LOGO
     
Home Page Image

SEARCH LIBRARY CATALOG


BOOK GROUPS

All book groups meet in the Board Room on the 4th floor
For more information, please contact Sharon Miller at 415-393-0113



.
MYSTERY READERS' BOOK  CLUB
Meetings on SECOND MONDAY of each month, at 12:00 noon.
*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
MONDAY, JUNE 8
3
Matt Beynon Rees
The Collaborator of Bethlehem
MONDAY, JULY 13
 
Sue Grafton
N is for Noose
MONDAY, AUG 10

Reginald Hill
A Clubbable Woman


.
THE PROUST SOCIETY OF AMERICA
San Francisco Chapter at the Mechanics' Institute Library
9
The Mechanics' Institute Library proudly offers the Proust reading group, presented in affiliation with The Proust Society of America. The Proust Society of America was established in 1997 by the Mercantile Library of New York and its Center for World Literature.

The group is open to both beginning and veteran readers of "À la recherche du temps perdu" (known in English as "In Search of Lost Time" or "Remembrance of Things Past"). The novel is read and discussed in English; any available translation of the novel is acceptable.

The group meets on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm. Our reading schedule can be downloaded according to edition (.pdf file): Viking/Penguin, Penguin/Allen Lane (UK), Modern Library, or Vintage.  The last meeting of the Proust Society will be on Wednesday, July 23. The Proust reading group will resume on Wednesday, September 10., 2008. The group is facilitated by Dr. Mark Calkins, who holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature and is currently a lecturer at San Francisco State University, as well as webmaster and editor-in-chief of TempsPerdu.com.

The group is open to members of the Mechanics' Institute and to the public. Fees for the book group are $65 for members and $90 for the public per semester (ten meetings). Participants in the group are also eligible to attend meetings and events held at the New York and Boston chapters of the Proust Society of America.
10


.
FICTION YOU WISH YOU HAD READ
Meets third Tuesday of the month @ 12:00 NOON
*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
Tuesday, June 16
Chéri and The Last of Chéri, Colette
2
Colette's Chéri  together with The Last of Chéri  is a classic story of a love affair between a young man and a charming older woman, set in the demi-monde before World War I. Lea de Lonval, an ageing, 49-year old courtesan, has been training the handsome and athletic Frederic Peloux (the Chéri of the title), 30 years her junior, in the arts of love. Chéri's mother is also a courtesan and she has ambitions to marry her son well. When a potential bride comes on the scene, Lea's function is over. She and Chéri must part company. Separated, Chéri and Lea pine for each other and, against all common sense, each considers "throwing it all away" to build a future together. The strength of the book lies in the fabulous characters and the irony and unsentimentality of the style.



Tuesday, July 21
The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne
This novel, written in 1850, is regarded not only as his greatest accomplishment, but often as the greatest novel in American literary history. Set in 17th-century Puritan Boston, it is a novel in which, in terms of action, almost nothing happens. Hawthorne's emotional, psychological drama revolves around Hester Prynne, who is convicted of adultery by the civil and Puritan authorities. She is condemned to wear the scarlet letter "A" on her chest as a permanent sign of her sin. The narrative describes the effort to resolve the torment suffered by Hester and her co-adulterer, the minister Arthur Dimmesdale in the years after their affair. Throughout the novel, Hawthorne explores themes of legalism, sin, and guilt. He was masterful in the use of symbolism, and the scarlet letter "A" stands as his most potent symbol, around which interpretations of the novel revolve, such as adultery, America, and allegory.



Tuesday, August 18
Appointment in Samarra, John O'Hara

O’Hara’s debut novel centers around the rapid descent and demise of Julian English over the course of three days due in large part to the complicated social order and manners that drive the small town, Gibbsville, Pennsylvania, where he lives. He was born into a privileged lifestyle and is a member of Gibbsville’s elite society, residing at the most coveted address in town: Lantenengo Street, where he and his wife, Caroline, lead supposedly charmed lives. Appointment depicts the way in which one must abide by certain rules in order to gain acceptance or maintain one’s social standing. A small infraction could be perceived as completely unacceptable and topple the entire social order of Gibbsville’s elite, letting unspoken truths and feelings rise to the surface.



.
FORGOTTEN CLASSICS
Meets quarterly on THURSDAYS @ 6:00 PM
*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
Thursday, August 27
Le Père Goriot, Hono de Balzac
4
Le Père Goriot, written in 1835, is included in the Scènes de la vie privée section of his novel sequence La Comédie humaine. The novel is widely considered as Balzac's most important novel. Set in Paris in 1819, it follows the intertwined lives of three characters: the elderly doting Goriot; a mysterious criminal-in-hiding named Vautrin; and a naive law student named Rastignac. The novel takes place during the post-1814 Bourbon Restoration, which brought about profound changes in French society. The struggle of individuals to secure upper-class status is ubiquitous in the book. Balzac analyzes, through Goriot and others, the nature of family and marriage, providing a pessimistic view of these institutions. Rastignac, Vautrin, and Goriot represent individuals corrupted by their desires. One of the main themes in Le Père Goriot  is the quest to understand and ascend society's strata.

Thursday, November 5
Kristin Lavransdatter: The Bridal Wreath, The Mistress of Husaby and The Cross,  Sigrid Undset
8
Kristin Lavransdatter is part of the body of work that won Sigrid Undset the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1928 for her powerful depictions of Northern life during the Middle Ages, with historical and ethnological accuracy. The trilogy of over one thousand pages follows the life of the strong-willed and impetuous title character, a fictitious Norwegian women who lived during the 14th century. Kristin experiences conflicts in her relationships with her parents and her husband. She finds comfort and conciliation in her Catholic faith and eventually dies at peace with her world. The novel is full of romantic intrigues, political schemes, and spiritual debates, but is fundamentally a novel about one woman's life. Sigrid Undset makes us understand Kristin's love for her sons and husband, and the hard work of living in the 14th century. The author provides rich details concerning dress and manners as well as social and historical events.

Revised: June 2, 2009