The Hickory Reading Club meeting of February 10, held in Hickory Baptist Church fellowship hall, reflected an air of love, but not just of the romantic type. In a setting of Valentine pinks, reds, and various heart styles, members and visitors enjoyed a lovely light fare of salads and desserts provided by hostesses Joyce Johnson and Judy Leach.
Marie Fanning's meditation reflected the love President Abraham Lincoln expressed in a personal letter to the loving mother of a young soldier dying for love of country.
For program, Judy Leach gave interesting detailed background on the Everest area and reviewed Jon Krakauer's nonfiction 1997 bestseller Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster. Krakauer's dormant love of climbing lead to his becoming an active part of the climb resulting in eight deaths. The expedition proved controversial, as reflected in Krakauer's 1999 paperback Into Thin Air and in fellow climber Boukreev's 1997 book The Climb.
