We had a record-breaking meeting at Linda's to discuss the book The Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier, and also watch the film. We started the meeting thirty minutes early to give ourselves time to watch the 90 minute film and still have time to compare and contrast the book and the movie. However, we visited for so long before we sat down to eat the many delicious dishes that Linda prepared, and then continued to visit (and talk about the book a bit, as well), that it was after 9pm before we sat down to watch the film. In the end we met for over 4 1/2 hours! We talked a little about the differences between the book and the movie, but we were mostly just moving to the door and heading home after the movie ended. Annie, Christe, Ellen, Jo, Judy, Julie, Linda, and Nanc attended.
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| Beautiful evening with Linda's water view |
We decided to delay reading The Awakening Land: The Trees, The Fields, and The Town by Conrad Richter (originally penciled in for August) because Linda checked at Barnes and Nobles and the trilogy isn't going to be re-issued until November. We felt it might be too difficult for everyone to acquire a copy.
Also, Linda found a list of classics and read the list to all of us. The titles from her list that jumped out at us were: The Awakening by Kate Chopin, The Call of the Wild by Jack London, and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. So, be thinking about which of these classics you'd like to select for September.
Julie and I felt the film would have been confusing, or at least the viewer could not have understood completely the intricacies, without having read the book. I think it would have added a lot to the film if Griet had narrated the story a bit, the way she did in the book. In particular, I thought Griet would have been a blank slate if someone hadn't read the book. I was fine with Griet's brother and sister being left out of the film... and largely her parents, as well.
Vermeer and Griet did not have a romance but they had an intimate connection. Griet began to view the world differently as she developed a better understanding of his painting process.
"He saw things in a way that others did not, so that a city I had lived in all my life seemed a different place, so that a woman became beautiful with the light on her face." ~ Tracy Chevalier
~ Nancy French
It was wonderful to see you all and I feel grateful for such a beautiful neighborhood of dear friends.
~ Linda Jenkins
My heart smiles after spending time with all of you. Thanks, Linda, for the delightful summer spread of food and hospitality. With a grateful heart.
~ Annie Larkin
Thank you, Linda. Good view, good food, good people equals a wonderful evening. It is always a fun and enlightening time when the Waterview Book Club meets. I look forward to our next meeting.
~ Judy Lee
Next Book: Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates by Tom Robbins
Location: Jo's
Date: Thursday, July 13, 2017
Time: 6:30pm
Location: Jo's
Date: Thursday, July 13, 2017
Time: 6:30pm
Upcoming meetings:
August 10, 2017 The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore at TBA
September 14, 2017 TBA
October 12, 2017 TBA
Books we've read so far:
January 2014 - Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott
February 2014 - The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
March 2014 - Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
April 2014 - The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie
May 2014 - The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
June 2014 - Breaking Free by Marilyn Sewell
July 2014 - The Orphan Train by Kristina Baker Kline
August 2014 - The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
September 2014 - Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
October 2014 - The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
November 2014 - The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman
December 2014 - No book. Holiday gathering.
January 2015 - No book. Watched The Book Thief
February 2015 - The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton
March 2015 - Empire of the Summer Moon by S.C. Gwynne
April 2015 - The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin
May 2015 - The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
June 2015 - The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom
July 2015 - Still Alice by Lisa Genova
August 2015 - The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown
September 2015 - Ruby by Cynthia Bond
October 2015 - To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
November 2015 - No book. Watched To Kill a Mockingbird
December 2015 - No book. Holiday gathering.
January 2016 - All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
February 2016 - Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson
March 2016 - Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín
April 2016 - Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights by Salman Rushdie
May 2016 - Jewelweed by David Rhodes
June 2016 - One Woman's River by Ellen Kolbo McDonah
July 2016 - Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
August 2016 - Deep Water Passage by Ann Linnea
September 2016 - This Road I Ride by Juliana Buhring
October 2016 - The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
November 2016 - No book. Watched The Boys of '36
December 2016 - No book. Holiday gathering.
January 2017 - About Grace by Anthony Doerr
February 2017 - Between the World and Me by Ta-nehisi Coates
March 2017 - Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
April 2017 - No book - meeting canceled
May 2017 - Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger
June 2017 - The Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier also watched The Girl with a Pearl Earring
