TOMBS & TOMES September 2023

MEETING INVITATION

Hello Tombs & Tomes Members!

You are cordially invited to attend a very special Tombs & Tomes Book Club meeting inside the chapel (outside if nice) OR virtually via Zoom.

Our next meeting is:

In Person: Tuesday, September 12

Virtual: Wednesday, September 13

We will start at 6:30 p.m.

The September Meeting will be a very special meeting as that is the 10th Birthday of Tombs and Tomes. I'll be inviting past Tombs and Tome-ers (Lauren, Margaret, and Sarah) as well as having a birthday cake and other fun things. (for those who virtually attend, I'll make it fun for us too).

And the voters have spoken. In honor of Tombs and Tomes' birthday, we will be reading the very first book in the club's history, Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach. The Devil in the White City was a close 2nd place but instead of reading another book we have already read in November, we went with third place for the November book, Madhouse at the End of the Earth: The Belgica's Journey into the Dark Antarctic Night.

I'd also like to remind everyone that we maintain a Tombs and Tomes page on Goodreads and Facebook. I have linked them both below if you would like to use them for discussion before or after our meetings.

To get to the meeting:

Tombs and Tomes (in person) is held in either our Historic Chapel or right outside of it when the weather is nice. To get to Congressional Cemetery, please refer to the below address. Our front gate entrance is at the corner of E St. and Potomac Ave. District street parking is available out front and we are Metro Accessible via the Orange line Potomac Avenue and Stadium Armory stops.

We will be discussing:

September

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

by Mary Roach

For two thousand years, cadavers—some willingly, some unwittingly—have been involved in science’s boldest strides and weirdest undertakings. They’ve tested France’s first guillotines, ridden the NASA Space Shuttle, been crucified in a Parisian laboratory to test the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin, and helped solve the mystery of TWA Flight 800. For every new surgical procedure, from heart transplants to gender confirmation surgery, cadavers have helped make history in their quiet way. “Delightful—though never disrespectful” (Les Simpson, Time Out New York), Stiff investigates the strange lives of our bodies postmortem and answers the question: What should we do after we die?

November

Madhouse at the End of the Earth: The Belgica's Journey into the Dark Antarctic Night

by Julian Sancton

The harrowing true survival story of an early polar expedition that went terribly awry--with the ship frozen in ice and the crew trapped inside for the entire sunless, Antarctic winter--in the tradition of David Grann, Nathaniel Philbrick, and Hampton Sides

In August 1897, thirty-one-year-old commandant Adrien de Gerlache set sail aboard the Belgica, fueled by a profound sense of adventure and dreams of claiming glory for his native Belgium. His destination was the uncharted end of the earth: the icy continent of Antarctica. But the commandant's plans for a three-year expedition to reach the magnetic South Pole would be thwarted at each turn. Before the ship cleared South America, it had already broken down, run aground, and lost several key crew members, leaving behind a group with dubious experience for such an ambitious voyage...

Happy Reading,



A.J. Orlikoff