| 3/11 MEETING NOTES |
| Hello All, We did it again!! What a great evening we had! We were 14 in all and what a discussion As I Lay Dying turned out to offer. Who knew? Well, some did. A mixed reaction to our 2nd selection, but none regretted having read it and I think we all felt much better about the book after our discussion, which never hit a lull. If it weren't for the late hour, I'm sure we could have discussed this book even further as much was left unattended to. Joanne was an excellent hostess and the food and drinks were great! Those margaritas will not soon be forgotten. A very special thank you to Joanne from all of us. Finding her house was a fun adventure in and of itself, but we did it! Also thanks to her husband for not kicking us out :) Okay, on to some important notes: 1) April selection: A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain : Stories by Robert Olen Butler -- The Vietnam War continues to play itself out in fiction, autobiography, and history books, but no American author has captured the experiences of the Vietnamese themselves--and caught their voices--more tellingly than Robert Olen Butler, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1993 for A Good Scent From a Strange Mountain. The 15 stories collected here, all written in the first person, blend Vietnamese folklore, the terrible, lingering memories of war, American pop culture and family drama. Butler's literary ventriloquism, as he mines the experiences of a people with a great literary tradition of their own, is uncanny; but his talents as a writer of universal truths is what makes this a collection for the ages. 2) May selection: Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert -- This exquisite novel tells the story of one of the most compelling heroines in modern literature?Emma Bovary. Unhappily married to a devoted, clumsy provincial doctor, Emma revolts against the ordinariness of her life by pursuing voluptuous dreams of ecstasy and love. But her sensuous and sentimental desires lead her only to suffering corruption and downfall. A brilliant psychological portrait, Madame Bovary searingly depicts the human mind in search of transcendence. Who is Madame Bovary? Flaubert's answer to this question was superb: "Madame Bovary, c'est moi." Acclaimed as a masterpiece upon its publication in 1857, the work catapulted Flaubert to the ranks of the world's greatest novelists. The year 1857 propelled Flaubert into the law courts and into celebrity. It was not exactly the kind of celebrity he had wished for. 'Madame Bovary' had appeared serially in 'La Revue de Paris'. Now the imperial prosecutor was attacking the work for being offensive to religion and morality. Not only the seduction scenes, but the episodes dealing with religion and the description of Emma's death, came under direct censure. More than the subject, the general tone of the novel was denounced as immoral: the pervasive eroticism, the poetry of adultery, the so-called 'realism' of the style. Flaubert, excellently defended by his lawyer, was acquitted. The book was published soon after, benefiting from the advance courtroom publicity. 3) April Meeting date is: Monday, April 8th. We will be graciously hosted by Linda Futrell. Directions, etc to come later on down the road (no pun intended). 4) Our website has once again been updated...Check It Out!! http://www.geocities.com/marin_book_club 4) Joanne would like anyone who has books they'd like to give away to bring them to the meetings. If someone else wants them, great!! This a nice idea, so please bring along anything you're willing, or dying, to part with :) All leftovers will be given to a local library. 5) If you do NOT want to receive any e-mails from this group EXCEPT the RSVP request and post-meeting updates, please let me know and I will change your settings with YahooGroups accordingly. That's it folks! Until next time, Michelle |