Houston Montrose Great Books-MAIN STREET by Sinclair Lewis

The Houston Montrose Great Books discussion group is affiliated with Great Books and meets at 6pm on the first Thursday of every month in the Freed-Montrose Library at 4100 Montrose in Houston, TX. The library is on Montrose Blvd (about a block North of the Montrose Blvd. intersection with Richmond Ave). Our August meeting is on Thursday, August 6th. A description of the novel titled MAINSTREET by Sinclair Lewis is below and on our www.houstonbookclubs.org/Montrose/ website. We love to have new members. We ask that you read the book if you want to participate in the discussion but everyone is welcome to attend and listen whether they have read the selection or not. Call or email me if you would like more info. Hope to see you soon! --Alice Our main website info is at: http://www.houstonbookclubs.org/Montrose/ Our blog is at: http://www.houstonbookclubs.org/blog/ An archive of previous meeting reminders (and such) is at: http://groups.google.com/group/MontroseGreatBooks/ We are affiliated with Houston Great Books as reflected at: http://www.houstongreatbooks.net/groups/Montrose.html And here is a guide to Shared Inquiry which is basically how we try to conduct the discussion. http://www.houstonbookclubs.org/GreatBooksGuide.htm ======UPCOMING SELECTIONS=============== . -- August 6, 2009 MAIN STREET by Sinclair Lewis (publ 1920) 448 pages First American to win Nobel Prize in 1930. Captures the aura of small town America which requires conformity to tradition and social standards in exchange for recognition, respect and love from one's neighbors, versus the City as depicted by Washington which seems to offer freedom and individuality precisely because there's no one there who cares about you or what you do. --Susan will lead discussion September 3, 2009 UBIK by Philip K. Dick (publ 1969) 224 pages Named by Time magazine as one of the one hundred greatest English-language novels published since 1923. A combination of Science Fiction comedy with the unease of reality gone wrong...the protagonist is hired by a company which blocks telepathic snooping and paranormal dirty tricks. Something goes terribly wrong when a big job is tackled on the moon. --Brian will lead discussion October 1, 2009 (reserved for Books on the Bayou - title not announced yet by library) November 6, 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 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 February 4, 2010 THE PRINCE by Niccolo Machiavelli (publ 1532) 134 pages Sometimes shockingly direct how-to manual for rulers who aim either to establish and retain control of a new state or to seize and control an existing one. Makes a clear break from the Western tradition of political philosophy that preceded the author where the thinkers of this tradition were concerned with issues of justice and human happiness, and with the constitution of the ideal state. --Alice will lead discussion