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Light Years: Memoir of a Modern Lighthouse Keeper
In 2007, Caroline Woodward was itching for a change. With an established career in book-selling and promotion, four books of her own and having raised a son with her husband, Jeff, she yearned for adventure and to re-ignite her passion for writing. Jeff was tired of piecing together low-paying part-time jobs and, with Caroline’s encouragement, applied for a position as a relief lightkeeper on a remote North Pacific island. They endured lonely months of living apart, but the way of life rejuvenated Jeff and inspired Caroline to contemplate serious shifts in order to accompany him. When a permanent position for a lighthouse keeper became available, Caroline quit her job and joined Jeff on the lights.
Caroline soon learned that the lighthouse-keeping life does not consist of long, empty hours in which to write. The reality is hard physical labour, long stretches of isolation and the constant threat of de-staffing. Beginning with a 3:30 a.m. weather report, the days are filled with maintaining the light station buildings, sea sampling, radio communication, beach cleanup, wildlife encounters and everything in between. As for dangerous rescue missions or dramatic shipwrecks—that kind of excitement is rare. “So far the only life I know I’ve saved is my own,” she says, with her trademark dry wit. Yet Caroline is exhilarated by the scenic coastline with its drizzle and fog, seabirds and whales, and finds time to grow a garden and, as anticipated, write.
Told with eloquent introspection and an eye for detail, Light Years is the personal account of a lighthouse keeper in twenty-first century British Columbia—an account that details Caroline’s endurance of extreme climatic, interpersonal and medical challenges, as well as the practical and psychological aspects of living a happy, healthy, useful and creative life in isolation.
Caroline soon learned that the lighthouse-keeping life does not consist of long, empty hours in which to write. The reality is hard physical labour, long stretches of isolation and the constant threat of de-staffing. Beginning with a 3:30 a.m. weather report, the days are filled with maintaining the light station buildings, sea sampling, radio communication, beach cleanup, wildlife encounters and everything in between. As for dangerous rescue missions or dramatic shipwrecks—that kind of excitement is rare. “So far the only life I know I’ve saved is my own,” she says, with her trademark dry wit. Yet Caroline is exhilarated by the scenic coastline with its drizzle and fog, seabirds and whales, and finds time to grow a garden and, as anticipated, write.
Told with eloquent introspection and an eye for detail, Light Years is the personal account of a lighthouse keeper in twenty-first century British Columbia—an account that details Caroline’s endurance of extreme climatic, interpersonal and medical challenges, as well as the practical and psychological aspects of living a happy, healthy, useful and creative life in isolation.
272 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 5, 2015
13 people are currently reading
727 people want to read
About the author
Caroline Woodward
8 books48 followersCaroline Woodward is a writer and now-retired lighthouse keeper from the Lennard Island Lightstation, near Tofino, B.C. She has relocated to her favourite village, New Denver, B.C. where she and her husband founded the Motherlode Bookstore (1993-2001). She writes short and long fiction, poetry, children's picture books, for children aged 8-11, young adult fiction, non-fiction essays and articles, book reviews, sound pieces for CBC Radio and assorted other ephemera.
She grew up on a homestead in the north Peace River region of B.C. without benefit of electricity, TV, running water, computers, et cetera but with hundreds of acres of land, horses to ride, forts to build and a radio which ran on batteries. She wrote a weekly column for the Alaska Highway News for two years while in high school and after earning a B.A. at the University of British Columbia, she began publishing sporadic newspaper and magazine travel articles about her adventures overseas.
She worked as a volunteer in Sri Lanka with Canadian Crossroads International immediately following her graduation. While hiking in Nepal in 1981, she self-published a 12 page chapbook, A Blue Fable, on rice paper, a feat of naivety and courage lauded by the Toronto Star and the Vancouver Sun among others, with surprising sales ensuing. After returning from her travels in Asia and Europe to UBC to earn a Teacher's Certificate, she worked for the next two decades as a teacher at all levels from elementary school to college seminars teaching social studies and creative writing, as well as several tours as a group leader (17-21 year olds) with Canada World Youth to India and Sri Lanka, group home worker, adult protective services worker, gardener, and caretaker, writing all the while. She attended David Thompson University Centre's Creative Writing program in Nelson, BC and earned a Diploma in Creative Writing in 1984 which solidified and enlarged her understanding of the writer's task.
