It’s time to highlight another week of storytelling in Voice by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library. As always, all times SLT, and events are held at the Library’s home at Holly Kai Park, unless otherwise indicated.
Sunday, July 14th 13:00: Tea Time with Jeeves
Just for summer, Seanchai Library takes a dive into the world of Reginald Jeeves, a well-educated, intelligent valets of indeterminate age who is employed by the amiable young man-about-town, Bertie Wooster, whom Jeeves routinely has to benignly rescue from the consequences of his idiocy.
Created by author, humorist, and lyricist (working with Guy Bolton and Jerome Kern) Pelham Grenville Wodehouse (October 1881 – February 1975), Jeeves and Wooster are perhaps his most iconic characters, their adventures eventually growing to 35 short stories and 11 novels, the majority of which are first-person narrated from the perspective of Bertie Wooster.
In Jeeves and the Hard-Boiled Egg things get very turned around as – once again – things go sideways, thanks to the relative of one of Bertie’s friends.
Set in New York, the tale sees Bertie visited by his friend “Bicky” Bickersteth, who is in something of a panic. Bicky has been living off of an allowance supplied to him by his uncle, the Duke of Chiswick – the condition being that Bicky use the allowance to improve himself financially, which he hasn’t found particularly appealing. Now his uncle is coming to New York to see just how well he is doing.
At Jeeves’ suggestion, Bertie and Bicky hit on a plan: Bicky will pretend to own Bertie’s apartment and Bertie will pose as his valet. To ensure things don’t get too out of hand, Jeeves will take on the role of Bicky’s visiting friend.
Things start out well enough: the Duke of Chiswick arrives and is duly impressed with the apartment and Bicky’s apparent success. Perhaps a little too well: the Duke has decided that since Bicky is doing so well, he doesn’t actually require any allowance.
From here, confusion steps in, involving chickens, handshakes-for-money, and a touch of blackmail; but it all leads to a satisfactory outcome, one that also includes the loss of a moustache that has caused some distress…
Join Da5id Abbot, Kayden Oconnell, and Caledonia Skytower as they read this delightful series at Ceiliuradh Glen.
Monday, July 15th 19:00: The Ice is Coming
Gyro Muggins reads Patricia Wrightson’s 1977 novel.
Frost is seen in summer and ice patches form in spite of the hot Australian sun. To the Happy Folk, living on the continent’s green edges, the frost is a reason to laugh and joke. For the Inlanders (Wrightson’s fantasy view of the Australian Aboriginals), however, the frost was once seen as a warning that an ancient foe, the ice-bearded Ninya, were on the rise – and so it might be that they are again.
The first to recognise the rise of the old threat is young Wirrun of the People. He leaves his job and sets out to meet the Ninya, taking with him as a sidekick, the petulant Mimi, and for protection, the Power bestowed by the first of the creatures in their path.
To assist in his quest, Wirrun sends for the men from Mount Conner to sing the Ninya down and keep them in their caves. But he must also beat the Ninya to the Eldest Nargun, source of fire, and use it to hold the Ninya until the men from Mount Conner arrive. And so his adventure begins.
Tuesday, July 16th 19:00: The Penderwicks in Spring
Springtime is finally arriving on Gardam Street, and there are surprises in store for each member of the family. Some surprises are just wonderful, like neighbour Nick Geiger coming home from war. And some are ridiculous, like Batty’s new dog-walking business.
Batty is saving up her dog-walking money for an extra-special surprise for her family, which she plans to present on her upcoming birthday. But when some unwelcome surprises make themselves known, the best-laid plans fall apart.
Filled with all the heart, hilarity, and charm that has come to define this beloved clan, The Penderwicks in Spring is about fun and family and friends (and dogs), and what happens when you bring what’s hidden into the bright light of the spring sun.
Dive into Jeanne Birdsall’s classic revisiting to the lives of the Penderwicks, read by Caledonia Skytower.
Wednesday, July 17th: The Faraway Nearby
In this exquisitely written personal, lyrical narrative about storytelling and empathy, Rebecca Solnit explores the ways we make our lives out of stories, and how we are connected by empathy, by narrative and by imagination.
In the course of unpacking some of her own stories – of her mother and her decline from memory loss, of a trip to Iceland, of an illness – Solnit revisits fairy tales and other stories as she considers life. Her ruminations carry her through tales of Arctic explorers and of Che Guevara’s time among the lepers of the San Pablo colony in Peru during his great motorcycle ides around and through South America in 1951 and 1952; through to the romantic horror of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and more.
Through these and other stories, Solnit consider the lives and works of artists and activists who experienced tremendous growth after witnessing or enduring great pain, and uses fairy tales to examine the idea of self-transformation. In doing so, she weaves these stories, real and fantastical, into a tapestry that charts the territories and extent of storytelling and shows how it allows us to explore, understand and even reframe who we are and how we might tell our own story.
Join Caledonia Skytower as she reads selections from this remarkable book.
Thursday, July 18th 19:00: Monsters and Myths
Shandon Loring resumes a tour through Bernard Evslin’s examination of monsters and myths with The Sphinx – Part 1. Also Also in Kitely – teleport from the main Seanchai World grid.kitely.com:8002:SEANCHAI.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 