The Guardian Reading Group Selection for July Is....

....guess what? The one and only The Leopard by di Lampedusa. Check it out here. Do we have any brave adventurers from our group to post on their forum?We did have a wonderful discussion the other night....

Addendum: Crime and Punishment, our last months book, was a September 2001 selection.

Woo hoo! Welcome, Judy! And your post was fine. We may one day have a comments section but at this point in time, HTML still looks like techno-Greek to me. I'm not up to speed on that yet.

REMINDER: I forgot to mention this. After you are finished writing your post, click on the "Post" or "Post and Publish" icons on the top bar. If you still see the yellow-orangish PUBLISH button on the right side of the middle toolbar, you will need to click on that to get the post officially published on the blog.

Later in the evening: A double woo hoo! Welcome, Jeannie!

For Woody Guthrie fans, here is a sweet tribute to Woody, written by Steve Earle.
Addendum: This is in reference to the September 2001 bookclub selection: Bound For Glory written by Woody Guthrie.

A Chaser From Marlo

THE BOOK: Confessions of Zeno, by Itelo Svevo

www.abebooks.com has about 70 copies. Yes, some are expensive; but you can sort them by "lowest price." Sally mentioned another website for books, which I didn't catch but which is listed on the BLOG site.

Sep.4 we will have a demonstration re BLOGGING. Oh, boy!

Here's a Russian poem that may serve as a "chaser" following our discussion this evening of CRIME AND PUNISHMENT:

"Forever You, the Unwashed Russia!"

by Mikhail Lermontov

Forever you, the unwashed Russia!

The land of slaves the land of lords:

And you, the blue-uniformed ushers,

And people who worship them as gods.

I hope, from your tyrannic hounds

To save me with Caucasian wall:

From their eye, that sees through ground,

From their ears, that hear all.

© Copyright, 1996 Translated from Russian by Yevgeny Bonver, 1990

Here is an interesting Dostoevsky lecture from the UC Davis Philosophy Department.

To get us in the mood for next week's meeting, visit the Crime and Punishment Museum.

Book Review: Sewing Circles of Herat by Christina Lamb

Here is an interesting book review in Alternet (a wonderful source of alternative progressive news, by the way). A memoir written by a foreign journalist in Afghanistan, this book chronicles her experiences through two wars.

Note: Other favorite progressive news sites online: Common Dreams and Tom Paine

Note on:The Laws of Evening. Here is a brief review in the NYTimes(registration but no subscription required).

A Book and Some Haikus: The Laws of Evening

From Linda:

The book is called: The Laws of Evening by Mary Yukari Waters. I ordered it on half.com and will read it before I recommend it. Following is the beginning of the review:

"The Japanese and Japanese American women who populate this remarkable poised story collection from May Yukari Waters have had their lives and families decimated by WWII. And yet they - and Waters - manage to extract almost crippling beauty from the defining tragedy of the 20th century and its ever-lingering aftermath. Each of Waters' stories is as exacting and bittersweet as a Hiroshige landscape, and there's a sense of loss and nostalgia becoming hopelessly blurred.

The war, after all, spelled the end of the courtly old Japan.... (reoccurring theme from last night)
Anyway, that Haiku reads:

Since my house burned down

I now own a better view

of the rising moon.

In preparation for our next book, and its theme of guilt:

A lovely nose ring

Excuse me while I put my head

In the oven.

Is one Nobel prize

So much to ask from a child

After all I've done?

From Marlo about The Leopard

If you are one of those who couldn't/didn't finish THE LEOPARD, try to pick it up toward the end. The "Death of a Prince" is very nicely done (or is it just me?), and the last chapter "Relics" gives you a sense of how deep Catholicism was in Sicily and Italy. I remember being overwhelmed in Rome, seeing Catholic art everywhere, even on the facade of buildings -- and churches in which statues of the reigning pope are many times larger than statues of the saints or Jesus himself. (!) Ah, we should have planned this meeting to be held in Sicily. When, oh when, will be develop into a book and travel group. Think about it. M