Her first collection of short fiction, Disturbing the Peace (Polestar: 1990, second printing 1995) was a finalist for the BC Book Prizes Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize. Stories from this collection have been anthologized for use in high school and university literature classes by Oxford University Press, Prentice-Hall, and Nelson (Canada), and in other collections by Second Story Press, Polestar Press and the Women's Press in Canada. Her second book, a novel, Alaska Highway Two-Step (Polestar: 1993), (Harbour Publishing: 2017) was a Globe & Mail Top 100 Books of 1993 and a finalist for the First Mystery Novel Arthur Ellis Award from the Crime Writers of Canada.
Work is a 4-Letter Word (2000), a collection of illustrated short fiction stories about entry level jobs was written for adult literacy students as a contract project sponsored by national and provincial literacy government education ministries and the regional literacy organization in the West Kootenays. Most importantly, it was written for and read out loud by Selkirk College adult literacy students in Nakusp, BC, the first readers and responders, and their instructors, Alison Alder and Richard Allin. Further, it was designed and produced as a final year project by Kootenay School of the Arts publishing program student, Laurie Burke and then distributed to 250 literacy programs across Canada.
In 2017, Northern Lights College awarded Caroline Woodward an honorary associate of arts degree to celebrate her literary contribution of books set in the Peace River region for adults and children, including Singing Away the Dark, which is now published in South Korea, Bulgaria, Quebec (Chanter Dans Le Noir, translated by Fanny Britt, published by Le Courte d'Échelle), China, Japan and the throughout the English-speaking world.
After a busy and varied career, mostly in publishing and bookselling as a manuscript reader, publicist, managing editor, author, playwright, reading series and festival organizer, creative writing teacher, books
She grew up on a homestead in the north Peace River region of B.C. without benefit of electricity, TV, running water, computers, et cetera but with hundreds of acres of land, horses to ride, forts to build and a radio which ran on batteries. She wrote a weekly column for the Alaska Highway News for two years while in high school and after earning a B.A. at the University of British Columbia, she began publishing sporadic newspaper and magazine travel articles about her adventures overseas.
She worked as a volunteer in Sri Lanka with Canadian Crossroads International immediately following her graduation. While hiking in Nepal in 1981, she self-published a 12 page chapbook, A Blue Fable, on rice paper, a feat of naivety and courage lauded by the Toronto Star and the Vancouver Sun among others, with surprising sales ensuing. After returning from her travels in Asia and Europe to UBC to earn a Teacher's Certificate, she worked for the next two decades as a teacher at all levels from elementary school to college seminars teaching social studies and creative writing, as well as several tours as a group leader (17-21 year olds) with Canada World Youth to India and Sri Lanka, group home worker, adult protective services worker, gardener, and caretaker, writing all the while. She attended David Thompson University Centre's Creative Writing program in Nelson, BC and earned a Diploma in Creative Writing in 1984 which solidified and enlarged her understanding of the writer's task.
Her first collection of short fiction, Disturbing the Peace (Polestar: 1990, second printing 1995) was a finalist for the BC Book Prizes Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize. Stories from this collection have been anthologized for use in high school and university literature classes by Oxford University Press, Prentice-Hall, and Nelson (Canada), and in other collections by Second Story Press, Polestar Press and the Women's Press in Canada. Her second book, a novel, Alaska Highway Two-Step (Polestar: 1993), (Harbour Publishing: 2017) was a Globe & Mail Top 100 Books of 1993 and a finalist for the First Mystery Novel Arthur Ellis Award from the Crime Writers of Canada.
Work is a 4-Letter Word (2000), a collection of illustrated short fiction stories about entry level jobs was written for adult literacy students as a contract project sponsored by national and provincial literacy government education ministries and the regional literacy organization in the West Kootenays. Most importantly, it was written for and read out loud by Selkirk College adult literacy students in Nakusp, BC, the first readers and responders, and their instructors, Alison Alder and Richard Allin. Further, it was designed and produced as a final year project by Kootenay School of the Arts publishing program student, Laurie Burke and then distributed to 250 literacy programs across Canada.
