We celebrated the funeral games of Patroclas, ate figs, drank wine and concurred that Achilles really was kind of a jerk.
Most of the club members found the book lyrical and moving, although some acknowledged that it was rather modish.
Monday, January 28, 2013
Best of the Greeks
Despite the epic "snowstorm" of 25 January, the Alexandria Book club met to discuss Madeline Miller's novel The Song of Achilles.
We celebrated the funeral games of Patroclas, ate figs, drank wine and concurred that Achilles really was kind of a jerk.
We celebrated the funeral games of Patroclas, ate figs, drank wine and concurred that Achilles really was kind of a jerk.
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Book Club reads Song of Achilles
For January 2013 the Alexandria Campus Book Club will turn its attention the ancient Greece of heroes and gods, love and tragedy, loyalty and betrayal.
We will read Madeline Miller's modern re-telling of the the events of Homer's Iliad.
"Greece in the age of heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the kingdom of Phthia to be raised in the shadow of King Peleus and his golden son, Achilles. “The best of all the Greeks”—strong, beautiful, and the child of a goddess—Achilles is everything the shamed Patroclus is not. Yet despite their differences, the boys become steadfast companions. Their bond deepens as they grow into young men and become skilled in the arts of war and medicine—much to the displeasure and the fury of Achilles’ mother, Thetis, a cruel sea goddess with a hatred of mortals.
When word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, the men of Greece, bound by blood and oath, must lay siege to Troy in her name. Seduced by the promise of a glorious destiny, Achilles joins their cause, and torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus follows. Little do they know that the Fates will test them both as never before and demand a terrible sacrifice.
Built on the groundwork of the Iliad, Madeline Miller’s page-turning, profoundly moving, and blisteringly paced retelling of the epic Trojan War marks the launch of a dazzling career."
We will read Madeline Miller's modern re-telling of the the events of Homer's Iliad.
"Greece in the age of heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the kingdom of Phthia to be raised in the shadow of King Peleus and his golden son, Achilles. “The best of all the Greeks”—strong, beautiful, and the child of a goddess—Achilles is everything the shamed Patroclus is not. Yet despite their differences, the boys become steadfast companions. Their bond deepens as they grow into young men and become skilled in the arts of war and medicine—much to the displeasure and the fury of Achilles’ mother, Thetis, a cruel sea goddess with a hatred of mortals.
When word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, the men of Greece, bound by blood and oath, must lay siege to Troy in her name. Seduced by the promise of a glorious destiny, Achilles joins their cause, and torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus follows. Little do they know that the Fates will test them both as never before and demand a terrible sacrifice.
Built on the groundwork of the Iliad, Madeline Miller’s page-turning, profoundly moving, and blisteringly paced retelling of the epic Trojan War marks the launch of a dazzling career."
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Book Club Revivat!!
Rumors of the Book Club's demise have been exaggerated!!
We took a break during some staff transitions & campus realignments.
But we'll be back in Spring 2013!!
Watch this space!!!!
Friday, October 5, 2012
Book Club Reads Geniuses
The authors of two of the Alexandria Campus Book club selections were named 2012 Macarthur Geniuses.
Congratulations to David Finkel, author of Good Soldiers & Denaw Mengestu, author of The BEautiful Things That Heaven Bears.
Congratulations to David Finkel, author of Good Soldiers & Denaw Mengestu, author of The BEautiful Things That Heaven Bears.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Hello Wallander!
The Alexandria Campus Book Club met on February 4th to discuss Pyramid: The First Wallander Cases. Although some people found the bleak setting and curt prose challenging, others enjoyed the suspense of the mysteries and one of our number even developed a bit of a crush on Kurt Wallander (it's OK -- this is Wallander in pre-obesity and diabetes days). We struggled to detect the commentary the author claimed he intended about the state of the modern Scandinavian social democracy -- but perhaps the recurring theme of sickness had something to do with it (or maybe it's just all those sick days they have in Sweden).
