Luggage and Literature

The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page. - St. Augustine

Archives for November 2019

Friday Five 11-29-2019

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Mahogany Bay
Tana playing around at Mahogany Bay in Roatan, Honduras.

This is the forty-second installment in my sorta weekly series, called the Friday Five. In this series, I’ll tell you about five random things that I love, whether they be books, travel, music, movies…or whatever. So without further ado, 11-29-2019’s Friday Five!

1–Pumpkin Pie Crisp. Ooooh, yummy. I want to make this.

2–Bent Pyramid. Mike and I are going to Egypt in March. I think that a trip to the bent pyramid needs to be on the itinerary.

3–Holidays at Universal Studios. I previously wrote a series on visiting Universal Studios (see here, here, and here). I also found this holiday guide to visiting, which looked pretty cool too.

4–Nebraska’s Man-Made Forest. Did you know that Nebraska had a totally man-made forest? Read more here.

5–12 books you can finish on a plane. My friend Sierra shared this list with me. I’ve actually read some of them on an airplane before. And several others went on to my To Be Read List.

Friday Five 11-22-2019

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The Varsity Atlanta
Tana enjoying The Varsity in the Atlanta airport during a layover.

This is the forty-first installment in my sorta weekly series, called the Friday Five. In this series, I’ll tell you about five random things that I love, whether they be books, travel, music, movies…or whatever. So without further ado, 11-22-2019’s Friday Five!

1–Echo in the Canyon. Have you seen this movie yet? If not, you need to! It’s available on Vudu, and I think also on Netflix now. It’s a documentary done by Jakob Dylan (yes, Bob Dylan’s son, you know from The Wallflowers). He and his friends, including Regina Spektor, Beck, and others put on a concert where they remake songs from the 60s from several bands who hit it big while living and making music together in Laurel Canyon. Jakob Dylan also interviews many of these musicians, and those inspired by them, including David Crosby, Michelle Phillips, Tom Petty and more. The soundtrack is also amazing!

2–Tim Gunn. I saw this video of Tim Gunn lecturing the fashion industry on Facebook about size inclusivity. Preach, Tim Gunn!

3–Lady Gaga. Many months later, I’m still loving her album Joanne. And A Star is Born is great. She’s a legend, for sure.

4–City in the Sky. This is on Netflix, and it’s all about airplanes, airports, and flying. Super interesting, and very well done.

5–Downton Abbey. I loved the show. I loved the movie. I can’t wait for the second movie to come out. So I was really excited when I saw this article about 7 places from the movie that you can actually visit. Add these onto my list!

King Rat Book Club Questions

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King Rat by James Clavell

King Rat Book Club Questions

Did you read all of the book? Part of it? Or none of it?

What is your initial impression of the book? Did you like it or dislike it? Why?

The book is based in part on the author’s own experiences as a prisoner of war during World War II. He was held by the Japanese. The book is set in the Japanese-run Changi camp. Do you think that his experiences were essential to being able to tell this story? Or just helpful? Could another author without those same experiences tell the story?

Did you have any previous exposure to prisoner of war camps? During WWII or another war?

Do you have any previous exposure to the German camps in WWII? How does this compare?

Which character(s) did you find most relatable? Why?

Which character(s) did you find the least relatable? Why?

Would you have gone ‘through the wire’ like Marlowe did? Why/why not? Why do you thing that he did it?

At the end, everyone turns their backs on The King? Why did they do so? Were they right to do so? Would you have? Was someone like The King necessary in the camp?

Why do you think that The King was the only one able to talk to the liberating soldiers when they first entered the camp? Why wasn’t anyone else able to do so?

What did you think of the men breeding rats for others to eat? Could you ever eat rat? Could you ever give rat to anyone else to eat?

Have you read other books by this author? Which ones?

Would you read other books by this author? Why/why not?

What did you think of the length of the book? If too short, what would you add? If too long, what would you cut?

If you were making a movie of this book, who would you cast?

If you could hear the story from another character’s perspective, who would you choose? Why?

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