In 2017, Northern Lights College awarded Caroline Woodward an honorary associate of arts degree to celebrate her literary contribution of books set in the Peace River region for adults and children, including Singing Away the Dark, which is now published in South Korea, Bulgaria, Quebec (Chanter Dans Le Noir, translated by Fanny Britt, published by Le Courte d'Échelle), China, Japan and the throughout the English-speaking world.
After a busy and varied career, mostly in publishing and bookselling as a manuscript reader, publicist, managing editor, author, playwright, reading series and festival organizer, creative writing teacher, books
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
June 3, 2016
This is a gorgeously written and thoughtful book and I wish it were many hundreds of pages longer so that I could keep enjoying it. Caroline Woodward is a mature, interesting, humble, well-traveled writer who makes the life-changing decision with her husband to live on the wild and remote islands of BC. Each chapter is a new window into her life and the lives of lightkeepers and their struggles and pleasures. Woodward is intelligent and often very funny in the way she presents things- in these pages are romantic tales of storms and whales and birds, idyllic accounts of gingerbread-baking marathons and garden-tending, and laugh-out-loud one-liners. My new favorite non-fiction.
At the start I had decided to give this book to my mom as a Christmas gift, but I don’t know if I can part with it. It was so good that it feels like a teddy bear in book form.
For good measure, a lighthouse illustration of mine:
A few passages:
I slept and slept on Egg Island, with only the sounds of the wind in the evergreens, the cries of the sea birds and the comforting push and pull of the ocean swells. One night humpback whales circled the island, singing their eerie whale songs, some basso profundo, others swooping up into the heldentenor range. I had to pinch myself.
Imagine falling asleep to whales singing deep sea lullabies.
I had to find a way to live this life.
(p 39)
So long to the ditzy amateur fortune-teller in Canada who declared me “too scattered” due to the number of vowels and the configuration of consonants in my good name, which true to my fifteen-year-old self has remained unchanged. Thank you to the quiet Hindu numerologist in Jaffna who sighed and said I would be a seeker of knowledge all my life. Farewell to the famous psychic who said I would only write four books and that I was so good at working with young people that I should so that instead. Well, Madame, you died before my fifth book came out.
(p 85)
Compared to lightkeepers in the century before us, who had groceries delivered by boat two or three times a year and who depended heavily on their gardens, the sea and hardy livestock to survive, we are mighty fortunate. When I think of those lightkeepers and their families, who waited for weeks and months for the grocery ship, who then slaughtered the last chicken and ran down the last scrawny goat, who mixed cornstarch and water to feed their children and other true horror stories of near-starvation on the lights, I count my blessings and do my utmost not to waste a scrap of food.
(p 145)
When the Coast Guard ships come in to refuel us or bring in a crew to inspect and maintain the winch and high line, I always offer fresh coffee and tea, plus cookies, muffins or cake. When it’s an all-day job, like the quadrennial anniversary to inspect and/ or refurbish every line and cable and bolt, I usually bring out a big cake on a covered glass pedestal, little plates and dessert forks, and a choice of cloth or paper napkins. Pottery and china mugs, honey, cane sugar, real spoons. Cream if we have it, virtuous, boring 2% if we don’t. As I told a happy crew member digging in to the triple-decker carrot cake one year, it is very important to celebrate the finer things in life whenever we get the chance.
(p 148)
The only thing that could have been improved was likely out of the author's control- the cover is terrible. And with so many good photos included in the books pages, it's odd that the dust jacket is so tacky. This is not a book to judge by its cover!
At the start I had decided to give this book to my mom as a Christmas gift, but I don’t know if I can part with it. It was so good that it feels like a teddy bear in book form.
For good measure, a lighthouse illustration of mine:
A few passages:
I slept and slept on Egg Island, with only the sounds of the wind in the evergreens, the cries of the sea birds and the comforting push and pull of the ocean swells. One night humpback whales circled the island, singing their eerie whale songs, some basso profundo, others swooping up into the heldentenor range. I had to pinch myself.
