Next Thursday, October 1st at 6pm at Houston Freed-Montrose Library,
we will be discussing THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD by Zora Neal
Hurston.  This is a selection by the Books On The Bayou annual
citywide initiative sponsored by the Houston Public Library. More info
about the event is at http://www.hpl.lib.tx.us/booksonthebayou.  The
book is slightly less than 200 pages in length and not a heavy read.
It should be widely available at any Houston Library so you still have
time to complete the reading before our discussion.

  We will be meeting in the downstairs conference room. I will lead
the discussion.

  Also, Claudia has passed on information about an interesting event
scheduled for next Friday night at Houston Baptist University.
Euripides’ classic drama Troades (Trojan Women) will be performed
October 2nd at Houston Baptist University’s Dunham Theater.  It will
be presented by a company from Athens Greece and said to be a rare
opportunity to hear the work performed in Greek and English, with
English hyper titles projected above the stage. Check out their web
page at http://www.hcc-sw.org/index.php/component/content/article/2-events/5-...
for more info including how to purchase tickets online.  Claudia
particularly mentioned that the professor speaking about the play
prior to the performance is a very enjoyable speaker.

   Also, there is a Childrens Book Sale by the Houston Public Library
this weekend.  It is set for Friday, Sept. 25, Saturday, Sept. 26 &
Sunday, Sept. 27 at Resurrection Metropolitan Community Church, 2025
West 11th, 77008.  Flyer can be downloaded at:
http://www.friendsofhpl.org/pdf/cbs09_flyer_web-1.pdf  Their regular
book sale for adults will be next April at the George R Brown
Convention center. I'll send a reminder prior to that event as well.

Hope to see you next Thursday evening.

 --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 Discussions===========================

October 1, 2009 THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD by Zora Neal Hurston (194
pages) publ 1937
Title selected by Houston Public Library as part of the BOOKS ON THE
BAYOU citywide reading initiative.
From the 1930s through the 1950s, Zora Neale Hurston was the most
prolific and accomplished black woman writer in America. The book was
not universally praised by Hurston's peers, with particular criticism
leveled at her use of black southern dialect to show that complex
relationships and metaphoric language are possible in something
considered "substandard" to English.
Setting of novel is central and southern Florida in the early 20th
century. The main character, an African American woman in her early
forties, tells
via an extended flashback, the story of her life which has three major
periods corresponding to her marriages to three very different men.

November 5, 2009 HARD TIMES by Charles Dickens (publ 1854) 313 pages
Novel highlights the social and economic pressures that some were
experiencing at the time. Dickens wished to satirize radical
Utilitarians whom he described ... as "see[ing] figures and averages,
and nothing else." He also wished to campaign for reform of working
conditions.  Setting is the fictitious Victorian industrialist town
named Coketown
--Marcella will lead discussion
Note: group will elect a play from list of available performances
provided by Alice to be discussed in March (play must be available in
text form)

December 3, 2009 THE BELL JAR by Sylvia Plath (publ 1963) 288 pages
Book is semi-autobiographical with the protagonist's descent into
mental illness paralleling the author's own experiences chronicled
with stunning wit and devastating honesty. Story begins with the
protagonist as a young girl from the suburbs of Boston gaining a
summer internship at a prominent magazine in New York City.
--Wendy will lead discussion
Note: At end of discussion, group will vote on new titles for upcoming
reading list..

January 7, 2010 IF ON A WINTER'S NIGHT A TRAVELER by Italo Calvino
(publ 1979) 304 pages
Author was the most-translated contemporary Italian writer at the time
of his death, and a noted contender for the Nobel Prize for
Literature. List of awards of author can be viewed on wikipedia.org
This book is about a reader trying to read a book called If on a
winter's night a traveler. According to this book, the entire novel,
even its plot, is an open trajectory where even the author himself
questions his motives of the writing process.
--Jo will lead discussion