Drumroll...THE LIST for 2010

March Book

A Study in Scarlet

by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

(~120 pgs)

Discussant and host: Celeste Spurline

Thu, 18 Mar

Text and audio available online (free!) at www.gutenberg.org

A Study in Scarlet is a popular Sherlock Holmes book written by author Arthur Conan Doyle. Being the first novel is the Holmes detective series by Doyle, A Study in Scarlet largely introduces the reader to the forthcoming series by Doyle. The story features the introduction of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson through mutual friends and a mystery revolving around a corpse found at a derelict house in Brixton, England. A Study in Scarlet is highly recommended for those who enjoy Sherlock Holmes detective novels and also individuals who enjoy the works of Arthur Conan Doyle.

April Book

One Hundred Years of Solitude

by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

(~464 pgs)

Discussant and host: Amber Robbins

Thu, 15 Apr

Garcia Marquez tells the story of a family and a town, Macondo. The things that happen there are surreal; strange murders, sleeping disorders, scientists, soldiers, all revolve around the mansion of the Buendia family in Macondo. The tales introduce the reader to 20th century Latin American literature, with tales of love, sadness, desperation, hurt, and loss. This is Garcia Marquez's most famous work, and arguably his best. It is a book to be savored slowly, page by page, contemplated and reflected upon.

May Book

Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling

by Richard Lyman Bushman

(~784 pgs)

Discussant: Shelley Graham

Host: ?

Wed, 12 May

How should a historian depict a man's life when that man, and his religion, remain a mystery to so many 200 years after his birth? Bushman, an emeritus professor at Columbia University and author of Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism, greatly expands on that previous work, filling in many details of the founding prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and carrying the story through to the end of Smith's life. Many continue to view Smith as an enigmatic and controversial figure. Bushman locates him in his historical and cultural context, fleshing out the many nuances of 19th-century American life that produced such a fertile ground for emerging religions. The author, a practicing Mormon, is aware that his book stands in the intersection of faith and scholarship, but does not avoid the problematic aspects of Smith's life and work, such as his practice of polygamy, his early attempts at treasure-seeking and his later political aspirations. In the end, Smith emerges as a genuine American phenomenon, a man driven by inspiration but not unaffected by his cultural context. This is a remarkable book, wonderfully readable and supported by exhaustive research. For anyone interested in the Mormon experience, it will be required reading for years to come.

June Book

The Education of Little Tree

by Forrest Carter (~228 pgs)

Discussant: Amy Harris

Host: ?

Wed, 2 Jun

The Education of Little Tree tells of a boy orphaned very young, who is adopted by his Cherokee grandmother and half-Cherokee grandfather in the Appalachian mountains of Tennessee during the Great Depression. “Little Tree” as his grandparents call him is shown how to hunt and survive in the mountains, to respect nature in the Cherokee Way, taking only what is needed, leaving the rest for nature to run its course. Little Tree also learns the often callous ways of white businessmen and tax collectors, and how Granpa, in hilarious vignettes, scares them away from his illegal attempts to enter the cash economy. Granma teaches Little Tree the joys of reading and education. But when Little Tree is taken away by whites for schooling, we learn of the cruelty meted out to Indian children in an attempt to assimilate them and of Little Tree’s perception of the Anglo world and how it differs from the Cherokee Way.

July Book

The Sound and the Fury

by William Faulkner (~326 pgs)

Discussant: Laura Lease

Host: ?

Thu, 8 Jul

Ever since the first furore was created on its publication in 1929, "The Sound and the Fury" has been considered one of the key novels of this century. Depicting the gradual disintegration of the Compson family through four fractured narratives, "The Sound and the Fury" explores intense, passionate family relationships where there is no love, only self-centeredness. At its heart this is a novel about lovelessness - 'only an idiot has no grief; only a fool would forget it. What else is there in this world sharp enough to stick to your guts?'

August Book

Look Homeward Angel

by Thomas Wolfe (~522 pgs)

Discussant and host: Ruth Monson

Date TBA

I feel sorry for anyone who can't find echoes of their own youth in Wolfe's undeniably Romantic writing. You won't find clipped Hemingway-esque sentences, nor the pages-long obscure wanderings of fellow Southerner Faulkner, but Wolfe recreates his world so perfectly that filming it would be redundant. Achingly, achingly nostalgic, beautifully written, TRUE to itself, sparing nothing of the author or his vision. This and its immediate succesor "Of Time and the River" are, to me, arguably the finest books ever written describing not just life in America but more importantly the sense of loss through time and distance of love, family, and home and the emotional maturation that follows. If you haven't become too sophisticated to remember what it was really like to be young, lonely, in love, or homesick, or to see though a child's eyes the wonder in a leaf, a stone, a door; to cry "Oh, lost!" over a memory, you will find much to cherish in this book.

September Book

TBA

October Book

Les Miserables

by Victor Hugo

(~1376 pgs)

Discussant and host: Amie Dunford

Date TBA

What do I really need to put in explanation of this one?! Feel free to read the unabridged or an abridged version. :) Text (not audio) also available at gutenberg.org, if you really enjoy staring at your computer screen for months on end.

Whew! What a list! It sounds like a year's worth of great reading, doesn't it? Thanks to everyone who made suggestions and who is hosting/leading a discussion.