Circle of Friends Book Club meeting summary for August 2017
August 9th, 2017
August’s meeting was a small group that discussed four books. The discussion was described by members as free-flowing, while touching on many subjects. The first book discussed was Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America by Michael Eric Dyson. This book tackles the issue of race in both personal and cultural terms, with a call to change in the recognition of difficult truths, including the history of how black grievance has been minimized, completely ignored, or dismissed entirely. The second selection was a pamphlet written in 1965 called This is Apartheid by Leslie and Neville Rubin. This tract details the system of apartheid in South Africa, and gives 40 examples of restrictions imposed on Africans under the apartheid system. The author represented the Africans of the Cape Province in the South African Senate.
The third selection was Food Mania: An Extraordinary Visual Record of the Art of Food by Nigel Garwood and Rainer Voigt. This book presents all sorts of visuals associated with food, from illustrations of food in the garden, through kitchen and preparation, to the enjoyment of food in the act of eating. Visuals of all sorts, including paintings and drawings, engravings, advertisements and labels, and even comics illustrate our fascination with food in all its phases. The last selection discussed was Beloved by Toni Morrison. This renowned book deals powerfully with the effects of slavery through the story of one woman, a former slave haunted by her experiences.
The assignment for next month’s meeting is to pick and read a folk tale from a different culture. We will discuss at least the following two aspects of each tale:
1. Identify something in the story that is common to all humanity
2. What is something in the story that pertains specifically to the culture of its origin?
Please join us for what promises to be an interesting and informative discussion!