All Star I Family Conference 2008

Bill Tibbs and I, in response to those of you who felt that four books was indeed a lot to discuss in one afternoon, have changed the schedule we'd put out earlier. We've removed HEAT until next year and will now go by the following schedule.

MONDAY: at 4 p.m. we'll discuss two of last year's books:

WHITE TEETH, a wonderful comically penetrating send up of race, sex, science (stem cells), academia, religion (discontented Muslim youth in London) and other topics by brilliant young British writer Zadie Smith;

LOLITA, Vladimir Nabokov's 50 year old classic tongue in cheek, tragi-comic tale of Humbert Humbert's obsession with his nymphet ward;

TUESDAY: we'll discuss the last two of the 2007 books :

SNOW by Orhan Pamuk, which briefly landed him in a Turkish jail and probably contributed to his winning the Nobel Prize.

ATONEMENT by Ian McEwan, a remarkable book about passion, betrayal and the art and attempted salvation that raises many philosophical questions. Read the book BEFORE you see the movie.

If this sounds a little like the Reduced Shakespeare Company on Books, it could be, but we wanted everyone to have a chance to talk a little about the books we had read for last year. It won't lag.

WEDNESDAY:

LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Nobel Prize winner formerly of Colombia now of Mexico City, and one of the founders of Magical Realism. From it's first sentence, "It was inevitable: the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love," you're pulled into the fanciful imaginary tale of Garcia Marquez' own parents' love story. The NYTimes calls it, "A rich, commodious novel whose narrative power is matched only by its generosity of vision." If you try to substitute the movie for this one, you'll miss the best parts, as well as the whole mystique of magic realism. No short cuts here.

THURSDAY is usually kids' stunt afternoon show, so no discussion that day.

FRIDAY:

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS by J. K. Rowling, the seventh and final book in the series that made her the richest (maybe after the Queen?) woman in Britain. We've often encouraged younger readers to join us, so this is their chance. Since I am, sad to say, not yet into Harry's realm of adventures, Bill prescribes that I (and any other novices) could do the following. (1) Listen to Book 1 for a good grounding and introduction to the series. (2) Watch the movie of Book 2. (3) Watch the movie of Book 5 HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX. And, if by then you're really into it he recommends watching ALL the HP movies! I quote him: "Hey! This is a literary phenomenon that requires serious study and preparation!!! Smile." I did notice that issue of Newsweek pronounced THE DEATHLY HALLOWS as one of the best books of the year 2007, and said that kids (and presumably post-kids) who haven't experienced this series just don't know what they're missing. In fact, Louise Williams suggested that we read ALL the books! High praise.

This gives us a better balance between last year's books and new ones for this year. We'll look forward to discussing them with you again at 4 p.m. at Marshman. It won't be long now! Elizabeth Yermack