On February 24, Book Club is leaving the borough of Brooklyn for the first time! Journey to the isle of Manhattan, a dark and strange place with alien customs that are opaque to outsiders.To best reflect this momentous occasion, I have chosen a favorite book of mine whose main character is highly literate and has been exiled to a foreign land, a dark and strange place with alien customs opaque to outsiders.
An Imaginary Life, by David Malouf
Jacket copy:
In the first century A.D., Publius Ovidius Naso, the most urbane and irreverent poet of imperial Rome, was banished to a remote village on the edge of the Black Sea. From these sparse facts, Malouf has fashioned an audacious and supremely moving novel. Marooned on the edge of the known world, exiled from his native tongue, Ovid depends on the kindness of barbarians who impale their dead and converse with the spirit world.Then he becomes the guardian of a still more savage creature, a feral child who has grown up among deer. What ensues is a luminous encounter between civilization and nature, as enacted by a poet who once cataloged the treacheries of love and a boy who slowly learns how to give it.
This book is great, short, and one does not need to know anything about the Metamorphoses to enjoy it. (Though anyone whose Ovid knowledge is half as deep as Clara and Andrew's Monkey King expertise would be most welcome to share it.)
This book, about a Roman poet, also allows us to eat Italian food and drink red wine. And as Malouf is Australian, Foster's will be supplied as well.
I know this will be the best-attended book club yet, so I'm sure all of you are eager for the details, so here's the nitty-gritty:
When:
February 24 at 1:30.
Some of you may note this is the same day as the Oscars, which anyone is welcome to stay and watch afterwards.
Where:
391 Convent Ave, Apt. 2
How to Get There:
Take the A-C or B-D to 145th Street. Exit on the north end of the subway (onto St. Nicholas Avenue). Walk one block west to Convent Avenue. 391 is between 146th and 147th Streets.
To Bring:
An empty stomach, an eagerness to drink, a passing familiarity with this (short!) novel and perhaps a thematically appropriate food. Or not.
I hope to see all of you there. As I missed the last meeting to see a family member get married, Megan has moved my book club grade down to a D. I'm hoping that a successful hosting can pull me back up to a C+.
Mike D.
4 comments:
I'm excited to read this book! However, I must question how well it will lead into the Oscars. (We may have to let the booze do that!)
Hooray! This is going to be an adventure. Brooklyn people, should we meet up in our borough and ride up together? We can intimidate the entire subway car with our erudition!
Best Bookclub ever.
We wear tweed.
Oh, and hosting a successful meeting will bring you up to a B, I'm sure!
Looking very much forward to it, as well as the train ride.
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