Lucy's Reading Circle
Lucy’s Reading Circle is a facilitated book discussion at Lilian Place Museum on the fourth Thursday of March, April and May, 2024. The setting is the formal dining room where we will have a picnic lunch and discuss books by well-known Florida authors. Please bring your own lunch and let us provide a beverage and dessert. We ask that you read each author’s book prior to the discussion. We will learn a lot from the chosen authors about our local history.
Books selected will include novels by well-known Florida writers (both fiction and nonfiction).
Check out the book selections below for March, April and May.
We hope you can join us often.
Meet at Lilian Place Museum, 111 Silver Beach Ave, Daytona Beach
"The Open Boat" by Stephen Crane
March 28th, 2024 11:30-1:30pm
Our first event will launch with a discussion of The Open Boat by Stephen Crane, because Crane stayed overnight in Lilian Place after his shipwreck and began writing his story here. If you join us for the first discussion, you will receive a complimentary hard copy of Crane’s short story.
Stephen Crane was stranded at sea for thirty hours when his ship, the SS Commodore, sank after hitting a sandbar. This is the story of Crane’s ship wreck and rescue off of Daytona Beach in 1897. Crane began to write his personal account of the shipwreck and survival at Lilian Place. It was titled “Stephen Crane’s Own Story” and was published a few days after his rescue. Lilian Place has since been designated a Literary Landmark. Subsequently, he adapted this account into the short story, “The Open Boat”.
The $20+tx price of this event includes lunch together in the dining room, a facilitated book discussion, a hard copy of "The Open Boat" for you to keep, a beverage and dessert, and a tour of the Lilian Place Museum.
Bring your own picnic lunch and we will provide a beverage and dessert.
Lilian Place Museum
**Get a free e-book online of The Open Boat by Stephen Crane, for the discussion.
"Cross Creek"
by Marjorie Kinnen Rawlings
April 25th, 2024 11:30-1:30pm
Cross Creek is a memoir, published in 1942, by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, a well-known writer who drew her material from the small community of Cross Creek, situated 20 miles from Gainesville. Rawlings enduring love for rural Florida became the source for her best-known books, The Yearling and Cross Creek, and shaped much of her life. Rawlings actually writes about hosting a meeting with our next month’s author, Zora Neale Hurston.
The $10+tx price of this event includes lunch together in the dining room and a facilitated book discussion will be followed by a tour of the Lilian Place.
Bring your own picnic lunch and we will provide a beverage and dessert.
Lilian Place Museum
**Get a free e-book online of Cross Creek by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, for the discussion.
"Their Eyes Were Watching God"
by Zora Neale Hurston
May 23rd, 2024 11:30-1:30pm
Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) is the coming of age story of Janie Crawford, an African American woman growing up in Eatonville, Florida - one of the first incorporated African American towns in the United States. The first reviews of Their Eyes Were Watching God ranged from positive to hostile. Now the book is considered one of greatest novels of the 20th century. Come and learn how Hurston’s book traveled this rocky road to immortality.
The $10+tx price of this event includes lunch together in the dining room and a facilitated book discussion will be followed by a tour of the Lilian Place.
Bring your own picnic lunch and we will provide a beverage and dessert.
Lilian Place Museum
**Their Eyes Were Watching God is not a royalty free book, but you can purchase it online or check it out from the public library.