"Lustful Eyes"

Big Book Club's "What the Whale!"

This week we were joined by Gale, our first guest host. We had a great discussion covering lustful eyes, the invention of stethoscopes, Edith Wharton, reform bills and more.

Shownotes:

Gale mentions authors Louisa May Alcott, Jane Austen, Edith Wharton and William Makepeace Thackeray ("Vanity Fair") as favorites.

The stethoscope was invented in France in 1816 by René Laennec, so Lydgate's stethoscope would have been a relatively new tool - from Wikipedia.

The Reform Bill of 1832 (the first of 4) primarily served to transfer voting privileges from the small boroughs controlled by the nobility and gentry to the heavily populated industrial towns. - from Encyclopaedia Britannica

Vicars and Curate and Livings, Oh My! - and explanation of how "livings" work for the clergy, the relationship between vicars and curates, and what their duties actually were. - from the blog English Historical Fiction Authors

Edith Wharton references:

• "The Age of Innocence" film
• "The Buccaneers" - About five wealthy American girls denied entry into New York Society because their parents' money is too new. At the suggestion of their clever governess, the girls sail to London, where they marry lords, earls, and dukes who find their beauty charming—and their wealth extremely useful.
• "The Custom and the Country"

Palate cleansers

• Megan - "I Owe You One" by Sophie Kinsella
• Pete - "Make Your Bed: little things that can change your life... and maybe the world" by William H McRaven
• Gale - True Detective season 3
• Alex - Marvel's Runaways