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Stones & Pyramids
The Alexandria Campus Book Club met on September 16th to discuss Abraham Verghese's Cutting for Stone.
The Club also adopted Henning Menkel's The Pyramid: The First Wallander Cases for the next selection. Wallander may be familiar to readers from the recent PBS Series. The Club will convene again early in the Spring Term to discuss the book. Happy reading!
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Cutting for Stone
The Alexandria Campus Book Club will read Abraham Verghese's Cutting for Stone (PS3622 E744 C87 2010) for its autumn selection. The book club will meet in an off-campus location sometimes in September.
"The story is a riveting saga of twin brothers, Marion and Shiva Stone, born of a tragic union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon at a mission hospital in Addis Ababa. Orphaned by their mother's death in childbirth and their father's disappearance, and bound together by a preternatural connection and a shared fascination with medicine, the twins come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution.But it's love, not politics -- their passion for the same woman -- that will tear them apart and force Marion to flee his homeland and make his way to America, finding refuge in his work at an underfunded, overcrowded New York City hospital. When the past catches up to him, wreaking havoc and destruction, Marion has to entrust his life to the two men he has trusted least in the world: the surgeon father who abandoned him and the brother who betrayed him."
For more information contact Sylvia Rortvedt.
"The story is a riveting saga of twin brothers, Marion and Shiva Stone, born of a tragic union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon at a mission hospital in Addis Ababa. Orphaned by their mother's death in childbirth and their father's disappearance, and bound together by a preternatural connection and a shared fascination with medicine, the twins come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution.But it's love, not politics -- their passion for the same woman -- that will tear them apart and force Marion to flee his homeland and make his way to America, finding refuge in his work at an underfunded, overcrowded New York City hospital. When the past catches up to him, wreaking havoc and destruction, Marion has to entrust his life to the two men he has trusted least in the world: the surgeon father who abandoned him and the brother who betrayed him."
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Good Soldiers: Radio Version
In February, the Book Club read David Finkel's The Good Soldiers. NPR's This American Life recently broadcast a version of one the chapters of the book -- in which the soldiers recount their experiences home on leave, read as monologues by actors.
Ever wondered what you might do with 18 days of rest after serving 15 months in combat? Reporter David Finkel followed one group of soldiers in Iraq for 15 months, and reported all of it in his book The Good Soldiers. Here is our radio version of one of the chapters in his book, where we hear actors read aloud what soldiers and families of soldiers told David about their break. (21:42 min)
Listen now on the This American Life site:
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/429/will-they-know-me-back-home (Begins at 3.00)
Ever wondered what you might do with 18 days of rest after serving 15 months in combat? Reporter David Finkel followed one group of soldiers in Iraq for 15 months, and reported all of it in his book The Good Soldiers. Here is our radio version of one of the chapters in his book, where we hear actors read aloud what soldiers and families of soldiers told David about their break. (21:42 min)
Listen now on the This American Life site: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/429/will-they-know-me-back-home (Begins at 3.00)
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Proof
The Alexandria Book club turns to a play for the spring. We'll be reading Proof by David Auburn. 
The Book Club will meet Friday April 1 (no fooling!) for snacks and discussion.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Good Soldiers -- stay in touch too much?
Picking up on one of the themes discussed at the Feb 4th book club meeting, the New York Times today ran an article discussing the pros and cons of a fighting force that is almost instantly connected, 24-7 with home:
But there is a drawback: they can no longer tune out problems like faulty dishwashers and unpaid electric bills, wayward children and failing relationships, as they once could." 
"They can partake in births and birthdays in real time. They can check sports scores, take online college courses and even manage businesses and stock portfolios.
But there is a drawback: they can no longer tune out problems like faulty dishwashers and unpaid electric bills, wayward children and failing relationships, as they once could."
And the pros and cons go both ways:
"The easy communication can relieve fears — but also stoke them. Once families become used to hearing from troops daily, lapses in communication can send imaginations racing. "
Read the article on the NYT site. Or from the Library's ProQuest database (log-in required from off-campus).
