The Orchid Thief Online Readalong: Week 1

First of all, if you're wondering what the heck is an online readalong, I'll refer you back to this post from last year. Please don't feel in any way pressured by the schedule. That's the beauty of this thing being online.

For the first section of the readalong, we read the first five chapters, or pages 1-85. Two elements really struck me on reading (or re-reading, since I read this book when it was first published back in 1998). The first was Florida and how well Susan Orlean describes it, both the place and its people. "There is something about Florida more seductive and inescapable than almost anywhere I've ever been," she writes. And she notes dryly, when discussing Laroche's court case, that "The state of Florida does incite people." I especially loved this line: "Sometimes I think I've figured out some order in the universe, but then I find myself in Florida, and I have to start all over again."

 

The second thing that struck me about reading this passage was how this book isn't really about orchids or even about a particular orchid thief. It's about passion, or even obsession. I loved the historical sections about orchid collectors in the 19th and early 20th centuries, when orchids were "a rich and romantic accessory, a polished little captive, a bit of wilderness under glass." Orlean acknowledges that it is this obsession, rather than orchids, that interests her about Laroche and his story. "I don't even especially like orchids," she writes. "What I wanted to see was this thing that people were drawn to in such a singular and powerful way." And while she doesn't feel the passion herself, she finds it fascinating in others: "Collecting can be a sort of love sickness. If you collect living things, you are pursuing something imperfectible, because even if you manage to find and possess the living things you want, there is no guarantee they won't die or change."

 

The link between these two topics -- Florida and obsession, specifically orchid obsession -- is John Laroche. The book opens with a physical description of him, though I was most taken with the nicknames bestowed on him by his employers in the Seminole Tribe: Troublemaker and Crazy White Man. Laroche himself explains what it's like to be an obsessive: "I'll see something and then suddenly I get that feeling. It's like I can't just have something -- I have to have it and learn about it and grow it and sell it and master it and have a million of it."

 

Things I'll be thinking about as I read the next section of the book (though you should feel free to comment on any aspect you like): What do we think of Laroche? Do we like him? Does he seem like a real guy? And why is it so important to him that his intelligence is recognized?

 

Next up ...

The Key West Library is thrilled to announce the choice for its next One Island One Book read: The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean.
Published in 1998, this work of nonfiction tells the story of plant dealer John Laroche, who was arrested in 1994 on charges of poaching the rare ghost orchid from the Fakahatchee Strand (part of the Everglades on mainland South Florida).
The book started as an article in The New Yorker magazine and eventually made it onto film through Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman's meta-adaptation titled, naturally, Adaptation. Starring Meryl Streep, Nicolas Cage and Chris Cooper, the movie takes serious departures from the book into the realm of fiction.
The Library will be hosting multiple events around The Orchid Thief in March 2013, including book club discussions, garden visits and a showing of the movie. Stay tuned here for more details!

That's all, folks!

Thanks for a terrific One Island One Book everyone -- the final event yesterday, a book discussion here at the Library, was emblematic of our success, pushing the Conference Room to its capacity. Over the monthlong program, hundreds of you attended lectures at the Library, tours at the Custom House, and read along here on the blog. Thanks to each and every one of you who participated -- and special thanks to author Les Standiford and to Headquarters Branch Administrator Christine Dunn. We certainly couldn't have done it without you.
We haven't selected next year's One Island One Book yet -- but stay tuned here and we'll post as soon as we do. Remember, you can also keep up on Library activities by checking the Key West page on the Monroe County Library website, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter. And you can keep on reading along, commenting on the posts below and reading more about the Over-Sea Railroad and Key West History. Happy reading!

Dec. 18, 2012 update: Because we're about to start updating the blog with information about The Orchid Thief I am copying here the suggested further reading for Last Train to Paradise. All the books here are in the Monroe County Public Library collection:

Key West: The Old and the New by Jefferson B. Browne -- written in 1912 to help welcome the railroad era to Key West, this is a comprehensive collection of information about the Keys from its initial development to the time of publication.

Florida's Great Ocean Railway by Dan Gallagher -- Detailed account of the construction of the project.

The Florida Keys: A History of the Pioneers by John Viele -- well-researched history of early settlers on the island, with an entire chapter called "Railroad Days."

Storm of the Century by Willie Drye -- An account of the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane, a Category 5 monster that killed more than 400 people and spelled the end of the Overseas Railway.

Category 5 by Thomas Knowles -- Another account of the Labor Day Hurricane, this one by a Key West native.

Hemingway's Hurricane by Phil Scott -- Another Labor Day Hurricane book, this one notable for the accounts from World War I veterans who were in Islamorada working on a WPA project at the time of the storm.

Speedway to Sunshine by Seth Bramson -- Authoritative history of the Florida East Coast Railway, Flagler's system that once stretched from St. Augustine to Key West and literally led to the development of South Florida

The Swamp by Michael Grunwald -- This book does not bear directly on the Overseas Railway but provides excellent background on the history and development of South Florida through the prism of the Everglades.

Now it's your turn

We read the book, we toured the exhibit at the Custom House, we've heard from the people doing the rail-to-trail conversion, our pre-eminent local historian -- and the author himself.
Now it's your turn. This week, the Library's Book Bites Book Club holds three meetings to discuss Last Train to Paradise by Les Standiford.
The first is at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the Library Conference Room.
The second is at 2 p.m. Tuesday at the Florida Keys Community College Library. The Library is in Building A, 5901 College Road -- perfect for folks who don't want to make the drive into Old Town and search for parking.
The final event in this year's One Island One Book is Thursday, March 8, at 4:30 p.m., back at the Library.
All Book Bites meetings are open to everyone -- you don't need to be a Monroe County Library patron to attend. Thanks to everyone for participating this year and please don't hesitate to ask questions if you have any -- stop by the Library, give us a call at 305-292-3595 or email neihouse-kris@monroecounty-fl.gov.