depth Melville explores in so many areas. Whether describing the thoughts and actions of Ishmael's crew mates, musing over the roles of Fate vs. Free Will in decision-making, sharing the workings of a real whaling ship and voyage (a significant industry to readers of 1851 when the book was published), and even the cataloging of the different species of whales and harpoons, Melville is the master of observation and encyclopedic knowledge. He intersperses references to Shakespeare and the Bible alongside the history of whaling tools and the men who created and used them. All these inclusions are to support Melville's broad survey of the importance and reality of whaling in the 1850s. 

 

Moby-Dick is not a page-turning thriller although there are many suspenseful situations. It also is not a straightforward story that moves from Point A to Point B clearly and succinctly. If you are looking for a quick distraction, this is not the book for you.

 

Rather, it's as if we, the readers, are placed at a table with a magnificent gourmet feast in front of us. But before we can sample the food, the chef enthusiastically explains the workings behind the meal: from the growing of special crops and meat and their preparation; the people who cultivated and cooked the ingredients; the kitchen layout and utensils employed; the table setting; and even the atmosphere of the room. 

 

While this may sound tedious and frustrating ... "Just let me get on to the food!" you might think ... these vital details reveal the complex world behind the meal, a necessity to fully enhance for the novice diner the gourmet experience and the food itself. Through this chef's concern about presenting these details, we diners come to understand and appreciate the totality of this feast far beyond just the mere consumption of the food. 

 

There are plenty of fast food or even sit-down eating experiences out there if you preger those. No judgment. But Moby-Dick is a "meal" to be contemplated, savored slowly, and appreciated on a variety of levels. If you want a quick bite, an action-based story with everyday characters, you'll not find these in Moby-Dick. 

 

But there is oh, so much more that turns this novel from a hunt for a whale into a higher level that contemplates the battle between predestination, tragic obsession, and commercial whaling. Melville's language is so rich that it cannot be skimmed over. A reader must deliberately slow him/herself down to savor the 19th century words, the layered phrasings, and the concepts possibly unfamiliar to us living 175 years after Melville wrote. 

 

In short, you need to commit yourself to 1850 and life in the whaling industry to fully appreciate and identify with the characters and action of this book just as you would slowly, appreciatively relish each bite of a gourmet dining experience, even if there are courses that are not to your initial liking. It is the entire experience that shines and will stay with you long after the meal is over or the final pages are read.

 

 

 

As an elementary school kid I had repeatedly poured over my Classics Illustrated comic book version of Moby-Dick. (Note: Familiarity with the plots and characters in these 169 graphic interpretations of great novels, e.g. Silas Marner, Pitcarn's Island, Kidnapped, etc., carried me through my English classes in high school, my college BA and Masters in English). Later I had a wonderful high school teacher who took one entire day on the opening sentence of this novel and taught me how to appreciate its enormity. 

 

This month, when I learned that there was a re-release of a 1930 edition of Moby-Dick illustrated by Rockwell Kent, one of my favorites artists (these are his illustrations), I decided it was time to give the novel another, more adult look. Not a glance, not something to be quickly skimmed, but something I really wanted to understand in-depth. And boy, what I ever satisfied.

 

Maybe the 600+ pages is daunting to many readers. Or the language too unfamiliar. Or the diversions in whales, whaling, and the world of 1850 is too tiring to pursue when we have the internet, social media, and the television to captivate us more quickly. 

But I stand here today to highly recommend Moby-Dick  to everyone willing to at least sample, even if only for 50 pages or so, what powerful writing, themes, and stories can be. It will be time well spent, and, if nothing else, something you can brag about to friends and family.

 

[P.S. Those who notice such things may wonder why there is a hyphen in the title, Moby-Dick, but only the unhyphenated name "Moby Dick" is used in the book. No one knows why this is, although the rumor is that Melville's brother changed the proof in the title at the last minute because he liked hyphens, but didn't have time to do so throughout the book. Melville himself used a hyphen in his sea-faring adventure novel, White-Jacket, but really who knows (or cares)?  It's still a fantastic book, with or without a hyphen.]

[P.P.S. Here is a beautiful graphic map to help you understand what happens where and when on the voyage]:   https://bigthink.com/strange-maps/moby-dick-map/

Of course, it gets my Highest Recommendation. Enjoy. And let ne know your thoughts if you do read it or decide to give it a pass. I'm interested.

 

 

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

 DeFoe, Daniel. Robinson Caruso

One man is shipwrecked on a deserted island and make his way along, contemplating the world, his fortune, and his survival until jhe discovers a companion.

 Happy reading.

Fred

[P.S. Click here to browse over 500 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.]