To arrange to visit a book club, please call (207) 621-3551
or send a message.
UMASC BOOK CLUBS
Winter 2021-2022
Discussions are currently held on Zoom.
MONDAY BOOK CLUB
Group Leader: Patrice Wehner
Third Monday of the Month
1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
UPCOMING MEETINGS :
November 15, 2021
December 20, 2021
January 17, 2022
February 21, 2022
March 21, 2022
April 18, 2022
UPCOMING BOOKS:
Nov: Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
Dec: The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams
(2022 books are chosen at November meeting.)
THURSDAY BOOK CLUB
Group Leader: Norma Blazer
Fourth Thursday of the Month
(earlier date in December)
1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
UPCOMING MEETINGS:
No meeting in November
December 9, 2021
January 27, 2022
February 24, 2022
March 24, 2022
April 28, 2022
UPCOMING BOOKS:
Dec: A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
Jan: This Boy’s Life: A Memoir by Tobias Wolff
Join the Club!
Peter Rosenberg
The UMASC is blessed with not one but two book clubs that are easily identified as the Monday or the Thursday Book Club. I am a member of the Thursday group that usually meets on the fourth Thursday at 1 pm. For the past one–and–a–half years, we have been meeting by Zoom—you know why. Some of our group have been members for several years, and we have become friends as we have learned more about each other when critiquing each book. Our next meeting will take place on December 9th, maintaining a distance between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The December selection is A Gentleman in Moscow (2016) by Amor Towles.
This novel centers on Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov, a member of the Jockey Club, Master of the Hunt, who lived at Suite 317 of the Metropole Hotel, a luxury hotel in the center of Moscow. In 1922 he was arrested for writing an inflammatory poem and was given an unusual sentence—confinement to the hotel, subject to being shot on sight if found outside the hotel. I have no room to describe the plot of this 462-page novel in this short note but, for me, the joy is the language that one can enjoy, chew on, savor and digest. There are vivid portraits of those who work at the hotel or are guests, and there are numerous literary allusions, making this book a must for English lovers. Does our hero leave the Metropole Hotel alive? The exciting conclusion awaits the reader.
Did I whet your appetite? Are you intrigued? Would you like to attend one of our meetings, learn what books we have lined up, meet fellow book lovers, and join in the discussion? If you would like more information or would like to join either book club, please contact the UMA Senior College office by phone (207-621-3551) or by email (office@umasc.org) with “UMASC Book Club” in the subject line.
