Tuesday, February 26, 2008
The Old English Peep Show by Peter Dickinson
The Mystery Lovers Book Group will discuss The Old English Peep Show Tuesday, February 26, 12. Talk about quirky! Peter Dickinson, a writer known for his quirky characters and plots, has reached a new level of quirkiness this time. Jame Pibble, a London detective, is sent to Old England (a theme park similar to Colonial Williamsburg) to look into the suicide of Deakins, a faithful retainer. Things just don't seem quite right. Sir Ralph and Sir Richard Clavering, founders of Old England and war heroes, seem a little off. The closer Pibble looks, the worse things seem to be. Then lions become involved in the crime, and Pibble must risk his life to gather evidence.
It's all a little strange, but Pibble manages to solve the mystery despite the madness of the Claverings. This Gold Dagger award winner from 1969 is not for every mystery lover, but if you enjoy something different, you can't do better than The Old English Peep Show.
Monday, February 18, 2008
North Toward Home by Willie Morris
The Southern Writers will discuss North Toward Home by Willie Morris on Saturday, March 1, 1 p.m. at the Greenwood County Library. Copies of the book are available for borrowing at the Greenwood County Library.
Willie Morris faced created and wrote about controversial issues for more than 40 years. While editor of the Daily Texan, the newspaper for the University of Texas, he faced - and wrote about - censorship. During his two year stint at the helm of the Texas Observer, he covered unpopular topics such as the dangerous and unsanitary conditions in nursing homes, illiteracy, and the dishonesty of some of Texas' leading politicians. When he moved to Harper's Magazine, he was the youngest editor-in-chief in the history of the magazine, and he attracted and encouraged writers like
Robert Penn Warren, William Styron, Ralph Ellison, Arthur Miller, Walker Percy, James Dickey, and Norman Mailer.
When he was 33, he wrote his first book, a memoir called North Toward Home. It was a bestseller, received the Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship Award, and was a Literary Guild selection. Morris tried to explain his feelings about his home state in an interview held a year after the book was published. "The feelings are very complicated, but the older I am the more [the South] means to me, the closer the ties."
Although Morris was one of the South's principal spokespersons, he never considered himself a Southern writer. "I am an American writer who happens to come from the South. I've tried to put the South into the larger American perspective."
Willie Morris faced created and wrote about controversial issues for more than 40 years. While editor of the Daily Texan, the newspaper for the University of Texas, he faced - and wrote about - censorship. During his two year stint at the helm of the Texas Observer, he covered unpopular topics such as the dangerous and unsanitary conditions in nursing homes, illiteracy, and the dishonesty of some of Texas' leading politicians. When he moved to Harper's Magazine, he was the youngest editor-in-chief in the history of the magazine, and he attracted and encouraged writers likeRobert Penn Warren, William Styron, Ralph Ellison, Arthur Miller, Walker Percy, James Dickey, and Norman Mailer.
When he was 33, he wrote his first book, a memoir called North Toward Home. It was a bestseller, received the Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship Award, and was a Literary Guild selection. Morris tried to explain his feelings about his home state in an interview held a year after the book was published. "The feelings are very complicated, but the older I am the more [the South] means to me, the closer the ties."
Although Morris was one of the South's principal spokespersons, he never considered himself a Southern writer. "I am an American writer who happens to come from the South. I've tried to put the South into the larger American perspective."
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
The Ware Shoals Book Discussion Group will meet at Town Hall on Thursday, February 21, 3 p.m. to discuss Little Women. Copies are available for borrowing from the Ware Shoals Community Library.Remember Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy? These "little women" have been a part of American girlhood for over 150 years. Written by Louisa May Alcott in 1868 and 1869, the girls were based on her life and experiences with her sisters Anna, Lizzie, and Abba May. Alcott identified strongly with Jo, the second sister. A tomboy with a passion for writing, Jo is outspoken, awkward, rebellious, and angry. Her flaws make her the most appealing character in the novel.
Born November 29, 1832, to Amos Bronson and Abigail "Abba" May Alcott in Germantown, PA, Louisa May was their second child. She was raised in Concord, Massachusetts, and her neighbors included Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau. Her father was an enthusiastic transcendentalist, abolitionist, and teacher, but a very poor provider. The family moved twenty times in twenty years because of his inability to support them.
Alcott volunteered as a nurse during the Civil War and went to Washington, D. C. to work in a hospital. Six weeks after her arrival, she caught pneumonia and was treated with calomel, a mercury compound, which gave her mercury poisoning. For the rest of her life she would suffer with intense pain, weakness, hallucinations, and hair loss.
Although she is most famous for her tales for children, Alcott also wrote sensational gothic novels and serious adult works. These books were never as well received as her children's stories.
Alcott died March 6, 1868, and was buried in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, Massachusetts, next to her father.
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