L'élégance du hérisson (The Elegance of the Hedgehog)

So the next book we will be reading, after Kafka On The Shore will be The Elegance of the Hedgehog. This book delves in philosophy, literature, art and issues about poverty and our perceptions and stereotypes of other people. I feel that the book does have flaws. So I will be interested in seeing the reactions of others at the book club. Read away!

Margaret Atwood

As we are reading The Blind Assassin, I thought it might be interesting to add a bit about the author. So I have links below to an interview with Margaret Atwood done after the publication of The Blind Assassin as well as an essay she wrote for The Guardian about her thoughts on the importance of science fiction. Enjoy!

Interview
'Aliens have taken the place of angles'

How many have you read?

So I found this word cloud really cool. It contains several books that we have read in book club, and some that maybe we should read.

I don't find it surprising that "To Kill a Mockingbird," is so popular, but I am surprised that "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," is so large. Finally, "Lolita," is great and we should read it in the book club at some point. I think it would spark good discussion.

A fitting post for Balloons

http://weburbanist.com/2011/03/07/literary-love-12-works-of-book-art-architecture/

Film Noir and 'The Maltese Falcon'

I found this blog post on a blog I check out from time to time, "U.S. Intellectual History" It is part of a series of posts about the film noir genre and its influence on American culture. As we read the book and watched the movie for book club I thought you all might enjoy the discussion. The other posts are also very interesting. Enjoy!

Franzia Runners of Yoknapatawpha County

At this gathering, the Franziacs assembled around a so-called lesser work of William Cuthbert Faulkner; our focus was The Reivers, his last novel, published the year of his death, for which he was awarded the 1963 Pulitzer post-posthumously, the final story of Yoknapatawpha County (taking place, as it does, in 1905, but commenting on 1961), a work of less intense style and subject than The Sound and the Fury, As I Lay Dying, or Go Down Moses, a tale of early cars, America's first grease monkey, a black man three steps ahead of his white employers, and a young boy coming of age. And while Lucius Priest learned about being a man, we learned when a genius shares some fun, there are no lesser works.

The Diminutive of Franzia is "The Franz"

It was a confluence of names and history at the home of little Chrinivyet and Charitizi, a manor on the outskirts of old Sugarhood. Chrystovok and Banya brought their fine company, Carringya made a dip of black beans and the fires of revolution. Andrenichka brought a box of the Franz, a delicate vintage, chilled by the snows of the winter night, and Kellikov sat on a stool like a proper gentleman--I'm sorry, I continually forget they are 'Comrades" now. And the heady assemblage had gathered to discuss the life and times of on Yuri Andreyevich Zhivago, Yura in his youth, but Doctor Zhivago to history.