Monday, February 7, 2011
The Good Soldiers
The Alexandria Campus book club met on Friday Feb 4 to discuss David Finkel's The Good Soldiers. Fortune magazine called the book "the most honest, painful, and most brilliantly rendered account of modern war I've ever read." Book club members agreed to book was a compelling, if harrowing read.
Finkel writes for the Washington Post and is married to Alexandria campus faculty member Lisa Hill.
Finkel writes for the Washington Post and is married to Alexandria campus faculty member Lisa Hill.Saturday, September 25, 2010
Buzz off Little Bee
The Alexandria Campus Book Club met on Sept 24th to discuss Chris Cleave's novel Little Bee.
The book received rapturous reviews in the American Press -- the Washington Post said it will "blow you away", Library Journal called it "astonishing and flawless", The Boston Globe said it was "vividly memorable and provocative...heartwarming and heartbreaking."
Book club members were not quite as impressed, finding the novel "mannered", "improbable," "unbelievable," and "melodramatic."
Published under the title The Other Hand in Great Britain, the novel received more mixed reviews. The Independent thought it was "shocking, exciting and deeply affecting," The Guardian called it "an ambitious and fearless gallop." However, the Daily Telegraph found it "faultlessly relevant, but ultimately cloying," and the Times said it was a "clotted and hysterical tale... implausible... and absurdly over-written," calling one of the main characters "batty, bizarre and inconsistent and unsympathetic."
This reader thought the luckiest character in the book was Andrew who, by committing suicide in an early chapter saved himself from having to endure the narrative to the end.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Never Let Me Go -- now in cinemas
The 2006 Book Club selection, Kauzo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go has been made into a film that will be released today, Sep 15th.
Salon.com says the film "captures the slightly seedy and rundown reality of '70s and '80s British life in astonishing and even tragic detail; this is more like a period piece than a science-fiction movie. In fact, it resembles a Merchant-Ivory tragedy about doomed love in a war zone, except that the doomed love involves human guinea pigs and the war zone is not some tropic zone but the alleged good intentions of medical science."
NPR says of Ishiguro: "Born in Japan and raised in Britain, Ishiguro is fascinated by how people adapt to life in repressive societies. (It's no coincidence that three of his six novels turn on World War II.) Whether home is Never Let Me Go's ominous boarding school or the country estate of a British fascist (as in The Remains of the Day), the novelist's characters do what is expected of them. In the novel, Kathy's final statement is that she drove off "to wherever it was I was supposed to be.""
The film version of Never Let Me Go stars Keira Knightley, who must have an affinity for the Book Club selections. She also starred in the film adaptation of Atonement.
Salon.com says the film "captures the slightly seedy and rundown reality of '70s and '80s British life in astonishing and even tragic detail; this is more like a period piece than a science-fiction movie. In fact, it resembles a Merchant-Ivory tragedy about doomed love in a war zone, except that the doomed love involves human guinea pigs and the war zone is not some tropic zone but the alleged good intentions of medical science."NPR says of Ishiguro: "Born in Japan and raised in Britain, Ishiguro is fascinated by how people adapt to life in repressive societies. (It's no coincidence that three of his six novels turn on World War II.) Whether home is Never Let Me Go's ominous boarding school or the country estate of a British fascist (as in The Remains of the Day), the novelist's characters do what is expected of them. In the novel, Kathy's final statement is that she drove off "to wherever it was I was supposed to be.""
The film version of Never Let Me Go stars Keira Knightley, who must have an affinity for the Book Club selections. She also starred in the film adaptation of Atonement.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Summer Reading
The Alexandria Campus Book Club will discuss Chris Cleave's Little Bee for its first selection in Fall 2010.
