Play Book Tag discussion

A few of us are doing a buddy read for The Narrowboat Summer and we invite everyone who would like to join in.

Hayjay, I've just barely started it. Theresa, I will be looking forward to your comments.

Anyone else this sounds like a fun way to spend a summer.

It will be about a week when I start. Thanks for setting this up.

I am enjoying the characters, Sally, Eve, and Anastasia and seeing how they get along together.
I am really enjoying the trip. I love a book with a quest and the narrowboat trip seems really fun.

The whole British canal system is intriguing and since the book doesn't have a map, I've been looking up each stopping point. I realized that they are traveling quite some distance.

I did a search and found this amazing site. I know that Theresa has the same love of maps that I do.

https://waterways.org.uk/waterways/uk...

Oh I do! That is great!

I am making progress in the book I need to finish before starting this. Fingers crossed I can start this by Friday. I think it will suit my mood perfectly and balance the memoir I am reading.

I've finished it and have much to talk about. I should have my review today.

It has inflamed an interest in narrowboats and the English canal system.

Hayjay, how are you getting along? Are you liking it?

I read this one last winter and enjoyed it. Picked it up at a library book sale because of my interest in canal boats. I would enjoy riding in one but not sure I’d want to steer one, especially into and out of locks or in “traffic”.

Here is my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Phair wrote: "I read this one last winter and enjoyed it. Picked it up at a library book sale because of my interest in canal boats. I would enjoy riding in one but not sure I’d want to steer one, especially int..."

Thanks, Phair. I imagine it is pretty easy to become obsessed with narrowboats. I have a mild obsession after reading this book.

Here are some videos of going through locks. I should have looked these up at the start of the book, instead of the end so I had a better mental picture.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmZ7h...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iopNq...

Here is my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Here is a video of a boat going through a tunnel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDCHq...

lots of other narrowboats....great scenery and a couple of locks.

Booknblues wrote: "I've finished it and have much to talk about. I should have my review today.

It has inflamed an interest in narrowboats and the English canal system.

Hayjay, how are you getting along? Are you li..."

I absolutely loved the canal map you posted! I have a deep appreciation of, and interest in maps! I'm currently sitting at 35% in, but will have it finished no later than Tuesday. I'm enjoying following the journey on the river and all the people the ladies are meeting. From this beginning bit I can tell there will be lots of character development to come and I am eager to see how this journey will impact these ladies!

Hayjay315 wrote: "Booknblues wrote: "I've finished it and have much to talk about. I should have my review today.

It has inflamed an interest in narrowboats and the English canal system.

Hayjay, how are you gettin..."

Hayjay, Theresa and I are both people who love maps.

When I realized the distance they were traveling, I knew< I had to look at a canal map.

The other thing that was helpful and I did it after the fact is watching how the locks are operated. I've visited big locks on the St. Lawrence Seaway and Sault Ste Marie, but never a small lock which had to be operated by the boater.

Have finally started this after clearing decks of other reads and having a break before starting next book club read.

Enjoying it! Quite charmed, actually.

Booknblues wrote: "Here are some videos of going through locks. I should have looked these up at the start of the book, instead of the end so I had a better mental picture.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmZ7h......"

These videos are great! Loved the one with the kid narrator especially but other provided a bit more rechnical explanation. Good combo. Love how using one's but to push lever is by design.

I went through locks in cataracts in the Upper Nile as my Nile cruise neared Aswan. Alas it was dark - about 3 AM so you could see very little. And of course those were larger and mechanized. But effect exactly the same.

Theresa wrote: "Have finally started this after clearing decks of other reads and having a break before starting next book club read.

Enjoying it! Quite charmed, actually."

It is charming, which is what I loved about it.

I really loved the idea of drifting along on a narrowboat.

I have reached the part where Anastasia announces she is coming to visit.

The canal scenery I keep looking up is stunning.

I knew this was a long and rather circuitous distance being traveled between London/Uxbridge and Chester as I once tried to plot a train trip between London and Scotland with a stop in Nottingham going north and Oxford retuning south that would let me visit Chester all in a limited time frame. This was 1976 and I never quite made it to Chester.

