I had said, I loved his book, Devil in the White City, about the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, but couldn’t read Dead Wake, on the sinking of the Lusitania.
deciding to stay with his mistress in Italy, giving his stateroom to Ben Guggenheim 
who, alas, never made it home.
last seen, helping women and children on with their life jackets.
the proprietors of Macy’s Department Store, who were last seen together on deck, holding hands, before a wave swept them out to sea. Mrs. Strauss could have gotten on one of the life boats, but refused to leave her husband of so many years, his body found, hers not.
who survived the Titanic, only to die on the Lusitania.
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Tip of the Iceberg
He’s reading the new Erik Larson on Churchill.
That’s not to say, I don’t know some tasty lore, like, J.P. Morgan
Or John Jacob Astor,
Mustn’t forget Isidor and Ida Strauss,
Then we had Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt,
What I should have said to King Midget was, imagine what I’ve missed, all this time, being such a wuss.
This entry was posted in Books, creative writing, Culture, History, humor, inspiration, money, travel, words, writing and tagged kingmidgetramblings.wordpress.com/, Sinking of the Lusitania, Sinking of the Titantic, The Splendid and the vile by Erik Larson, Unexplained fears. Bookmark the permalink.
The info about Alfred Vanderbilt reminds me of the movie Final Destination. I never saw it, but my children described it in detail. It’s about not being able to escape your fate.
Susannah, there are certain typed of books I can’t read either. I love mystery novels, but nothing too bloody or graphic. I once picked up Swimsuit by James Patterson because the blurb mentioned it was about models. Of course, once started, I had to know how it ended. It still creeps into my thoughts and bothers me. I threw the book away (something I never do) because I didn’t want anyone I knew to read it. Sorry Mr. Patterson, it was excellently written but too disturbing.
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I totally get that. My library has a book about the Titanic survivors…quotes I figured, I’d have no problem reading. WELL…IT WENT BACK THE SAME DAY. The other pulp peccadillo I have is, executions…hangings, Old Sparky tales. If you believe in previous lives…WHOA. GOD ONLY KNOWS WHO I. WAS.
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You have a rich mind, and I enjoy the tidbits that poor forth from it. Grandson Nathaniel was always fascinated with shipwrecks. Once our pastor mentioned something about the Titanic in a sermon, and Nate went to him to correct one fact. At the next service, Pastor mentioned the corrected bit and who had set him straight. (I was the organist, and that’s why I heard the sermon twice.)
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I LOVE THAT!!! GO NATE.
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I forgot to say I love your title of this post.
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Considering, if you consider what’s going on, a double entendre, if you will. 🙂
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Yes!
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Do Nate and John have great chats about history? Must tickle John at the very least. History is just so fascinating. I can never get enough. Have you noticed? LOL
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There is a lot of history talk around John. I know he would enjoy being with you, and I wouldn’t mind listening. He does talk history with the boys. It’s most likely to be ships with Nathaniel and trains with David. I get his input on political history, which helps me as I consider current events. John is the ONLY person with whom I discuss politics. John and son $ have far-ranging discussions on all kinds of things. Both are well-read in many fields. But history — that’s where you and John would enjoy each other.
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Funny you should write again, because just now, in the shower, thought…ANNE PLAYS THE ORGAN, TOO!!!
One of your many talents.
I totally get your capitalization of ONLY…you do have to be careful who you share your political feelings with…it’s fight or flight and one wants to leave with their nose intact.
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I like facts, and I can depend on John to know the history behind things. It helps to keep my views in perspective.
For the record, I don’t feel very talented. I’ve come to realize that things that I do easily may appear difficult to someone else. Aren’t we all like that?
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I think you’re multi-talented, but, as Jane Austen would say, your humility does you credit. 🙂
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I have lots to be humble about!!
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You Rock Anne. 🙂
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Is there a particular reason you can’t read about shipwrecks? Do you even know why?
Fascinating history you’ve provided, considering!
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No, just this tremendous discomfort, like I’m there. What a horrible realization to know, you were going to die. Mr. Strauss, God bless her. He’s buried in a majestic tomb in Woodlawn Cemetery with a huge sculpture of a ship. I was horrified seeing it, but then was told, it was the Ark, from the Bible. how odd a choice for a monument.
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I hear you. Some things just affect us in certain ways.
It must be horrible to know that there is no way out.
That is a very strange choice for a monument.
