Good discussions, good leaders, good participants, good accommodations, good food, and good weather all combined for a
great weekend discussing Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield. This year we met at Vallombrosa Retreat
Center in Menlo Park, a very quiet, peaceful setting encouraging thought and
discussion. I must admit that while I missed
the remote and rustic atmosphere of our previous LNW location, the availability
of private rooms at Vallombrosa is a definite improvement over the dormitory
rooms at Walker Creek Ranch.
The
discussion rooms provided had plenty of light and good acoustics. There is very little walking to do as
our rooms, dining hall, meeting rooms, and parking are centralized. And there is plenty of room to walk, strolling through the lushly landscaped grounds. Louise DiMattio informs us that next year we have exclusive
use of Vallombrosa so we will have room for more participants.
Many
thanks go to our leaders who all received excellent ratings: Jennifer Anderson,
Chris Hammer, Jim Hall, Louise DiMattio, Rudy Johnson, Claudia O'Callaghan,
Sheri Kinsvater and Louise Morgan.
Special thanks to Breda Courthey for being backup leader for all three
sessions and for providing Plum Pudding Flambe and sweets for Saturday night. And a hearty thanks to our event coordinator Louise DiMattio and registrar Tracy Oliver for organizing such a successful weekend.
Anew
participant at Long Novel Weekend, Jim Baird, wrote two excellent reports: A report on the discussions, click here,
and a report on the talk delivered by our Saturday evening guest speaker Jane
Smiley, click here.
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