Book Discussion Thursday April 3rd at 6pm MALTESE FALCON by Dashiell Hammett
A Aman
This is a reminder for our discussion next week, Thursday at 6pm at
Freed-Montrose Library in the upstairs conference room. We'll be
discussing THE MALTESE FALCON by Dashiell Hammett. Christopher agreed
to lead the discussion but I haven't received a response to an email I
sent him on the subject so if anyone wants to volunteer to be a backup
in case he doesn't attend, I would like to hear from you (and you can
decide at the last minute). I led the last discussion and the one
before that with Wendy's help. I think it would be nice to have a
little more variety. Let me know.
Possible discussion questions at:
http://www.readinggroupguides.com/guides_M/maltese_falcon1.asp
We'll be voting at the end of the meeting if we get more than six
titles on the ballot. Check out the suggestions at:
http://www.houstonbookclubs.org/Montrose/ballots/apr3-2008.html
Please send me your suggestions in the form of a book title and author
before the meeting so I can look up page numbers and descriptions,
etc. in advance.
If I don't hear from anyone else, this will be our list of upcoming
readings starting in July through January with October being reserved
for Books on the Bayou. So if you want to be included, please send in
your titles soon!
Looking forward to the discussion.
http://www.houstonbookclubs.org/Montrose
http://groups.google.com/group/MontroseGreatBooks
http://www.houstongreatbooks.net/groups/Montrose.html
http://www.houstonbookclubs.org/GreatBooksGuide.htm
UPCOMING SELECTIONS
=======================
Apr 3, 2008 MALTESE FALCON by Dashiell Hammett (217 pages) publ 1930
A crime noir classic. A greedy and ruthless trio of characters bent on
finding the statuette meet their match in Sam Spade. The plot,
characters, and dialogue in The Maltese Falcon are perfectly
controlled by Hammett, incorporating a vigor and style that became the
paradigm for hard-boiled crime fiction. Possible discussion questions
at http://www.readinggroupguides.com/guides_M/maltese_falcon1.asp
---Christopher will lead discussion
Note: Election of new titles will be held at end of the April
discussion. Please submit titles in advance of the meeting.
May 1, 2008 Readings by Mark Twain:
* THE NOTORIOUS JUMPING FROG OF CALAVERAS COUNTY (9 pages) publ 1867
http://members.cox.net/deleyd/religion/solarmyth/frog.html
* WAR PRAYER (2 pages) publ 1905
http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/making/warprayer.html
* NO. 44, MYSTERIOUS STRANGER (200 pages) publ 1982, not 1916 -
Please read version publ by Univ of California Press 1982.
(Other versions such as one published posthumously in 1916 reputedly
not written by Twain). MYSTERIOUS STRANGER is the story of a devil
wreaking subversive havoc on a socially repressive culture by playing
on their hypocritical terms. One example of where it can be purchased
is
http://www.amazon.com/Mysterious-Stranger-Twain-Mark-Library/dp/05202...
or http://tinyurl.com/yo89av in case the URL for Amazon above gets truncated.
---Anne will lead discussion
Jun 5, 2008 THE STRANGER by Camus (123 pages) publ 1946
Author was 1957 Nobel Prize Laureate in Literature The new English
translation by Matthew Ward published in 1989 is the preferred
translation. Novel is one of the best-known examples of absurdist
fiction. Some classify it as Existential. The setting is Algiers. The
stranger of the story is a young man who commits an unpremeditated
crime in a moment of aberration and then is slowly and methodically
condemned to death.
. ---Wendy will lead discussion