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I love going there, my ghoul in full swing. So many people are buried there. Was telling Marc just the other day, it’s where Melville lies. It’s so lovely. I mean, if you have to end up somewhere, at least beauty surrounds you. Listen to me, I sound like Morticia Addams.
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No, I get it. There is something peaceful about strolling through a cemetery. Especially one filled with special people.
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Not only that, some of the tombs. WHOA!!! A friend of mine had written a book about an old time crooner, and in the book was a story about a Ziegfeld Follies girl named Helen Walsh who died in a fire so, at the conclusion of my read, I went to visit her at Woodlawn. She was in the old part where the graves are simple and sinking a bit. I brought flowers. I was so moved by her. She was very young, 23, and apparently, her funeral was huge. All the girls she worked with came and it was quite a parade. I thought of that day as I stood at her modest stone knowing, she probably hadn’t had a visitor forever, dying in 1931. I know, I need medical care. sigh
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No kidding. For some people,no expense is spared (kinda ridiculous but great for visitors).
Nothing wrong with being touched by a person’s story.
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Yeah, I guess. She was on boat with another Follies girl…there’s that water theme again…a Sunday out with a couple of rich swells. they were seated on the gas tank, that somehow exploded. The other girl had burns she covered from, but Helen, alas, didn’t make it.
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Oh my God! What a horrid way to go.
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I know. You can see why she affected me. Just a kid she was.
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Indeed.
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It’s as though the dead, aren’t so dead, after all.
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They do live on when someone like you keeps them in their thoughts
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She was the first Ziegfeld girl to ever die, so that was big back then. They were the hit of Broadway.
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Was thinking of you. Bopped by Tails From the Ranch, first time visit, and looked at all her Georia O’Keefey, photos. They are very nice, but…me prefer yours. Hers are so perfect, clearly air brushed, something a model always sees. The shots you take have a more natural, trompe l’ oeil feeling to them. It’s like the difference between a tailored Chanel jacket and a soft, careworn denim jean one. I can appreciate the Chanel on another woman, it’s just not for me. Her two cents 🙂
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Thinking of me, eh? Didn’t know you knew Monika (but this is such a small community when you think about it). We do travel the same circles, John, Frank, Mark, David…
I thought here photos were so lovely – and to think these flowers are in her own gardens! I am envious, admittedly.
I am touched you think so. You do know that occasionally, I have to touch up mine, too? Too bright because of too much sun, for example.
I do like the soft careworn denim jacket analogy, feeling that I could never pull off wearing Chanel.
So thank you.
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You can’t compare what you do to hers. They’re the Kim Kadashian of blooms. Too perfect.
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You are ever the fierce fan! (I am very appreciative.)
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I know what I like, and too much airbrushing rivals embalming. If nature had a camera, it would be yours. You see what I’d imagine, she’d see, looking at her wares.
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What a fabulous thing to say!
Thanks, Susannah.
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It’s true. I remember doing a job for Kate Spade. It was after she sold her company. Great job, except, when I saw the proofs, I looked like a doll. It was awful. I remember how disappointed I was, and not surprised when it was scarcely used. Perfection is not real and more than a little creepy. sigh It’s the difference between a Parisian woman and a Botoxed babe of Palm Beach.
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When it comes to models and advertising, it is very sad to see. Even those of us not in the milieu see how fake it all looks. I wish they’d take it down a huge notch.
Perfect comparison!
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Yeah, a sad truth. It’s why so many kids are so fucked up. Instead of trips to Italy or France as a graduation present, they want breast implants. I’ll tell ya.
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And why there are so many problems with anorexia and bulimia and lack of self-confidence and, and and…
Jesus… All I got (wanted) for graduation was a necklace – (actually, I didn’t want anything) but my mother had six pearls removed from one of her necklaces and we each got a necklace with two pearls, all different designs when we each graduated.
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I would have liked that too. AWE!!!
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It was a gift that meant (still means) so much more than any trip or fake boobs could.
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Fake boobs…OY. Give me pearls over silicone any day.
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Same here! I did consider a lift and reduction but that would have implied adding something. Decided to remain au naturel.
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My face is looking like the map pf Delaware, but I’ll take over resembling a dinner plate.
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I call them signs of life lived. I’d not want to resemble a dinner plate either.
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Service for 12? That’s how a gaggle of girls around here, look, when they’re all out together. You could ski down their foreheads. That wasn’t nice, was it?
