The Lorelei- and her song

This is the Lorelei- its mentioned about half way through the book- if you've gotten to that part you'll know it, but I thought I'd post some pictures of it it. I've seen it in person while on the Rhine River in Germany 7 years ago. The story is exactly like Elise says from what I remember. I thought it was interesting enought to put up here because of the story of the Lorelei and how it might / does/ could blend into the story line- opinions?

A little blurb about the Lorelei for you who like that kinda thing ( I do):


The Lorelei (also written as Loreley) is a rock on the eastern bank of the Rhine near St. Goarshausen, Germany, which soars some 120 meters above the water line. It marks the narrowest part of the river between Switzerland and the North Sea. A very strong current and rocks below the waterline have caused many boat accidents there.

Lorelei is also the name of one of the beautiful Rhine Maidens who lured navigators of this river to their dooms with their alluring singing, much as the ancient Greek Sirens did.

The name comes from the old German words "lureln" (Rhine dialect for "murmuring") and the Celtic term "ley" (rock). The translation of the name would therefore be: "murmur rock" or "murmuring rock". The heavy currents, and a small waterfall in the area (still visible in the early 19th century) created a murmuring sound, and this combined with the special echo the rock produces which acted as a sort of amplifier, then gave name to the rock itself. The murmuring is hard to hear today due to the urbanization of the area. Other theories attribute the name to the many accidents, by combining the word "luren" (lurk) with the same "ley" ending, with the translation "lurking rock".

In folklore and poetry

The rock is associated with several legendary tales originating in German folklore. It appears in many forms. One of the legends is that Lorelei, a beautiful young maiden, committed suicide because of an unfaithful lover. She jumped from the steep rock into the Rhine River, thus killing herself. She then became a siren, luring shipmen to their fates with her hypnotizing voice. The echoing heard today is said to be Lorelei.

Something HUGE at our next meeting!

Oh My Ladies! Do I have a surprise for you?! I didn't want to say anything until it was confirmed but last night I received an email from....Marie Bostwick! She has go graciously accepted to do a conference call with us at our Book Club meeting! Can you believe it?! I am ecstatic, giddy and like a little kid who just got the approving nod from mom that ordering a triple scoop of chocolate ice cream before dinner was okay! Are you with me here?!

So...needless to say, do not miss this one! And...if you have other friends who are interested, please feel free to invite them to join us, by no means is this a closed club!

The only thing different will be that we'll meet a little earlier since Ms. Bostwick will be calling us from the east coast. The call will be at 6pm, so I'll open my house to come over at 5ish. Perhaps a pot luck kinda dinner before the call? What do you all think?

Ms. Bostwick also gave me a little hint on the book, its basically out of print now, so if you have yet to get your copy she offered me this site from her local book store they should have new and signed copies available!

So..really now...order...get to reading...and see you soon!

* I thought I'd post the email from her so you all could see for yourselves:

Hi Lyn,

Forgive me for taking so long to get back to you. I've been crashing a deadline and am way behind on just about everything.

Yes, I'd love to talk to your group. And I think the 8th of June could work. If if could be a little earlier, that would help - by 7 your time I'd be a mess. Any chance we could do it at 6?

Also, I am absolutely TERRIBLE about remembering things, so I highly recommend that, after we agree on a date and time, you send me a reminder email a couple of days before. Maybe on Sunday.

I haven't discussed RIVER'S EDGE in a while, so this will be fun for me. I'm sure we can work something out.

Blessings,

Marie Bostwick

Oh, also, I checked out your blog and saw the trouble you're having getting hold of the book. I wasn't surprised, its pretty much out of print now. However, if you contact my local bookstore, www.hickorystickbookshop.com, I think they still have new copies. They would be full price however but chances are they'd have signed copies available. Just thought I'd let you know.

*****
Yay! Can't wait!

Book for the month of May

I'm kicking myself for not taking pictures this past week of our Book Club Meeting! Let me set the scene for those of you who were not there:

Upon entering Kami's house we were greeted with candle light, antiquish books resting upon lace, quilts and beautiful wood, face open with beautiful flowers carefully placed on and around the books! Tea, tea and more tea and a little coco (it was fitting for the book) in the most exquisite tea cups and sauces. Delicate spoons and flatware for stirring cream and sugar and tiny forks for nibbling a delicious individualized strawberry shortbread cake desserts in the fanciest glass goblets! It was...heaven! The atmosphere was swelling over with an old English charm (again so fitting for our book)! Thank you so much Kami for putting so much thought and preparation into planning out our meeting...what a gem you are!

