Tag Archives: book review

Mise Tales Thirty-Six

Adult Memories, Books, Books, Books, British Columbia, Childhood Memories, Children, Coast Guard, Construction, Hobbies, Humour, Icebreakers, Incidents, Information, Lighthouses, Models, Photos, Photos, Ships, Toys, Videos, Videos, , , , , , , , , ,

 

For an update on what a Mise Tale is then please see Mise Tales One.

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[youtube url=”http://youtu.be/b3e7CDg8a3g”]

Here is a great video taken on board the Coast Guard ship CCGS Sir Wilfred Laurier as it services the mountain-top radio sites using the onboard helicopter. Great shots of the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwai) and the old lighthouse and radio station at Cape St. James.

It is titled on Youtube as the “Big Red Restaurant“!

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Book Review – Lighthouse Island Projects a Bleak Future

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Lighthouse IslandThe new book by Paulette Jiles, Lighthouse Island, projects a bleak future for our piece of the planet.

According to Liz Cook in this Kansas City Star book review:

Paulette Jiles’ dystopic1 new novel, “Lighthouse Island,” projects a future that may hit a little close to home for area farmers and those dependent on their work: a Midwest racked by ceaseless drought. . . .

There’s the promise of a distant sanctuary untouched by war and drought as well: Lighthouse Island, a coastal Pacific colony lionized in anesthetic television commercials as a place of peace and plenty. – more

FOOTNOTE:

1 dystopic – A dystopia is a community or society, usually fictional, that is in some important way undesirable or frightening. It is the opposite of a utopia. – Wiki (I had top look this one up too!)

 One other important note, the lighthouse depicted on the cover is the Canadian British Columbian lighthouse at Lennard Island!

A Lighthouse Novel for Young Adults by Nell Wise Wechter

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Two children’s books by the same author came across my desk today. Both books are available in paperback and in an omnibus e-book collection. The author is Nell Wise Wechter,1 a native of the Carolina Coast. She wrote the young adult novel Taffy of Torpedo Junction and Teach’s Light. Click the links for book reviews from UNC.

The books and the e-books are available from Amazon worldwide. A special offer by the University of North Carolina Press (UNC) makes the e-book a better buy as it includes the two books for a special price.

I just ordered the e-book omnibus collection as a special present for my fiancé on my Kindle. It sure makes ordering books easy.

A quick note on each book:

Taffy of Torpedo Junction by Nell Wise Wechter

A longtime favorite of several generations of Tar Heels, Taffy of Torpedo Junction is the thrilling adventure story of thirteen-year-old Taffy Willis, who, with the help of her pony and dog, exposes a ring of Nazi spies operating from a secluded house on Hatteras Island, North Carolina, during World War II. – UNC

Teach’s Light – Tale of Blackbeard the Pirate by Nell Wise Wechter

The legend of Teach’s Light has been handed down by the people of Stumpy Point village in coastal North Carolina for nearly three centuries. – UNC

 

What is lighthouse about these books? The North Carolina coast is host to a raft of lighthouses!

Please let the readers know what you think of the books. I will also add a note later when I have finished them.

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FOOTNOTES:

1 About the Author

The late Nell Wise Wechter, an Outer Banks native, was a widely admired author, storyteller, historian, and journalist. As a schoolteacher near Cape Hatteras during World War II, she could look out her classroom window to see ships being sunk by the Germans. Her story of Taffy was inspired by these real events and the courage of the people who lived through them.

About a Comment Received

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A while ago I wrote a short review on a new book called the Lightkeeper’s Menagerie by Elinor DeWire.

After the publication of the review, Elinor wrote in the Comments section of my website:

This website is absolutely wonderful! I’ve been spending a lot of time on it of late reading all the posts and stories. Kudos to you for preserving this important story! Thank you as well for the nice comments about my book, The Lightkeepers’ Menagerie. I hope you’ve picked up a copy. If not, I’ll send you one if you provide a mailing address. The book has several stories from BC, including Ivory Island and McInnes. If you visit my website you’ll see my other lighthouse books. I’m working on my 18th lighthouse book now. Guardians of the Lights is my favorite and includes some BC stories. Chris Mills read it while serving at Ivory and contacted me; we remain fast friends. He is coming to BC in July and I hope to see him then. He visited me in 2010 and spoke to a nonprofit group I chaired at the time–wonderful man who’s done much to preserve lighthouse history. Currently, I’m writing a book about BC lightkeepers, to be published in 2013 by Paradise Cay Publications, Arcata, CA. I was in BC for two weeks in early June and met Milt Magee at Cape Mudge and the Tiglmanns at Nootka. I’d love to make contact with more of the keepers. Could you help me with that? I am interested in telling their stories and preserving the history. Pictures are really helpful too, as they convey so much of the story and augument the text. I know the keepers (including you??) have scads of pictures. Fisheries is lax to put me in touch with serving keepers, due to the sensitivity about de-staffing. They say they want no more negative press and worry about what I’ll print. I am not planning a tirade in print about de-staffing. I think anyone who reads my books and articles knows how important it is to keep lighthouses staffed–the message is clearly implied in the narrative without hammers and nails and crucifixtion of “The Powers.” People grow to love the stories and then grasp the issues. I know this chapter of history is coming to a close someday–later rather than sooner, I hope–and it needs to be documented and saved. I’m doing my best to make that happen. You’re doing your part. Thanks again for this wonderful website. I look forward to hearing from you.

[private]My email is elinordewire@gmail.com. My address is P.O. Box 1022, Seabeck, WA 98380. Feel free to share my contact info with any keepers, active or retired, and let them know I’d enjoy emailing with them.  Best wishes–Elinor DeWire [/private]

So, any lightkeepers or others want to help Elinor, please contact her through her webpage.

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This email was dated June 22, 2012. Boy am I late! Well, finally, today, I got around to answering it. Please drop by her website if you any interest at all in stories about lighthouses. Elinor has lots!

I also see she has a list of Lighthouse Articles, some of which sound very interesting. I will ask her if I can reprint a couple. Maybe I can talk her into writing one especially for this website on BC lighthouse keepers. – retlkpr