Wednesday, August 27, 2014

The Curve of Time, Revisited

Think back...  Do you remember the third grade?  Where the teacher, at her wits end at the end of the day, had you kids put your heads down on your desks and spent the last half hour quietly reading to the class?   Old Yeller and Charlotte's Web are still stuck in my head from that experience.  And it was an experience...  it was much more than the story alone.

Several years ago (have I been blogging that long?), I reviewed The Curve of Time by M. Wylie Blanchet (ISBN 1-58005-072-7).  I strongly recommend that you go back and re-read that review now.  We'll wait for you to come back.

OK, you're back!  Now that you have the flavor of the book in your mind, this isn't strictly about the book - it is about a new audio version of the book, narrated by Heather Henderson.

I highly recommend this audio version to you.  Why?
  • The experience of listening as someone reads to you is subjectively different than reading yourself. 
  • At anchor, with your eyes closed at the end of the day, Heather's reading M. Wylie Blanchet's words soon becomes M. Wylie telling you the story herself...  it becomes a much more personal experience.
  • This lyrical book lends itself very well to this presentation.
  • Jane and I finally experienced the book together.  When we were reading the print version we had to share experiences in series.  
This has been a wonderful companion for us this summer adrift in the Pacific Northwest, in the San Juan Islands.

Now put your heads down on your desks...



Share/Bookmark

3 comments:

Hira Barbara Reid said...

Thanks so much for sharing this.
Have you also read, Following the Curve of Time? I don't have that author's name handy. A Canadian woman author.

Robert Salnick said...

Thanks Hira! I have not read it yet, but it has been recommended to me - the author's name is Cathy Converse.

bob

Heather Henderson said...

Bob, I'm so glad you enjoyed listening to The Curve of Time. It is a wonderful book, and I really wanted to do it justice. Your review told me that you had the experience I always hope to bring to listeners.
And Hira: Cathy Converse's book is very interesting. It helped me get a much better feel for the geography, and it explained some of the more obscure and dated references. A couple of good online articles about Blanchet herself are:
http://www.dbsparks.com/MurielLiffiton.pdf
and:
http://saltwaterpeoplehistoricalsociety.blogspot.com/2011/10/capi-blanchet-of-curve-of-time.html

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...