As if that were not enough, she also had the book on CD on her Ipod which she played excepts from as we discussed and divulged into a very dark and Gothic novel about love, loss, mystery, ghosts, graves, and twins!! Really, truly, this was a very fascinating book and if you did not get a chance to read it, it would be a great summer read. Don't let it slip off your list of "to do's" as far as books are concerned!

We also decided on our next pick, which is River’s Edge by Marie Bostwick The story of a young German woman, Elise Braun, who is sent to live with distant relatives in the tobacco growing region of the Connecticut River Valley just prior to the outbreak of World War II. I'll be happy to host this one. We'll meet Monday June 8th 7pm at my house. Please click on the link... this author has a great website with lots of info about her and the book!




I did go into Barnes and Noble earlier this week and they DO NOT carry it (or so they told me) and also informed me they could not order it. Hum? So, again I ordered my copy on Amazon (a used hard cover in excellent condition for only $2.30 with tax and shipping only $6.49! Deal!) Good luck finding your copy's...let me know if anyone finds it somewhere locally and I'll post it along with an email to everyone.

*** Just as a side note- Our last book I ordered online used from Amazon and it took much longer than I expected to receives it so weeks later when I did get it, I ripped open the package and noticed a...different...smell. It wasn't bad, just kinda old, a perfumery fragrance. The cover was different than the pictures I saw online and the pages had a slight yellowish tint to them. After demolishing the packaging I pieced it back together and realized my book came from London! I was a little excited to discovered it because it felt like I had a little piece of something different, something someone else had love the heck out of and then passed it along to me. Yeah...I'm kinda weird with sentimental junk like that! Anyways, what struck me even more was after I dove into the first few chapters to realize the story was focused around an English Novelist (Vida Winter) and an English biographer (Margaret Lea) who owned a rare and used bookshop in the London area. It gave my little treasure that much more meaning and that "different" smell kinda provoked a little delight and reminder each time I open the pages and breathed in its fragrance!

Okay...enough of my rambling...I'm sure not every purchase on Amazon results in such wordy little rants...ha!

Okay Book Clubbies....Find your books....get to reading...and get ready for another amazing book club night....I'm hoping to pull a few surprises this time! :-)


-Lyn

Charles Dickens in his study- by Buss

This is mentioned in the book and thought I'd post it here.
-Lyn

Read the book online!

Not sure how I stumbled upon this but I did find (I think) the entire book online. Just in case you like reading on your computer Here it is. I'm going to start on it while I wait for my paperback to be delivered! So excited to have found this! Thanks Google!

-Lyn

Thirteeth Tale Deals!

I just purchased the book on Amazon used for $3.99!! With Shipping it was under $7! Deal! There are a bunch of people selling it used there...just as an FYI! Also- Leah told me that she found her copy along time ago at the used book stores inside the Library...you may want to check there also. Katie already requested her copy from the library and got it- so there are a lot of options to find the book aside from getting it at Barnes and Noble! Happy Reading!

-Lyn

April's Book

I enjoyed listening to everyone talk about "The Shack" last night. I definately got more out of the book by listening to others viewpoints.

I thought that I would post for everyone the book that I picked for next month. It is "The Thirteenth Tale" by Diane Setterfield. I am planning to post the book review from Amazon, just to give you a little more information on it. (but I am not sure how successful I will be.) For those people who questioned how long the book is, I just check and it is 432 pages.

Now, I must admit that I woke up in the night questioning my decision to pick this book. I kept thinking "I am subjecting all of these lovely Christian women to this dark (gothic?) tale", but it is highly praised in the reviews on Amazon, and maybe I am only remember some of the stranger aspects of the book. I look forward to the rest of you reading it and being able to hear your feedback.

Remember we are meeting on April 27th at my house I will send out an email with directions closer to the time.

Kami