As I read, I can't help remembering Nina George's The Little Paris Bookshop which I read a year or so set on the canals of France starting in Paris and ending in Provence and Côte D'Azur. It also is a journey two strangers decide to make together suddenly. I loved that and followed maps and and online images and videos - it was set in real world locations and experiences. If neither of you have read it, I think you would really enjoy it.

Theresa wrote: "I have reached the part where Anastasia announces she is coming to visit.

The canal scenery I keep looking up is stunning.

I knew this was a long and rather circuitous distance being traveled b..."

Theresa, added it to my list.
They do move very slowly in their narrowboat.

Did you check out this site that I listed above with the canal maps?

https://waterways.org.uk/waterways/uk...

Sally and Eve were so nervous about Anastasia coming to visit them.

I'm a little hooked on the youtube videos. This one goes over an aqueduct:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUnd5...

Booknblues wrote: "Theresa wrote: "I have reached the part where Anastasia announces she is coming to visit.

The canal scenery I keep looking up is stunning.

I knew this was a long and rather circuitous distance ..."

Absolutely but I'm finding it hard to navigate on my tablet which of course I use also to read the book. I decided to reboot my computer while dinner heats up (I'm on it all day for work so at night like to shut it down and just use the tablet for everything) and see if I can navigate better with a real keyboard and bigger screen.

Booknblues wrote: "I'm a little hooked on the youtube videos. This one goes over an aqueduct:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUnd5..."

The videos have been distracting me from reading! I think I'm taking a break to start another book I need to read and switch between a bit. I also have a couple essay collections to get through, so may add them into the rotation. Because I find myself looking for videos of the different canal sections....

BooknBubbles - you called it at the beginning when you said this was going to be a read to give us lots and lots of reasons to spend with google!

I used to live really close to Hatton Locks on the Grand Union Canal (southeast from number 2 on the map) - it’s a flight of 21 locks in 2 miles. I think it’s the steepest fall on the network. Amazing seeing all the boats going through. The towpaths make for great walks. And it was quicker to walk than boat!

KateNZ wrote: "I used to live really close to Hatton Locks on the Grand Union Canal (southeast from number 2 on the map) - it’s a flight of 21 locks in 2 miles. I think it’s the steepest fall on the network. Amaz..."

I looked up a image of those and they are quite impressive. I don't remember if they went through those, they might have as they went to Birmingham.

Theresa, I have to use my PC for that map as well. I read on my tablet and look up as I go along, but somethings are just better larger.

I also really dislike typing on the tablet. I like a real keyboard.

Booknblues wrote: "Theresa, I have to use my PC for that map as well. I read on my tablet and look up as I go along, but somethings are just better larger.

I also really dislike typing on the tablet. I like a real ..."

Yup and I also dislike virtual keyboards but there are days I just can't face sitting any longer at my desk.... given I still work from home ... and that need to be on the couch and or in my bed while reading, googling and catching up on social media and pbt is far stronger than my aversion to virtual keyboards. Plus I have had ot manage my law practice from a virtual keyboard...

But those maps and that website functions far better on my laptop! It is a fantastic site!

I went to law school in Syracuse NY which still has remnants of the Erie Canal - and the old tow path is now jogging and bicycling trails. I don't know that there are cruises down it - will have to look into that. The canal is much diminished from what I recall.

I think we have a little mini-group of canal super fans here.

I've reached the part where Anastasia has visited - and is about to leave. Meeting Arthur was a trip!

I also want to mention I just love Noah - and can just imagine his drama queen howling.

You know, how this journey began, how these women joined up, reminded me of something in my youth. I was 20 years old and finishing up a junior semester in Paris with a few weeks traveling through Great Britain and Amsterdam prior to returning to Paris and flying home. This was May 1976 and a month long second class train pass meant that I was traveling by train everywhere I went. I was on my own - no big deal, totally comfortable, but I was also stopping off in Nottingham to visit one of my high school friends living there.

