Courtesy of Fletcher Memorial Library
Peter LaBelle shares a photo with a rare background of natives at Neko Harbor, Antartica c during his travels there. He shares of this visit in a talk at Fletcher Memorial Library.
Thursday, Feb. 25 at 7 p.m. — LUDLOW — The Vermont Humanities Council sponsored “Vermont Read for 2016” consists of two books focused on Sir Ernest Shackleton’s disastrous and miraculous 1914 Antarctic expedition, Jennifer Armstrong’s “Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World” and Caroline Alexander’s “The Endurance: Shackleton’s Legendary Antarctic Expedition.”
In August 1914, days before the outbreak of the First World War, the renowned explorer Ernest Shackleton and a crew of 27 set sail for the South Atlantic in pursuit of the last unclaimed prize in the history of exploration: the first crossing on foot of the Antarctic continent. Weaving a treacherous path through the freezing Weddell Sea, they had come within 85 miles of their destination when their ship, Endurance, was trapped fast in the ice pack. Soon the ship was crushed like matchwood, leaving the crew stranded on the floes. Their ordeal would last for 20 months, and they would make two near-fatal attempts to escape by open boat before their final rescue.
The books that Vermont Humanities selected — Jennifer Armstrong’s “Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World” and Caroline Alexander’s “The Endurance, Shackleton’s Legendary Antarctic Expedition” — were both written in the late 1990s and thus include some of the previously unavailable sources and archival materials from the journey. The essential story is the same in both books. “Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World” is suitable in reading level and content for most people in the middle-school-grade reading range (grades 6-8). Caroline Alexander’s book “The Endurance” is nearly twice as long, written with slightly more challenging language, and contains more images (including many previously unpublished photos taken by Frank Hurley). The Fletcher Memorial Library has copies of these books.
The Friends of the Library and The Book Nook will be hosting a series of discussions and talks at the Community Room at the Fletcher Memorial Library. On Thursday, Feb. 25 at 7 p.m., Cavendish resident Peter LaBelle will recap his travels to Antarctica in his multimedia presentation, “Falklands, South Georgia, Antarctica: A Travelogue.” On Tuesday, March 8 at 12 p.m., join a book discussion of “The Endurance” By Caroline Alexander. On March 22 at 12 p.m. the Library will screen the “Shackleton” TV miniseries starring Kenneth Branagh. On Tuesday April 12 at 7 p.m., Nancy Marie Brown will give an author talk on “Ivory Vikings.” All events take place at the Fletcher Memorial Library, 88 Main Street, Ludlow, and are free and open to the public. For more info, contact 802-228-3238 or scott@thebooknookvt.com.