Imagine falling asleep to whales singing deep sea lullabies.
I had to find a way to live this life.
(p 39)
So long to the ditzy amateur fortune-teller in Canada who declared me “too scattered” due to the number of vowels and the configuration of consonants in my good name, which true to my fifteen-year-old self has remained unchanged. Thank you to the quiet Hindu numerologist in Jaffna who sighed and said I would be a seeker of knowledge all my life. Farewell to the famous psychic who said I would only write four books and that I was so good at working with young people that I should so that instead. Well, Madame, you died before my fifth book came out.
(p 85)
Compared to lightkeepers in the century before us, who had groceries delivered by boat two or three times a year and who depended heavily on their gardens, the sea and hardy livestock to survive, we are mighty fortunate. When I think of those lightkeepers and their families, who waited for weeks and months for the grocery ship, who then slaughtered the last chicken and ran down the last scrawny goat, who mixed cornstarch and water to feed their children and other true horror stories of near-starvation on the lights, I count my blessings and do my utmost not to waste a scrap of food.
(p 145)
When the Coast Guard ships come in to refuel us or bring in a crew to inspect and maintain the winch and high line, I always offer fresh coffee and tea, plus cookies, muffins or cake. When it’s an all-day job, like the quadrennial anniversary to inspect and/ or refurbish every line and cable and bolt, I usually bring out a big cake on a covered glass pedestal, little plates and dessert forks, and a choice of cloth or paper napkins. Pottery and china mugs, honey, cane sugar, real spoons. Cream if we have it, virtuous, boring 2% if we don’t. As I told a happy crew member digging in to the triple-decker carrot cake one year, it is very important to celebrate the finer things in life whenever we get the chance.
(p 148)
The only thing that could have been improved was likely out of the author's control- the cover is terrible. And with so many good photos included in the books pages, it's odd that the dust jacket is so tacky. This is not a book to judge by its cover!
January 29, 2022
A serendipitous encounter with a Jack Russell terrier on a ferry deck launches a sea change in the lives of author Caroline Woodward and husband Jeff George. In late(ish) middle age they jump, albeit in slow motion and amidst trepidations and bouts of ambivalence, at the chance to become lightkeepers on British Columbia’s rugged Pacific coast, leaving behind the comfortable but not wholly fulfilling life they had built for themselves over the years. The adventures, challenges, reflections and insights of the couple’s subsequent seven years ‘on the lights’ are chronicled in Woodward’s engaging, entertaining and educational memoir.
Woodward invites us along on her journey, beginning with the momentous leap of faith whereby the security, both physical and emotional, of her job, home and familiar surroundings is left behind as she and partner Jeff embark on their new adventure. Step one—closing up shop on their old life to make way for the new—is daunting in itself, presenting an array of obstacles and frustrations as the accumulations of decades must be pared down to a bare minimum. Light keepers, I learned, are provided a furnished home and need only their clothing and whatever other personal items they choose to bring.
Once the transition is finally completed, Jeff and Caroline begin their new jobs as lightkeepers. They are assigned to various lighthouses over the years, sometimes as the main keepers, sometimes assistant keepers and sometimes temporary replacements, with their longest stint being on Lennard Island, near the spectacular Pacific Rim Park on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
Woodward’s sojourn on the lights offers up a new lease on her life as a writer. The surroundings are inspirational and the distractions, notwithstanding the demands of the job, are few. The lighthouse world is new and fascinating, and her accounts of the keepers’ experiences—traveling on Coast Guard helicopters and Zodiacs, sea rescues, the wild beauty of the moody coastal waters, even changing the oil in a massive generator—are imbued with exhilaration and delight. The change of scene revitalizes her writer’s soul, and the words on the page reflect a fresh perspective.
Reading this memoir, I often felt I was listening to Woodward sharing her stories over a coffee or a glass of wine. Her prose flows easily and is rich with humour and introspection. While we learn about the nuts and bolts of the lightkeepers’ work, as well as their role in oceanography, rescue operations and the maritime communications network, we are also given a peek into life on the tiny piece of real estate that Caroline and Jeff call home. The weight of isolation is tempered by gardening, kayaking, culinary artistry and occasional, precious furloughs to visit family and friends and enjoy the amenities of the city. Throughout the narrative, Woodward interweaves personal reflections on her journey as a writer, activist, partner and parent—a dimension that, for me, brought a welcome depth and fullness to the story. A thoroughly enjoyable read.
