Has anyone actually been there? http://www.7gables.org/tour_gables.shtml

This review by Paul Kincaid in Strange Horizons discusses the two different Paul Auster writing styles and how this book is made of characters from other Auster novels. And this is a well written blog review describing the characters from other novels – Edeet found Moon Palace on page 45.

Here is the negative NY Times Sunday Book Review and the positive review from The Washington Post. And finally, some handy background information on the author himself.

The next meeting will be on 11 March to discuss The House of Seven Gables by  Nathaniel Hawthorne.

We’ll be meeting at 8 Dec. 17 at Claire’s to talk about Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight. Teresa and Charlotte will be joining us by Skype, a Makioka first!

Optional: Read about Edward’s ancestors in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla, and/or various vampire stories by Arthur Canon Doyle. If you don’t have a chance to get to the library, you can read them online, since they are all in the public domain (for those who can recall our Moveable Feast copyright discussion).

Not everyone will be able to make this impromptu, added meeting. Our next regularly scheduled meeting will be January 14 at Beth’s where we will discuss Paul Auster’s Travels in the Scriptorium. As a few of us noted, Edeet’s astute take on Auster was validated in last week’s New York Times Book Review piece on Auster’s most recent book.

A. E. Hotchner wrote a New York Times Op-Ed in July of this year about how he was with Hem when he discovered notebooks left at the Ritz in Paris with writings about the places, people and events of living in Paris in the 1920s.  There is also an article from June describing the ‘recast’ edition.

Here is an article from the Atlantic and another about Mariel Hemingway optioning the rights for film & TV. There’s another movie about Hemingway and his work.

“A Moveable Feast”, by Hemmingway, which was recently the subject of a controversy because his grandson rewrote parts & had it republished as he didn’t think it portrayed his grandmother in a favorable light

We’ll met at Claire’s at 8 Nov. 12 to talk about the book, various changes, etc.

Then for the next meeting we’ll be reading Paul Auster’s Travels in the Scriptorium, tentatively Jan 14 at Beth’s house….

Off topic: I just started using Better World Books to order books. You usually do not have to pay shipping, the prices are pretty good, and apparently the company gives about 20 percent of the net sale price of each book to libraries and nonprofit literacy organizations. With Amazon gouging publishers and authors and taking part in other officious activities, I’m going to try to use this seller for a while. However, if anyone hears ill of them, let me know and I’ll go back to my old book-buying habits.

Lisa

First, there’s this interview on the CBC Digital Archives where Robertson Davies discusses his career, his approach to writing and other things.  After I listened to this interview, I thought that he based a few parts of  “What’s Bred in the Bone” on his own life. The interview is about 1/2 hour long. At the very least, seeing what Mr. Davies looks like is worth clicking on the link!

As the story evolves with Francis Cornish’s life, there are a few paintings referenced in the story. Thanks to Wikipedia, we looked at the paintings Love Locked Out , Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time and The Wedding at Cana. There is also a recent article about a digital reproduction of ‘The Wedding at Cana’ along with some multi-media affects.

If you enjoyed reading this book, there’s the first book in the Cornish Trilogy, “The Rebel Angels.” I highly recommend The Deptford Trilogy – especially Fifth Business – Robertson Davies’ most famous trilogy.

And finally, today in the New York Times there is a story about the unlocking of the memoirs of Anthony Blunt, one of Britain’s most renowned 20th-century art historians especially on 17th century painters. His memoirs describe how he spied for the Soviet Union. It reminded me of the character Francis Cornish but Mr. Blunt was spying against Britain instead of for it!

Have a great summer and happy reading! – Dalia

Dalia

I thought it was so skillfully written and I was in awe of the way the author was able to weave in larger themes without anything seeming forced. All the issues he addresses – tradition vs. modernity, the changing place of women, the coming war and economic changes, the demise of the Makiokas’ class – all seemed to emerge organically from the setting and the interaction of the characters.

But I also thought it might have been one of the saddest, bleakest books we’ve ever read (which is saying a lot).

Does anyone recall their impressions of this book from all those years ago? Was there a consensus? I would love to know what you all thought of it….

Lisa