Books and Banter Schedule: September 2011 - May 2012
Books & Banter Reading List, Fall 2011 – Spring 2012
All Books and Banter sessions are held in the first floor Vesting Room at the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, 8000 St. Martins Lane at Willow Grove Avenue. Sessions begin promptly at 7:30 p.m., and end by 9:00 p.m. All are welcome at our open discussions.
Monday, September 12
Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel. 2010 560 p.
Mantel fictionalizes the life and times of Thomas Cromwell, crafty architect of Henry VIII’s annulment from Catherine of Aragon, the execution of Sir Thomas More, Henry’s schism with the Church of Rome, and the Reformation.
Monday, October 3
The Puritan Dilemma; The Story of John Winthrop, by Edmund Morgan 1958 224 pp.
(Very few library copies; used copies available from Amazon)
Biographer Edmund Morgan helps us understand the motivations behind Puritan migration to America and the ideological and political difficulties they faced once they arrived.
Monday, November 14
Cutting for Stone, by Abraham Verghese. 2009 541 p.
Twin brothers born from a secret love affair between an Indian nun and a British surgeon in Addis Ababa, Marion and Shiva Stone come of age in an Ethiopia on the brink of revolution, where their love for the same woman drives them apart.
Monday, December 12
An American Childhood, by Annie Dillard. 1987 255 p.
The events of childhood often loom larger than life; the magic of Dillard’s writing is that she sets down typical childhood happenings with their original immediacy and force.
Monday, January 9
The Amish Way, by Donald Kraybill et al. 2010 267 p.
Focusing on a triumvirate of religious beliefs, practices, and affections, the authors interpret the distinctive practices of the Amish way of life and spirituality in their cultural context and explore their applicability for the wider world. Link for info on Amish calendar: http://amishamerica.com/amish-almanac-calender-tale/
Monday, February 13
The White Tiger, by Aravind Adiga. 2008 276 p.
A quick, easy read—food for rich discussion. It is the story of India, as it has been, currently is, and likely to be in 20 years—told through the eyes of a Mumbai driver in a series of laugh-out-loud funny but often scary letters, that he decides to write to, of all people, the current Premier of China, who is coming for a state visit to study Indian entrepreneurism!
Monday, March 12
The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement, by David Brooks. 2011. 424 p.
Standing at the intersection of brain science and sociology, and writing with the wry wit of a James Thurber, the author explores the unconscious mind and how it shapes the way we eat, love, live, vacation, and relate to other people.
Monday, April 9 (Easter Monday)
Parrot and Olivier in America; a novel, by Peter Carey. 2009 379 p.
Set in the early 19th century, this novel follows an unlikely friendship between a French Revolution survivor and an itinerant English engraver’s son. … explores the adventure of American democracy with dazzling inventiveness, and with richness and surprise of characterization, story, and language.
Monday, May 14
Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand, by Helen Simonson. 2010 368 p.
Forced to confront the realities of life in the 21st century when he falls in love with widowed Pakistani descendant Mrs. Ali, a retired Major Pettigrew finds the relationship challenged by local prejudices that view Mrs. Ali, a Cambridge native, as a perpetual foreigner.