In the last issue of the e-news we solicited “Wonders” in the form of suggestions as to day trips that SRI members would recommend to our readers.

We heard from Sue Hazlett with enthusiastic encouragement for taking the time to go to the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts (a suggestion which gets hearty endorsement from…

Lloyd Jones:
Mister Pip

Suggested by Mary Lyon

Mary found Pip to be a compelling story of a girl who – caught in the throes of war on the island of Bougainville – manages to survive helped by her beloved mother, by a wise teacher, and by Pip, Charles Dickens’ fictional creation.

…

1. You accidentally enter your PIN on the microwave.

2. You haven’t played solitaire with real cards in years.

3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of three.

4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk…

David Mitchell:
Cloud Atlas

Suggested by Rosemary Day

Cloud Atlas consists of six nested stories that take us from the remote South Pacific in the nineteenth century to a distant, post-apocalyptic future. Each tale is revealed to be a story that is read (or watched) by the main character in the next. All stories but the last one…

Manabu Takasawa at the piano (classical).

Praised for his “sensitive touch” by The Washington Post and for his “beautiful sound with an abundant sense of fantasy” by Musica Nova magazine (Japan) pianist MANABU TAKASAWA made a solo recital debut at The http://www.sriathome.org/?p=2250

Three years before that other colonial hero, Paul Revere, made his famous ride, a band of colonists from Pawtuxet torched the British ship HMS Gaspee, marking the very first armed conflict of the American Revolution.

The Annual Walking Tour of Historic Pawtuxet Village is a history chapter like no other.…