Woodward invites us along on her journey, beginning with the momentous leap of faith whereby the security, both physical and emotional, of her job, home and familiar surroundings is left behind as she and partner Jeff embark on their new adventure. Step one—closing up shop on their old life to make way for the new—is daunting in itself, presenting an array of obstacles and frustrations as the accumulations of decades must be pared down to a bare minimum. Light keepers, I learned, are provided a furnished home and need only their clothing and whatever other personal items they choose to bring.
Once the transition is finally completed, Jeff and Caroline begin their new jobs as lightkeepers. They are assigned to various lighthouses over the years, sometimes as the main keepers, sometimes assistant keepers and sometimes temporary replacements, with their longest stint being on Lennard Island, near the spectacular Pacific Rim Park on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
Woodward’s sojourn on the lights offers up a new lease on her life as a writer. The surroundings are inspirational and the distractions, notwithstanding the demands of the job, are few. The lighthouse world is new and fascinating, and her accounts of the keepers’ experiences—traveling on Coast Guard helicopters and Zodiacs, sea rescues, the wild beauty of the moody coastal waters, even changing the oil in a massive generator—are imbued with exhilaration and delight. The change of scene revitalizes her writer’s soul, and the words on the page reflect a fresh perspective.
Reading this memoir, I often felt I was listening to Woodward sharing her stories over a coffee or a glass of wine. Her prose flows easily and is rich with humour and introspection. While we learn about the nuts and bolts of the lightkeepers’ work, as well as their role in oceanography, rescue operations and the maritime communications network, we are also given a peek into life on the tiny piece of real estate that Caroline and Jeff call home. The weight of isolation is tempered by gardening, kayaking, culinary artistry and occasional, precious furloughs to visit family and friends and enjoy the amenities of the city. Throughout the narrative, Woodward interweaves personal reflections on her journey as a writer, activist, partner and parent—a dimension that, for me, brought a welcome depth and fullness to the story. A thoroughly enjoyable read.
November 13, 2015
After a brief stay years ago at Porlier Pass lighthouse with lighthouse keepers Lorne and Dorothy Gibson (who had become friends with my boater parents while stationed at the Lamb Island lighthouse in Lake Superior), I've had an interest in life caring for the lights. So I was delighted to read Caroline Woodward's memoir of a modern lighthouse keeper.
Not only does she immerse the reader in the day-by-day, season-by-season role and responsibilities of lighthouse keepers, she also invites you along on her author journey, discovering both the challenges and the life-giving nature of being a writer. It was her poignant reflections on the beauty of the wild Pacific coast and the writing life that I found most resonated with me:
P. 99
The sky and the sea are so dynamic and ever-evolving, in a state of constant flux.
P. 197
Here there is time to think, to marvel, to let go of grudges and regrets, to solve real and imaginary problems, to write day after day, to be content with what I have, where I am and who I am.
P. 181
But I won't retire from writing until I pop my clogs. Fall off my twig. Keel over in my gumboots. Some day my ship will come in. As Jack Kerouac said, "Genius gives birth, talent delivers." I tell myself that good writers, like good guitar players, are a dime a dozen and that only those of us who work really, really hard and who stretch our repertoire and work well with others will deliver.
P. 187
I can only put my best efforts into being an extrovert for so long. I will eventually burn out unless I can get to a quiet place to think and create, to write and inhabit my own worlds.
P.194
Life is not a foot race. It's more like a grand obstacle course with stops for picnics along the way.
When I took a break before reading the last chapter, I was wishing for some rescue stories and was disappointed there had been no mention of sea otters ... And then came chapter 17, Beyond These Blue Horizons, where Caroline explains the key support role of lighthouse keepers to the Search and Rescue crews and Coast Guard staff who handle the majority of rescues. But then she does talk about times when lighthouse keepers made all the difference for shipwrecked pleasure boaters and fishing boats in trouble. Finally there was a line about my favourite marine mammal: "the sea otter clapping prickly-shelled sea urchins to his chest."
