Barnard book club
This book club began in 1993 as a way for Barnard College alumnae in the Baltimore area to socialize, says Murrie Burgan. There are about a dozen members who meet from September to May. Readings include modern literature, non-fiction and classics. They also focus on works by Barnard grads such as Jhumpa Lahiri (The Namesake) and Marisha Pessl (Special topics in Calamity Physics). Now reading: Lavinia by Ursula K. LeGuin.
Liked a lot: Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel, Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz, and Atonement by Ian McEwan.
Not so much: Tender Bar by J.R. Moehringer
Comments
"Readings include modern literature, non-fiction and classics."
What exactly is excluded by these three classifications? I'll give my own question a stab.
Wikipedia tells me that the modern period in literature in Europe coincides with the Age of Enlightenment (as early as 1688 AD), and elsewhere in the early 19th or 20th century - also that classics spans 1000 BC to 500 AD.
So, it would appear that the Barnard book club reads just about everything except for novels written between 500 and 1688 AD.
If this is the case, I would suggest that they relax these overly strict rules and give the Tale of Genji (early 11th century) a try, or perhaps Don Quixote (1605)? Keeping with the spirit of the recent discussion about adaptations, I should mention that the movie (Man of La Mancha) is better than the book.
Posted by: Aaron K | June 24, 2008 12:40 AM
Poor choice of words on my part. As one of the few people who have read Don Quixote (without an assignment), I agree. But I'd bet that the guys who made the movie never sniffed the book. And the movie pales in comparison to its parent, the play, doesn't it?.
Posted by: Dave | June 24, 2008 7:24 AM