Book Discussion at Freed-Montrose Library April 2 at 6pm ROCK 'N ROLL by Tom Stoppard

[A Aman]

Hi everyone --
 
We'll be discussing the play titled ROCK 'N ROLL by Tom Stoppard next Thursday, April 2nd at 6pm at the Houston Freed-Montrose library.  I've found questions about the play online at
http://www.act-sf.org/site/DocServer/rocknroll_wop_82.pdf.

I don't guarantee I will use every one of these questions in this order but it is definitely a possibility since I think they are quite good.

I'm looking forward to the discussion.

--Alice

  http://www.houstonbookclubs.org/Montrose
  http://www.houstonbookclubs.org/blog/
  http://groups.google.com/group/MontroseGreatBooks
  http://www.houstongreatbooks.net/groups/Montrose.html
  http://www.houstonbookclubs.org/GreatBooksGuide.htm

UPCOMING READING SELECTIONS
===============================

-- Apr 2, 2009  ROCK 'N' ROLL by Tom Stoppard (premier 2006)  144 pages
List of awards for Sir Stoppard at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Stoppard#Honours_and_awards
ROCK 'N' ROLL is a play concerned with the significance of rock and roll in the emergence of the democratic movement in Eastern Bloc Czechoslovakia. Takes place over several decades.
Possible questions at http://www.act-sf.org/site/DocServer/rocknroll_wop_82.pdf.
    FYI - A group theatre event by Montrose Great Books members is planned for the May 3rd afternoon local performance at the Alley Theatre.  Feel free to purchase your tickets anytime if you have not signed up with Alice for a ticket but let Alice know if you want to be included in the dinner reservation planned for after the performance.
 -- Alice will lead discussion

-- May 3, 2009 Live performance of ROCK 'N ROLL play by Tom Stoppard at the Houston Alley Theatre. The performance at 2:30pm will be attended by numerous participants of the Montrose Great Books book club.

-- May 7, 2009 CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES by John Kennedy Toole (publ 1980) 352 pages
Pulitzer Prize winner in 1981
Setting is New Orleans in the early 1960s. The central character is an intelligent but slothful man still living with his mother at age 30 in the city's Uptown neighborhood, who, because of family circumstances, must set out to get a job. In his quest for employment he has various adventures with colorful French Quarter characters. Many locals and writers of New Orleans think that it is the best and most accurate depiction of the city in a work of fiction.
-- Claudia will lead discussion

-- June 4, 2009  TOO LOUD A SOLITUDE  by Bohumil Hrabal (self published in 1977) 112 pages
Considered one of the greatest Czech writers of the 20th century, the man whom Kundera considers to be  one of his masters.
Tells the story of an eclectic and dimwitted old man who works as a paper crusher at a hydraulic press in a dark cellar in Prague. Using his job to save and amass astounding numbers of rare and banned books, he is an obsessive collector of knowledge. The books that he must destroy become his whole life, his only companions.
--Jo will lead discussion
Note: At end of discussion in June, group will vote on new titles for upcoming reading list..

-- July 2, 2009  SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES by Ray Bradbury (publ 1972) 317 pages
About two thirteen-year-old boys who have a harrowing experience with a nightmarish traveling carnival that comes to their Midwestern town. The carnival's leader is the mysterious "Mr. Dark" who bears a tattoo for each person who, lured by the offer to live out his secret fantasies, has become bound in service to the carnival. Novel places emphasis on the more serious side of the transition from childhood to adulthood.
-- Cassie will lead discussion

-- August 6, 2009 MAIN STREET by Sinclair Lewis (publ 1920) 448 pages
First American to win Nobel Prize in 1930.
Captures the aura of small town America which requires conformity to tradition and social standards in exchange for recognition, respect and love from one's neighbors, versus the City as depicted by Washington which seems to offer freedom and individuality precisely because there's no one there who cares about you or what you do.
--Susan will lead discussion