WRCC's Paceline News

A Book Review by Melissa McCurley Do you know what book darts are? Book darts are flat, paper-thin metal line markers. Fastidious types will appreciate the ability to mark a page in a book—or even a specific line—without resorting to highlighting, underlining, or dog-earing the page. And unlike sticky notes or sticky flags, you don’t have to worry about glue drying out and the post-it falling off. Book darts slip onto the page, but unlike paper clips, book darts are thin enough not to leave an impression on the paper, even if kept in a closed, heavy book for a long time. The label on the tin asserts that book darts will not stain pages either. Why am I blathering on about book darts? Well, when I started reading Conversations With US: Great Lakes States, I kept my tin of book darts at hand so I could mark any bits that I found noteworthy or delightful and might want to quote in a review. Reader, I emptied the tin. There are well over two dozen book darts deployed through my c...

A Book Review by Melissa McCurley The Valley of Heaven and Hell: Cycling in the Shadow of Marie Antoinette by Susie Kelly If you are the kind of cyclist who looks forward to riding 25 miles or more several times a week from spring through fall—and maybe even longer on weekends—the idea of a three-week cycling vacation in France is probably enough to make you belt out a show tune, perhaps “The Night They Invented Champagne” from Gigi. But if your spouse is a reluctant participant in this venture, he or she may be singing a different tune. The book, The Valley of Heaven and Hell: Cycling in the Shadow of Marie Antoinette by Susie Kelly, is told from the perspective of just such a spouse. Susie Kelly and her husband decide to travel a route that roughly duplicates the one taken by Marie Antoinette and King Louis XVI on their ill-fated attempt to escape the French Revolution. Since Susie recalls even childhood cycling in the most disagreeable terms and has only had aches and p...