I was staying in the Edinburgh youth hostel - and I hated Edinburgh- it was gray dark depressing and pouring rain. I had decided I was going to check on trains to Perth and then Inverness, possibly stopping in St. Andrews for the Pringles wool mill. As I walked into the shower room I literally ran into a woman coming out. As we apologized we started chatting, learning the basics you learn as you travel like that. Within 10 minues, we two strangers decided we were going to travel together through Scotland and then back south to Oxford for Peggy then London for me. We had 2 weeks and.... we were going to hitchhike. Peggy had a limited budget because she was just starting her summer of travel and her train pass was not yet activated. I was up for an adventure. And so we did - we hitchhiked all around Scotland then down to Oxford. We had such a great time, got along well, and enjoyed the slow pace and randomness to the trip. It was only in the last couple of days that we learned that her college roommate was one of my high school friends who had spent the semester in Vienna (and we had visited each other). Small world?

What strikes me is the journey and adventure these strangers decided to take together was something many of us in our youths did in one way or another - I sure did - and rarely do when we hit middle age.

You lot are bad for my book-buying habits - I have just picked this up…

KateNZ wrote: "You lot are bad for my book-buying habits - I have just picked this up…"

Mwaaaaaa

You will LOVE it!

KateNZ wrote: "You lot are bad for my book-buying habits - I have just picked this up…"

Hurray! We always welcome another voice.

KateNZ wrote: "I used to live really close to Hatton Locks on the Grand Union Canal (southeast from number 2 on the map) - it’s a flight of 21 locks in 2 miles. I think it’s the steepest fall on the network. Amaz..."

I just read that section in the book! Loved the description as Number One and Grimm worked through thos3 lockas.

@Kate - I did not know you once lived in England!

Aye, I spent most of my childhood and teens in Warwickshire, before I went off to university and then moved to NZ in my early twenties. Which, let’s admit it, is quite a lot of haircuts ago…

KateNZ wrote: "Aye, I spent most of my childhood and teens in Warwickshire, before I went off to university and then moved to NZ in my early twenties. Which, let’s admit it, is quite a lot of haircuts ago…"

Well, a dozen or so at least. 🤣

Ooh I’m keeping you as a friend!

I finished and I absolutely LOVED it! What a joyous wonderful read that has me hooked on UK canal videos and images, and adding yet another destination from my reading to my ever-lengthening travel wishlist.

Here's a link to my review

Some specifics: I figured out the surprise relationships pretty early on after they were introduced, and I liked that the reader learns at same time Sally and Eve do.

I loved loved loved Noah and how he ended up with that name, and all the relationships with him.

I could visualize and feel that life-even before being seduced by all the videos and images BnB's links provided. In fact, I adored being the one bringing up the rear and simply clicking on the links!

I loved Trompette too -- and it is no surprise that those who live on the canal or spend most of their time there are lost or abandonned or running away. It's an itinerant life.

So glad the beautiful cover of this book and the intriguing notion of strangers deciding to cruise the canals together caught my eye sufficiently to buy it in ebook a while ago -- and someone on PBT
suggested a buddy read.

Theresa, it was a delight to read this book as a buddy read.

I really loved watching how these women grew and came into themselves. Sally first wanted to just bust out of the cage she was in, so she dyed her hair and then bought all these bright clothes, but she gradually came into her own and figured out who she was.

Eve was in a cage as well and didn't quite realize it. Being on the narrowboat allowed her to move, bike, explore and grow and explore in a way she hadn't before.

(view spoiler)[ As you know my husband had lung cancer and was scheduled for a lobectomy, but didn't need it because the cancer nodule was so small, so they didn't remove as much of his lung.

His oncologist said that he wouldn't have chemo, because they research showed, at least with cancer that small and type that patients had better results without chemo.

I wondered about that when I read Anastasia's anticipated treatment. Also hubby was only in the hospital one day and boy was he happy about that.

So of course Anastasia's health concerns were of particular interest to me. (hide spoiler)]

I’ve only got 100 pages left and will split them between tonight and tomorrow. I’m going to be sad to see this journey come to an end. I’ve added taking a Narrowboat through the canals to my bucket list!