*Starred Review* Little Bee, smart and stoic, knows two people in England, Andrew and Sarah, journalists she chanced upon on a Nigerian beach after fleeing a massacre in her village, one grisly outbreak in an off-the-radar oil war. After sneaking into England and escaping a rural “immigration removal” center, she arrives at Andrew and Sarah’s London suburb home only to find that the violence that haunts her has also poisoned them. In an unnerving blend of dread, wit, and beauty, Cleave slowly and arrestingly excavates the full extent of the horror that binds Little Bee and Sarah together. A columnist for the Guardian, Cleave earned fame and notoriety when his first book, Incendiary, a tale about a terrorist attack on London, was published on the very day London was bombed in July 2005. His second ensnaring, eviscerating novel charms the reader with ravishing descriptions, sly humor, and the poignant improvisations of Sarah’s Batman-costumed young son, then launches devastating attacks in the form of Little Bee’s elegantly phrased insights into the massive failure of compassion in the world of refugees. Cleave is a nerves-of-steel storyteller of stealthy power, and this is a novel as resplendent and menacing as life itself. --Booklist
The Book Club will meet off-campus in September to discuss Little Bee.
*Starred Review* Little Bee, smart and stoic, knows two people in England, Andrew and Sarah, journalists she chanced upon on a Nigerian beach after fleeing a massacre in her village, one grisly outbreak in an off-the-radar oil war. After sneaking into England and escaping a rural “immigration removal” center, she arrives at Andrew and Sarah’s London suburb home only to find that the violence that haunts her has also poisoned them. In an unnerving blend of dread, wit, and beauty, Cleave slowly and arrestingly excavates the full extent of the horror that binds Little Bee and Sarah together. A columnist for the Guardian, Cleave earned fame and notoriety when his first book, Incendiary, a tale about a terrorist attack on London, was published on the very day London was bombed in July 2005. His second ensnaring, eviscerating novel charms the reader with ravishing descriptions, sly humor, and the poignant improvisations of Sarah’s Batman-costumed young son, then launches devastating attacks in the form of Little Bee’s elegantly phrased insights into the massive failure of compassion in the world of refugees. Cleave is a nerves-of-steel storyteller of stealthy power, and this is a novel as resplendent and menacing as life itself. --Booklist
The Book Club will meet off-campus in September to discuss Little Bee.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Stealing Horses
The Alexandria Campus Book club met on Friday 26 Feb to discuss Per Petersen's novel Out Stealing Horses.
Is the narrator a sympathetic character or someone hard to connect with? Does the novel have an inconclusive ending or is its ending, like life, simply an end and not a conclusion? Was the attention to detail tedious and repetitive or an engrossing slice of life? Has anyone ever read a Scandinavian novel that wasn't bleak?
These and other questions exercised 8 Alexandria faculty members who engaged with Sullivan's story of isolation, alientation and loss.
The next book club selection will be John Patrick Shanley's play Doubt. Copies available in the Library.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Reading The Reader
The Alexandria Campus Book Club met on campus for the first time on Thursday 19 November to discuss Bernhard Schlink's The Reader. Discussion focused on Hannah's decision to go to jail rather than admit her inability to read, and a more general discussion on shame in western culture -- especially in matters of educational accomplishment.
Although several book club members also saw the film, no one took a bath at the meeting.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Book Club Date Change!
The Book Club will meet again on campus on Thursday Nov 19th in room 158 at 2pm.
This month's selection is Bernhard Schlink's The Reader (also a motion picture with Kate Winslett). Copies of the book are still available in the Library, and a copy of the film is also on Reserve. You are encouraged to come if you have read the book, or seen the film or both!
This is a change from an earlier date which conflicted with an author talk on campus the previous week.
This month's selection is Bernhard Schlink's The Reader (also a motion picture with Kate Winslett). Copies of the book are still available in the Library, and a copy of the film is also on Reserve. You are encouraged to come if you have read the book, or seen the film or both!
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
It's the Romance and Suspense, stupid!
A multi-disciplinary group of Alexandria Campus faculty* met on Fri 25 September to consider the Teen/ Young Adult phenomenon Twilight. We concluded the combination of romance, suspense, and short sentences plus vampires account for the popularity of an otherwise somewhat unintersting book. And some of us liked the film better.
