Past meeting
The Houston Central Market Book Club May Meeting
(1 rating)
Meeting Description
Who
- Our readings are often serious and even tedious to read so if you read only for entertainment (and not also for ideas), our group may not be for you. Come by for a visit (no commitment required). Anyone may sit in and just listen.
Why
- Discussions are free, not fattening and are always very interesting. How good is that? Besides they will often provide you with intellectual ideas you may not have thought of before. Visitors welcome
Organized by
-
"Upstairs in the Community Room. If you have difficulty locating us, ask for directions to the Community Room at the information desk."
--Alice Aman
Details
We meet on the second Monday of every Month at Houston Central Market in the second floor community room. We will be discussing DEATH COMES FOR THE ARCHBISHOP by Willa Cather on May 12th starting at 7pm in the Houston Central Market Community Room. See further details below.
We love to have new members. Our group is open to the public and free. The only requirement is that you read the selection to participate in the discussion . But... if you don't read the book, you can come anytime and just listen.
Main houstonbookclubs.org page at:
http://www.houstonboo...
Sign in and comment on our blog at:
http://www.houstonboo...
We are affiliated with Houston Great Books at:
http://www.houstongre...
Also a google group at:
http://groups.google....
Additional information on how the discussions are managed is at:
http://www.houstonboo...
Hope to see you at our next meeting!
--Alice
=====UPCOMING SELECTIONS==========================
May 12, 2008 - DEATH COMES FOR THE ARCHBISHOP by Willa Cather ( 297 pages) publ 1927
Jun 9, 2008 - THE INHERITANCE OF LOSS by Kiran Desai (324 pages) publ 2006
July 14, 2008 -- SISTER CARRIE by Theodore Dreiser (publ 1900) Dover Thrift edition-368 pages
According to H.L. Mencken, "American writing, before and after Dreiser's time, differed almost as much as biology before and after Darwin." About a young country girl who moves to the big city where she starts realizing her own American Dream by first becoming a mistress to powerful men and later as a famous actress. Author had difficulty finding publisher "due to the blurred division line between good and bad in the plot."
--Connie will lead discussion
August 11, 2008 -- THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD by Zora Neal Hurston (publ 1937) 194 pages
From the 1930s through the 1950s, Zora Neale Hurston was the most prolific and accomplished black woman writer in America. The book was not universally praised by Hurston's peers, with particular criticism leveled at her use of black southern dialect to show that complex relationships and metaphoric language are possible in something considered "substandard" to English. Setting of novel is central and southern Florida in the early 20th century. The main character, an African American woman in her early forties, tells via an extended flashback, the story of her life which has three major periods corresponding to her marriages to three very different men.
--Ellie will lead discussion
September 8, 2008 - MRS. DALLOWAY by Virginia Woolf - (192 pages) published 1925
Story of Clarissa Dalloway's preparations for a party of which she is to be hostess. Story is preoccupied with a number of issues including madness and feminism. With the interior perspective of the novel, the story travels forwards and back in time, and in and out of the characters' minds, to construct a complete image of Clarissa's life and of the inter-war social structure.
--Alice will lead discussion
October 13, 2008 -- DELTA WEDDING by Eudora Welty (326 pages) publ 1946
Welty won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973 for THE OPTIMIST'S DAUGHTER.
DELTA WEDDING is a portrait of a large Southern family living on their plantation in the Mississippi delta land in 1923. "A perfect ear for dialect is matched by deep spiritual concerns, and the limits of family and sexuality are explored." says one reviewer.
--Mary will lead discussion
November 10, 2008 -- NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND by Fyodor Dostoevsky (publ 1864 ) 136 pages
Considered by many to be the world's first existentialist novel.
It presents itself as an excerpt from the rambling memoirs of a bitter, isolated, unnamed narrator (generally referred to by critics as the Underground Man) who is a retired civil servant living in St. Petersburg. Considered to be possible inspiration for Wright's THE MAN WHO LIVED UNDERGROUND.
--Alice wil lead discussion
December 8, 2008 -- THE MAN WHO LIVED UNDERGROUND by Richard Wright (publ 1945) 65 pages
Written seven years before Ellison's novel INVISIBLE MAN , Wright's story is considered by many to be an unacknowledged source of Ellison's work; however, both writers rely heavily on Dostoevsky. Wright's story is also thought to present a better portrayal of the black man's plight in American society during that time period.
An African American falsely accused of killing a white woman, attempts to make a new life in the sewers.. he examines his assumptions about guilt and innocence and comes to believe that people are inherently guilty and isolated from one another.
Before anyone gives up trying to find a copy, we will discuss what options are available in making sure everyone has a copy of the text. One source for text is a collection by Wright titled EIGHT MEN: SHORT STORIES but supply seems limited at this point.
--Esther will lead discussion
Cheryl
