Ending this blog - See MIT Familynet for current info

Hello all,
Due to lack of interest in this blog, I'm no longer updating this page.
Please visit the MIT Familynet site for current information on the Spouses and Partners Book Group.

Take care,
Kathleen

September Meeting: "The Crying of Lot 49" by Thomas Pynchon

Date: Monday, September 27, 2010
Time: 8pm
Place: Algiers Coffee House,40 Brattle St. Cambridge, MA 02138
Book: "The Crying of Lot 49" by Thomas Pynchon

Last meeting we discussed selecting a short book to follow Anna Karenina. However, all books we thought of were on the lengthy & heavy side. After some searching I came up with a short, though not exactly light, book: "The Crying of Lot 49" by Thomas Pynchon. Hope everyone enjoys it!
~Kathleen

Barnes & Noble Synopsis:
The highly original satire about Oedipa Maas, a woman who finds herself enmeshed in a worldwide conspiracy, meets some extremely interesting characters, and attains a not inconsiderable amount of self knowledge.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1951793_1951939_1952272,00.html

http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/05/18/reviews/pynchon-lot49.html

August Meeting: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (final discussion)

Date: Monday, August 30, 2010
Time: 8pm
Location: Tavern In The Square, 730 Mass. Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139 (617) 868-8800
http://www.taverninthesquare.com/tavcentral/
Neighborhood: Central Square

Book selection: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Popular version: translated by Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky
Now in paperback, 864 pages, Penguin Classics (May 31, 2004)

ISBN-10: 0143035002; ISBN-13: 978-0143035008

Free Online:
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1399

http://www.online-literature.com/tolstoy/anna_karenina/

http://www.planetpdf.com/ebookarticle.asp?ContentID=anna_karenina_

Reading guides:
http://us.penguingroup.com/static/rguides/us/anna_karenina.html

http://www.oprah.com/oprahsbookclub/Your-Guide-to-Understanding-Tolstoys-Anna-Karenina

July Meeting: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (first 300pages)

Date: Monday, July 12, 2010
Time: 8pm
Location: Cafe Pamplona, 12 Bow St., Cambridge, MA 02138
Neighborhood: Harvard Square (617) 492-0352
http://www.yelp.com/biz/cafe-pamplona-cambridge

Book selection: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy(Chapters 1 - 18)

Popular version: translated by Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky

Now in paperback, 864 pages, Penguin Classics (May 31, 2004)

ISBN-10: 0143035002; ISBN-13: 978-0143035008

Free Online:
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1399
http://www.online-literature.com/tolstoy/anna_karenina/
http://www.planetpdf.com/ebookarticle.asp?ContentID=anna_karenina_

Reading guides:
http://us.penguingroup.com/static/rguides/us/anna_karenina.html
http://www.oprah.com/oprahsbookclub/Your-Guide-to-Understanding-Tolstoys-Anna-Karenina

June Meeting: The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure by William Goldman

"As you wish."

Date: Monday, June 14, 2010
Time: 8pm
Location: Cafe Pamplona, 12 Bow St., Cambridge, MA 02138
Neighborhood: Harvard Square (617) 492-0352
http://www.yelp.com/biz/cafe-pamplona-cambridge

Book selection: The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure by William Goldman

Summary: Goldman introduces a brilliant cocktail of characters including the most beautiful woman in the world, the gentle giant, the avenging swordsman, the evil Sicilian, the torture-loving Count, and the King's ex-Miracle Man, to weave an adventure story made complete by its healthy portions of romance, wit, and heroism. The Princess Bride is a timeless fairy tale recreated in a family-oriented form that appeals to people of all ages and reading tastes

William Goldman Biography:
His name may be most familiar from award-winning screenplays such as All the President's Men, but William Goldman had a previous life as an original, enthralling novelist who is worth exploring both for his books that would become great movies (The Princess Bride, Marathon Man) and for the ones that didn't.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Princess_Bride

May Meeting: I'm a Stranger Here Myself by Bill Bryson

May Meeting info:
Date: Mon., May 17th
Time: 8pm
Place:Algiers Coffee House, 40 Brattle St. Cambridge, MA 02138 (617) 492-1557

Book: I'm a Stranger Here Myself by Bill Bryson

Barnes & Noble Synopsis:
After two decades spent living in England, popular humorist Bill Bryson returned to the United States, his English wife and four children in tow. Much has changed here in the ol' U.S. of A. since Bryson left, and in I'm A Stranger Here Myself, he recounts, in hilarious fashion, his struggles to successfully repatriate himself. In this excerpt, Bryson compares and contrasts the U.S. Postal Service with Britain's Royal Mail.

Click HERE to read the New Rork Times Review

Mon. April 19, 2010; The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie

Date: Mon., April 19
(Presidents Day & date of the Boston Marathon.
However, traffic should be cleared by the time we meet.)
Time: 8pm
Place: Diesel Cafe, Davis Square, 257 Elm St., Somerville, MA 02144,
(617) 629-8717 www.diesel-cafe.com
Book: The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie

Interesting articles:

"How one book ignited a culture war"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/jan/11/salman-rushdie-satanic-verses

"Healthy Blasphemy: Dissenting Discourses in Rushdie and Bulgakov"
http://grlucas.net/1997/10/06/healthy-blasphemy-dissenting-discourses-in-rushdie-and-bulgakov/

Online study guides:

by Washington State U.:
http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/anglophone/satanic_verses/

by eNotes:
http://www.enotes.com/satanic-verses