From Vampires to Nazis...
The Book Club next takes up Bernhard Schlink's The Reader (also a major motion picture!). The Book Club's next meeting will be at 2pm on campus on Thursday 12 November.
* we're not all English profs! Teaching disciplines represented included history, mathematics, biology, economics, physical education, and political science. Plus librarians.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Twilight is a like a vampire...
...it sucks.
So why is the Book Club reading this trashy teen novel? Because teen-agers (and college-aged young adults, and a good many normal adults) are also reading it. What is the appeal of this abstinence-parable (or rape fantasy depending on where you're standing) and why has it sold over 20 million copies? And how did it become a blockbuster movie -- of which which even Peter Travers of Rolling Stone says "The love story has teeth."
(even if some of us thought less love story and more bad vamps would be an improvement):
Stephanie Zacharek of Salon.com went on to pronounce "If you care about pop culture at all, you owe it to yourself to see Twilight." The Alexandria Campus Book Club, dutifully caring about pop-culture, will discuss Twilight on Friday 25 September. Contact Sylvia Rortvedt for more info.
So why is the Book Club reading this trashy teen novel? Because teen-agers (and college-aged young adults, and a good many normal adults) are also reading it. What is the appeal of this abstinence-parable (or rape fantasy depending on where you're standing) and why has it sold over 20 million copies? And how did it become a blockbuster movie -- of which which even Peter Travers of Rolling Stone says "The love story has teeth."
(even if some of us thought less love story and more bad vamps would be an improvement):
Stephanie Zacharek of Salon.com went on to pronounce "If you care about pop culture at all, you owe it to yourself to see Twilight." The Alexandria Campus Book Club, dutifully caring about pop-culture, will discuss Twilight on Friday 25 September. Contact Sylvia Rortvedt for more info.
Friday, August 21, 2009
The Allure of Vampires
Why do vampires occupy such recurring and enduring place in our popular culture?
The Sunday Times takes on that question in its review of another vamp pop cult hit, True Blood:
"Vampires are different. Vampire movies transcend their blood-soaked genre in ways that werewolves, mummies and even the misunderstood progeny of Dr Frankenstein can only dream of. Each generation plunders the bloodsuckers’ coffin, pulling out symbols and stories to retell in urgent contemporary narratives that draw in politics, culture and — of course — sexuality.
“Vampire stories were created when it was impossible to write about sex openly, so they arrived laden with sexual metaphors,” says the psychologist Andrew Bates. “At the same time, I think they deal with more existential themes: what happens when you die and how it feels to be the outsider. That’s why they’ve survived the opening up of sexuality in art — although they’ve had to face some pretty grim ironic retelling along the way. Today, there’s a huge mainstream interest in the romanticism of longing and losing they represent.”
Except Twighlight is really all about sex (or at least not having it in high school...).
If Stephanie Meyers doesn't strike you as the Emily Bronte of our age, you might return to the literary fountainhead of vampire stories: Bram Stoker's Dracula.
"Vampires are different. Vampire movies transcend their blood-soaked genre in ways that werewolves, mummies and even the misunderstood progeny of Dr Frankenstein can only dream of. Each generation plunders the bloodsuckers’ coffin, pulling out symbols and stories to retell in urgent contemporary narratives that draw in politics, culture and — of course — sexuality.
“Vampire stories were created when it was impossible to write about sex openly, so they arrived laden with sexual metaphors,” says the psychologist Andrew Bates. “At the same time, I think they deal with more existential themes: what happens when you die and how it feels to be the outsider. That’s why they’ve survived the opening up of sexuality in art — although they’ve had to face some pretty grim ironic retelling along the way. Today, there’s a huge mainstream interest in the romanticism of longing and losing they represent.”
Except Twighlight is really all about sex (or at least not having it in high school...).
If Stephanie Meyers doesn't strike you as the Emily Bronte of our age, you might return to the literary fountainhead of vampire stories: Bram Stoker's Dracula.
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