away on the pages of books

In a push to find the positive, I write about...

For the first time in my life, I am in a book group.  And I am ecstatic about it.  Our readings center around, Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi, which is a blend of memoir and literary critisicm.  The author, a retired professor, invited seven of her previous female students to join her in a weekly study of Western literature.  The books they read were banned in Iran so the group met in secret.  This book describes their experience.

Our book group is preceding Reading Lolita in Tehran by reading the same books these women read.  So far, the group has read Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (I joined the group after this one), The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Washington Square by Henry James.

We met Sunday night to discuss Washington Square over homemade chocolate drizzled macaroons, chocolate chip and powdered oats cookies, clementines, and white wine.  Mikael Taylor facilitated our time and his studies as an English major always provide for interesting commentary and insight.  The rest of us are a mix of post-graduates who love literature and miss school.  Degrees in History, Mathematics, Sociology, Theology, Biblical Studies, Theatre Arts, and Psychology, and various backgrounds in the arts and global studies makes for a very stimulating and varied conversation, analysis, and discussion.  This book, in particular, sparked a lot of conversation about the power of information, feminism, realism, and character psychoanalysis.  My brain loves this!

We are now on to Emma by Jane Austen and I am most excited because I have yet to be introduced to Jane Austen's works!  Having dropped out of high school, I missed out on most of the typical high school reading list.  So, I am thorougly enjoying the experience now at age 27.

Emma is the last book before we open Reading Lolita in Tehran and I voiced my sadness that the group would be concluding our goal soon.  Others felt the same way and everyone warmed to the idea of continuing the group.  Mikael suggested that,  perhaps, each of us could select a book we have always wanted to read and the whole group can continue along.

Love.  it.

{polaroid:  away sailing}
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