I love this quote from pgs. 153-154 “The history of the canals is one of reinvention; often of simultaneous reinventions which coexisted alongside each other. Whoever found a use for a canal created a tradition of using it in a way that suited their purposes.” I’ve enjoyed the stories of the reinventions that have happened in the lives of the characters in this book and am looking forward to seeing how they culminate together in the end.

This is an ideal book for a buddy read. I think just about every reader will find something here that connects personally.

BnB - remember this is UK ... who may recommend differently than in US based on own data and research.

HayJay - I did not want this to end, either. My reading pace slowed waaaay down!

Theresa wrote: "This is an ideal book for a buddy read. I think just about every reader will find something here that connects personally.

BnB - remember this is UK ... who may recommend differently than in US ba..."

Yes, I thought of that and also, that most people would assume that is what would happen. Also, I don't know how recently things have changed with treatment.

With our insurance, they want us out of the hospitals ASAP. I'm sure that isn't the case everywhere in the world.

So far this summer I've read two lovely travel books through England, The Narrowboat Summer and After Story.

Both were beautiful books. It is like I'm having a summer vacation there.

I finished yesterday, but wasn't able to get my review up until now. Here it is: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Delighted to have read this and eager to now discuss!

Hayjay315 wrote: "I finished yesterday, but wasn't able to get my review up until now. Here it is: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
..."

Loved your review. I think that we are all agreed that we want a sequel.

Theresa found an interview with the author and it turns out she is much like Eve.

She posted it on facebook, but perhaps she will post it here as well.

I’m half way through and loving it

Here you go. Thought I had shared here too. I agree - author is Eve.

Some interviews with the author - fascinating. Other news: another book coming in 2023 but based on one of the below interview, it is not a sequel.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandst...

https://www.lapl.org/collections-reso....

I read Narrowboat Summer last year after I read Meet Me at the Museum. That's another good one. I'll be looking out for her new one.

Jgrace wrote: "I read Narrowboat Summer last year after I read Meet Me at the Museum. That's another good one. I'll be looking out for her new one."

I added it to my TBR already.

Theresa wrote: "Here you go. Thought I had shared here too. I agree - author is Eve.

Some interviews with the author - fascinating. Other news: another book coming in 2023 but based on one of the below interview,..."

I hadn't read the one from the LA library. I found this bit interesting:

I build up characters, using vague markers to circumscribe the territory they are in—age, sex, physical characteristics, situation—then start to colour them in, as it were, as I write.

In Narrowboat Summer, the characters changed a bit at a time and became more interesting as we went along. Eve became adventurous in ways I wasn't expecting and Sally developed more depth than I immediately felt she had.

The other thing that I found interesting is that she had to map out her trip, just as we did. I love that. I would love to do that. :)

Jgrace wrote: "I read Narrowboat Summer last year after I read Meet Me at the Museum. That's another good one. I'll be looking out for her new one."

I will have to put Meet me at the Museum on my wishlist.

So, I've started reading Cotswolds Memoir: Discovering a Beautiful Region of Britain on a Quest to Buy a 17th Century Cottage for the tag this month and came across this bit in there:

"Our first pub walk from Nigel Vile’s book took us to the isolated Frome Valley, between Cirencester and Stroud, near the village of Sapperton. This walk runs alongside the Sapperton Tunnel, a deserted canal waterway that was built in the late eighteenth century by miners from various parts of the country."

"Various volunteer bodies have helped restore a large section of the Thames and Severn Canal and their goal is to one day make a navigable link between the Upper Thames and Oxford so that the stunning scenery of this region can be viewed entirely from the water. The Daneway Inn, which had housed the workers who built the Sapperton Tunnel, sits above the overgrown path at the beginning of the walk."

I, of course, had to do a search on the tunnel.

I just finished The Marlow Murder Club. No narrowboats, but it's a cozy English village mystery on the Thames with 3 quirky women who form an unlikely friendship to solve the mystery. There's a similar friendship vibe, and another good dog.

Jgrace wrote: "I just finished The Marlow Murder Club. No narrowboats, but it's a cozy English village mystery on the Thames with 3 quirky women who form an unlikely friendship to solve the myster..."

That sounds good. Added to the list.