And then, to round out the collection of stunning photographs taken by her lighthouse-keeper husband Jeff George, there was a beautiful surf shot of a sea otter doing what sea otters do. Thanks for a most satisfying end to a most interesting memoir.
Not only does she immerse the reader in the day-by-day, season-by-season role and responsibilities of lighthouse keepers, she also invites you along on her author journey, discovering both the challenges and the life-giving nature of being a writer. It was her poignant reflections on the beauty of the wild Pacific coast and the writing life that I found most resonated with me:
P. 99
The sky and the sea are so dynamic and ever-evolving, in a state of constant flux.
P. 197
Here there is time to think, to marvel, to let go of grudges and regrets, to solve real and imaginary problems, to write day after day, to be content with what I have, where I am and who I am.
P. 181
But I won't retire from writing until I pop my clogs. Fall off my twig. Keel over in my gumboots. Some day my ship will come in. As Jack Kerouac said, "Genius gives birth, talent delivers." I tell myself that good writers, like good guitar players, are a dime a dozen and that only those of us who work really, really hard and who stretch our repertoire and work well with others will deliver.
P. 187
I can only put my best efforts into being an extrovert for so long. I will eventually burn out unless I can get to a quiet place to think and create, to write and inhabit my own worlds.
P.194
Life is not a foot race. It's more like a grand obstacle course with stops for picnics along the way.
When I took a break before reading the last chapter, I was wishing for some rescue stories and was disappointed there had been no mention of sea otters ... And then came chapter 17, Beyond These Blue Horizons, where Caroline explains the key support role of lighthouse keepers to the Search and Rescue crews and Coast Guard staff who handle the majority of rescues. But then she does talk about times when lighthouse keepers made all the difference for shipwrecked pleasure boaters and fishing boats in trouble. Finally there was a line about my favourite marine mammal: "the sea otter clapping prickly-shelled sea urchins to his chest."
And then, to round out the collection of stunning photographs taken by her lighthouse-keeper husband Jeff George, there was a beautiful surf shot of a sea otter doing what sea otters do. Thanks for a most satisfying end to a most interesting memoir.
February 27, 2017
As I read this book I felt I was becoming a friend of Caroline Woodward. She grew up in the Peace River country of British Columbia on a homestead, and everything she learned there about self-reliance, taking calculated risks, self-confidence, empathy and neighbourliness have infused her whole adult life. She always knew she would be a writer, and her drive to experience life and to write about it are front and centre in this memoir. Refreshing to read is the thankfulness she has for her life with her soulmate Jeff. I live on Vancouver Island and can picture all the places she talks about. I feel the sense of awe she has for the ocean and all its facets and seasons. The life of lightkeepers she describes leaves me exhausted with its demands. I knew their responsibilities for keeping the lights functioning would entail all weather dedication, but I never thought about all the cleaning, repairing, scientific measurement taking, maintenance work, gardening, and general planning that kind of existance requires. I experienced all the flurry of activity when the supply helicopter came, and the joy of her flowering literary life, and the satisfaction of jobs finished and well done. Woodward's love of her life shines through her very readable prose.
December 12, 2017
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, a peek into the practical reality and the creative thoughts and personality of Caroline Woodward, via writings gleaned from her journal as a lighthouse keeper. As an author of books gleaned from my own journals, I see great value in sharing our introspections and experiences, and I deeply respect those who are willing and courageous enough to do so! Thank you, Caroline, you inspire.
January 4, 2019
The author of this delightful book and her husband live and work at the lighthouse on Lennard Island, along the west coast of Vancouver Island, one of twenty-seven remaining staffed lighthouses along the B.C. coast. This book is a memoir of how they came to be lighthouse keepers following a bit of a mid-life crisis, and of their first few years there. The details about lighthouse keeping are fascinating, and her descriptions of nature and scenery are wonderful. However, it is very introspective at times, perhaps a bit too much so, as she details her struggle to become a writer, and sometimes it feels more like a book about her writing career than her lighthouse keeping. This is made up for by the fact that she writes very well, and with a great deal of humor. At times I did find her writing a bit scattered, as she seems to struggle with staying on topic, and doesn't always tell her story chronologically. And I could have done without her occasional forays into politics. All in all though, this was a great read, and now I know that if farming doesn't work out, my husband and I would probably enjoy lighthouse keeping!
