This very readable book gives a fascinating look into some of the surviving old cultures that exist on the fringes of our civilization.  In his quest, Severin visits and stays among these small groups, listening to the lore of the respected elders, riding in their primitive but surprisingly seaworthy boats, and accompanies them on their tribal hunting expeditions.  His account is a portal to life in the nineteenth century and a look at the special relationship between these hunters and the sea creatures they hunt.  Although he doesn’t find the Moby Dick himself, he does recognize him in the legends of these people.
(Soft cover or hard cover)

The title is a play on Longitude, but the story is something very different.  I expected this to be an adventure account, like others I've read recently, but it turned out to be much more.  Rowing tens of thousands of miles in the Arctic must necessarily be an integral part of one's life.  Jill Fredston skillfully weaves encounters with grizzlies, ice flows, storms, isolated people, and polar bears with short biographical sketches.  Be ready to learn about the migration of species, the pollution of the Arctic, calving and rolling of icebergs, and just how hardy people can be.

What if H.G. Wells really built a time machine, and what if a melancholy, nostalgic, and fatally ill archaeologist obtained it on the eve of our millennium? This story of time travel to the future, written in the form of a journal, paints a rather bleak picture of a future where humankind has been all but wiped out by a plague, but I was captivated.
(Soft cover or hard cover)

Imagine a world two thousand years in the future, where electricity is impossible, where most machines are prohibited, where a strange phenomenon draws people to wander mindlessly into the wilderness at almost predictable intervals. Imagine the Calculor, a great collective of convicts and conscripts who perform individual mathematical tasks for a purpose beyond their imaginings.  Sean McMullen imagines a rich mix of cultures in a strange, future Australia.

This beautifully written novel recounts the story of Emma Garnet, daughter of a cruel and domineering father, beloved wife of a compassionate surgeon during the Civil War years, and then of the widow who has raised her children, seen her loved ones die and her world change. This moving story is believably told in prose that could have been found in a diary of a Southern woman of that era. Kaye Gibbons also wrote the little gem of a novel, Ellen Foster.
(Soft cover or hard cover)

This is a story about clocks, but more specifically about one man's almost obsessive quest to build a clock accurate enough to allow a ship to know its his position at sea.
(Soft cover or hard cover)

The Illustrated Longitude
by Dava Sobel and William J. H. Andrewes 

While fascinated by the descriptions of the time pieces, I craved illustrations more detailed than those in the original book.  This volume has them, and more.

Nova broadcast a one-hour episode in 1998 available in VHS here.

In 2000 A&E broadcast a four-part dramatization of the story available in VHS here and DVD here.

The House of Mirth, written early in the 20^th century, tells the story of beautiful Lily Bart, a 30-year-old woman trying to establish her place in society. Without a husband or economic independence, she is at the mercy of her class-conscious and sometimes treacherous "friends." This tragic tale set in New York City at the turn of the century is a window into the worlds of the rich, the nouveau riche, and the working class. Lily goes from one to the other, falling from grace at each drop down the ladder until she comes to the realization of what really matters. By then, it is too late for her and the only person who cares about her, Lawrence Seldon, a lawyer who is an outsider looking in. He observes the events and seems to be Wharton's own critical voice in this well-constructed, beautifully written story of a bygone era. The title is from Ecclesiastes: "The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; the heart of fools is in the house of mirth."

I enjoyed the arc of this story about personal development, friendship, love, and loyalty.  The main characters, a young Cubano bank robber, a middle-aged drifter, and a blind five-year-old and her grandmother are introduced in separate plot lines with the promise that they will somehow come together.  A host of other characters, including the FBI agent investigating the robbery, the Cubano's girl friend, and ghosts from the drifter's past introduced in flashbacks add color and interest.  A touch of fantasy and the supernatural are involved before the very satisfying last page payoff.

(Soft cover or hard cover)

(In my opinion the amazon.com reviews, which fortunately, I read after the book, give away too much of the plot line so carefully revealed by the author. Just count the review stars and maximize your enjoyment.)