Location of After Party varies - determined at time of meeting.
Readings for 2012
Jan 5 -FRANNY AND ZOOEY by J.D. Salinger (publ 1955) 208 pages
A short story and a novella about the two youngest members of the Glass family, a frequent focus of Salinger's writings.
The short story tells the tale of an undergraduate who is becoming disenchanted with the selfishness and inauthenticity she perceives all around her. Zooey is an emotionally toughened genius who comes to his sister's aid, offering what he thinks is brotherly love, understanding, and words of sage advice.
Note: Recommended that this selection be read before months' end so next month's selection which is over 600 pages can be started ahead of time.
--Alice leading discussion
Feb 2 -ADVENTURES OF AUGIE MARCH by Saul Bellow (publ 1953) 608 pages
Bellow has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the National Medal of Arts.
According to Salman Rushdie "If there's a candidate for the Great American Novel, I think this is it."
Blends street language with literary elegance to tell the story of a poor Chicago boy growing up during the Great Depression. A true adventure story that not only takes you through a man's life and everything that happens to him, but of his own discovery of who he is and what he wants to be in the world.
--Jean leading discussion
Mar 1 -DARKNESS AT NOON by Art Koestler (publ 2006) 288 pages
Ranked by the Modern Library as eighth on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.
The tale of Rubashov, an Old Bolshevik who is cast out, imprisoned, and tried for treason against the very Soviet Union he once helped to create. "...it is a powerful meditation on good and evil, and the extent to which we allow the latter in the short term because we believe it will somehow help us get the former in the long term."
--Jim leading discussion
Apr 5 -LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov (publ 1959) 315 pages
Considered Nabokov's best work and ranked 4th on the Modern Library's List of the best novels in English literature,
Lolita is the story of a middle-aged college professor's obsession for a pubescent girl. A controversial story of a civilized European colliding with the barbarism of postwar America, it is a meditation on love--love as outrage and hallucination, madness and transformation.
--Charles leading discussion
May 3 -LETTERS FROM THE EARTH by Mark Twain (1st publ 1962) 22 pages or 51 pages - depending on source
A collection of anti-religious essays reputed to be highly inflammatory - our discussion will cover the PROLOGUE to LETTERS FROM THE EARTH, SATAN'S LETTER, LETTER II, LETTER III, LETTER IV, LETTER V, LETTER VI, LETTER VII, LETTER VIII, LETTER IX, LETTER X, and LETTER XI. There are texts titled LETTERS FROM THE EARTH that may include more than specified above but essays in addition to those specified above will not be included in our discussion. This collection in numerous forms is available online and from Amazon. I purchased a copy but it has sense increased in cost HERE . Online, these essays specified above are available from: sacred-texts.com and also from: positiveatheism.org and probably other places. Just be sure to check the table of contents and make sure the essays specified above are included.
[Next months book is extra long - this month's reading is relatively short to allow for us to start reading next book in advance.]
--Lin leading discussion
Jun 7 -HOUSE FOR MR. BISWAS by V. S. Naipaul [publ 1961] 576 pages
2001 Nobel Prize laureate as well as winner of numerous major literary awards -- book was ranked no. 72 on the list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.
This novel is the story of Mr Mohun Biswas, an Indo-Trinidadian who continually strives for success and mostly fails, who marries into the Tulsi family only to find himself dominated by it, and who finally sets the goal of owning his own house. Drawing some elements from the life of Naipaul's father, the work is primarily a sharply-drawn look at life that uses postcolonial perspectives to view a vanished colonial world.
[Long Book category: paired with shorter work assigned to previous month's discussion so we can start reading early]
--Jim leading discussion
[Note: election at this meeting - ongoing ballot at: http://www.houstonbookclubs.org/Montrose/ballots/jun7-2012.html]
Jul 5 -THE SENSE OF AN ENDING by Julian Barnes (hardcover publ 2011) 176 pages
Booker Prize winner for 2011 and included in NYTimes list of best books of 2011. Author has written ten novels as well as collections of short stories and journalistic essays and won numerous awards and been translated into more than 30 languages. This story is narrated by a middle-aged man named Tony Webster, who recalls how he and his clique met Adrian Finn at school and vowed to remain friends for life. When the past catches up with Tony, he reflects on the paths he and his friends have taken.
--David leading discussion
Aug 2 -THE CONFIDENCE MAN by Herman Melville [publ 1857] 336 pages
The novel's title refers to its central character, an ambiguous figure who sneaks aboard a Mississippi steamboat and attempts to test the confidence of the passengers, whose varied reactions constitute the bulk of the text. In this work Melville is at his best illustrating the human masquerade. Each person including the reader is forced to confront that in which he places his trust.
--Will leading discussion
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