Review of The Great Stories - To Build a Fire by Jack London

To Build a Fire by Jack London

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“No, there isn’t anything better than being told a good story, an even better truly great story beats them all! Thank you, Trev Downey. I have been laid up for the day and thanks to you I have enjoyed the last few hours listening to podcasts, it has been a pleasure. When I started listening to, To Build a Fire I was expecting a somewhat different story. Fifty or more years ago I listened to a radio program in which a guy described his 4th grade class’s first visit to the school library. After explaining how the library works the librarian began reading a short story of a man who is alone at night during the winter in the Alaskan wilderness trying to light a fire. He is down to three matches and finding that the kindling is not dry enough to light. He can hear the nearby wolves howling as he goes through the matches. His hands are freezing as one by one his attempts at starting the fire fail and then …………. At that point, the librarian looks up at the clock, closes the book and tells the class that she hopes to see them all using the library in the coming year. I know the man on the radio, Jean Shepherd was a big Jack London fan, he might have used creative license to make the story work for his purposes. Just as the librarian undoubtedly created avid readers that day Jean Shepherd did the same. Just as are now. Thank you, again, Phil Englander”

none was taken via Apple Podcasts · United States of America · 06/26/22