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It is a sad thing. Can you picture the old folks’ homes in forty years? Scraggly, wrinkly tats all over the body and smooth as a baby’s butt faces…
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OOH…I GOT A CHILL.
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Scary image, isn’t it?
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Yes…like tattoos on wrinkly skins…that rose suddenly looks like it’s seen batter days.
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Did you ever see that meme where a tramp stamp goes from saying something like “Pretty Lady” but as the woman ages, it sags and wrinkles down to “Ugly”… I can’t find it but I remember seeing it and bursting out laughing
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I’m not sure I want to see it. OOH
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Was hilarious but yeah…
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My face is turning colors. It’s saying, I can’t help it Susannah. You should have worn more sunscreen.
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Oh dear… I am getting colour despite my putting sunscreen on every day… I do try to protect my skin so I don’t end up looking like an old Italian leather handbag one day.
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They are the best, remember. 🙂
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I get it, not being able to read about shipwrecks. I always find the stories haunting, in a raw nerve kind of way. The claustrophobic qualities of a vessel at sea, that alone usually cancels me out. The ocean being so vast for another. That one always got me as a boy and still now, it kind of shakes me . . when I think about just how vast the sea is. It’s our outer space.
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I’m not a fan of water, just from afar. The 15 minute ride on the Staten Island Ferry is my limit, and even then I can’t look over the side.
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I do love swimming in the ocean, but that’s because I feel like I can mitigate the vastness. And since I’ve learned how to deal with under currents from experience, it’s a passion of mine.
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I sea. 🙂
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Now you’re making waves
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As long as there’s no ocean, between us. 🙂
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🙂
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Reading your info about the rich and famous on the Titanic and also some of the history books I’ve read more recently — it’s amazing how many people back then had mistresses and that it was more or less common knowledge that they had mistresses.
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When you say common knowledge, many of the principals I’m going to guess, didn’t know, like Ida. Believe me, she had no idea, if it was even true since, could be myth over truth, he had his paramour stashed below, so to speak. and Morgan had a set of rules that even now, mystify. See what your book launched?
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I think the only one of his books I have read is Dead Wake. It was a good book, although I can understand the hesitation to read about shipwrecks.
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He’s a great writer.
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I have this fascination with the Titanic. So many stories and so much incompetence in the crew. I loved the one about the bakery chef who was so drunk when the ship went down he survived in the cold water for hours until rescued. Others not so. I was very thrilled when the first photos of the Titanic were released. Such a desolate scene it is.
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At least you can read about it comfortably. I’m envious John.
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Let’s just say I would not be reading about it if I were on a boat. Mrs. Howell didn’t raise a crazy person..
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No she didn’t. 🙂
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😁
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This is a fabulous book. The info about Churchill and the spirit oaf the British is inspiring. It is. Lear the Hitler did not foresee the strength of the British and their fellow feeling. It provides an example for us in these dark times. By the way…keep calm and carry on…let’s hear it for the RAF.
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Now I want to read it. I do have a little thing for Winston. What a guy. What a life he led. I appreciate the review.
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I just finished teading a short note from a good friend about his book list. He listed four books he’d ret during part of the lockdown. And one of the books caught my fancy because I love reading about Sir Winston. I’m hooked so I’ll get to it right away. I love to read…love it. I think I’d like “Dead Wake” due to my fascination with ships. I have seen all the Titanic films time and time again. I meet on Sundays with a Zoom worship service and one session we lingered online, chatting. I told the group I was so happy they had invited me to join…I was lonely and now, here I am in my kitchen talking with you fine people…(almost added “drinking champagne’) As soon as the words were out of my mouth I thought…Hmm, I’ve heard someone say something similar…now who was it? I worked my memory bank all the next day before…eureka! Got it. It was Jack, invited to dine w/all those rich people after he had saved Rose from committing suicide. Your Tip of the Iceberg flashed my lights. Love it.
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I too like to read. Been on a Nancy Mitford kick…The Pursuit of Love, Love in a Cold Climate, The Blessing and her last, Don’t Tell Alfred. She was such a fine, funny novelist, though I also liked her bio on Madame Pompadour. She weaves a story rather than just deliver data.
Yes, the Churchill will be sitting on my shelf too.
Like John Adams told his young son John Quincy…if you have a book, you’ll always have a friend. I urbanned that a bit, but, the message is mighty clear. Thanks.
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Wow! I wonder if you were a passager in another life …. ya never know.
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God forbid. OOH…GOT CHILLS
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