December 23, 2016
This book was a perfect story to read in December. Why do we decide to try a totally new life? When do we find time for writing? What is the value of our work? These are the sorts of questions Caroline Woodward engages with throughout her fascinating text about deciding to become a lighthouse keeper with her husband. It's a quiet book, appropriate in tone I think for the long days of silence on the island, but one that I truly appreciated.
July 31, 2017
Interesting meditation on the author's life. This book is not a straightforward accounting of a lightkeeper's life, it is more of an inner look at the author's desire to write and her path towards the lighthouse. I enjoyed the description of the ocean, the lighthouse stations, the many jobs involved in keeping a station going. Her recounting of history and the natural world along the coast was very interesting.
August 29, 2016
A beautiful story about the real life story of a current lighthouse keeper. I loved this book.
March 11, 2020
"I've read books like I drink water since I was six. They've saved my mind and my life."
Light Years: Memoirs of a Modern Lighthouse Keeper is an autobiographical look at life on a British Columbia island as a lightkeeper.
Caroline Woodward's book overviews a profession that may be little-seen and even less known about.
She and husband Jeff had opportunity to become lightkeepers in 2007 and today still reside on Lessard Island near Tofino.
We are also treated to stories of her family history and life before becoming a lightkeeper, and her love of books and writing - she is a published author and former bookseller. Don't even get me started on all the mentions of culinary skill and baking - prepare to feel hungry!
One takes away a real sense of the author's personality from this book; she's technical yet artistic, social yet isolated, independent yet fiercely devoted.
Such an interesting portrait of a unique Canadian literary life. Recommended, especially for my fellow Canadian readers!
Light Years: Memoirs of a Modern Lighthouse Keeper is an autobiographical look at life on a British Columbia island as a lightkeeper.
Caroline Woodward's book overviews a profession that may be little-seen and even less known about.
She and husband Jeff had opportunity to become lightkeepers in 2007 and today still reside on Lessard Island near Tofino.
We are also treated to stories of her family history and life before becoming a lightkeeper, and her love of books and writing - she is a published author and former bookseller. Don't even get me started on all the mentions of culinary skill and baking - prepare to feel hungry!
One takes away a real sense of the author's personality from this book; she's technical yet artistic, social yet isolated, independent yet fiercely devoted.
Such an interesting portrait of a unique Canadian literary life. Recommended, especially for my fellow Canadian readers!
May 1, 2020
Woodward is a good writer and her account of the lighthouse system and her experiences working in them is fascinating ... BUT there is far, far too much about her life as a writer and about creative writing classes and so on. One expects some of that but it goes on for chapter after chapter - I wasn’t seeking a biography but to know something about the lighthouses. A good book, I woukld recommend it, but there are chunks that I would simply not pay much time with.
October 17, 2016
I received a copy of this book through Goodreads giveaways for an honest review.
I'm not entirely sure what I expected but this wasn't exactly it. I have always had a fascination with lighthouses and the people who work in them so I was very excited to read this. However, it seemed to me that the author spent more time focusing on her writing and the struggles she went through while she and her husband were apart due to the keeper job. Now this is not a bad thing because it is well written and rather interesting but it was not what I expected. Still I enjoyed it though at times it was difficult to ascertain where in time we were, the past or the present, which I did find hard to follow.
I'm not entirely sure what I expected but this wasn't exactly it. I have always had a fascination with lighthouses and the people who work in them so I was very excited to read this. However, it seemed to me that the author spent more time focusing on her writing and the struggles she went through while she and her husband were apart due to the keeper job. Now this is not a bad thing because it is well written and rather interesting but it was not what I expected. Still I enjoyed it though at times it was difficult to ascertain where in time we were, the past or the present, which I did find hard to follow.
May 28, 2016
Loved this book. Now going to have to read up on all things lighthouse related.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews