Summer 2011 Books

Thoughts on Bel Canto from Joan Habel

Ann Patchell’s Bel Canto seems to be character driven.  The quiet dignity of the Oriental persona is exemplified in the characters of Gen, Hosokawa, and Kato.  Their behavior creates a calming effect on the volatile hostage taking.  The situation immediately creates an unexpected reaction — not panic, as one might expect.  Instead, contemplation and clarity of […]


A greater tragedy

A greater tragedy

Warning: as we’re quickly approaching the end of the month I felt it would be all right to begin discussing the end of the novel.  If you haven’t finished reading yet, you might wish to read the post at a later date as it does contain spoilers! When I first began reading Bel Canto, I […]


Bel Canto: Clarity, Despite the Fog

Bel Canto: Clarity, Despite the Fog

There’s so much to unpack in this story: a sense of irony, rich juxtapositions of characters and images, and a mastery of metaphor. And it’s the latter that has me most intrigued. More specifically, the garua, the misty, grey fog that hangs about the mansion, ties to so many elements of the story. It firmly […]


Interview with Ann Patchett

Interview with Ann Patchett

The famous Powells Books in Portland, OR runs a regular interview series. A recent interview with Ann Patchett about her newest novel, State of Wonder, is attached here. You might also be interested in an earlier Powells interview with her about Bel Canto; it’s an awfully smart conversation, and includes the following wonderful description of […]


General Impressions and Response to Kate

General Impressions and Response to Kate

While reading Bel Canto, one of the first things I noticed was that the book is written using a third person omniscient narrator. This allows Patchett a great amount of freedom in her narration; she is not limited by a particular character’s perspective, and she can delve into people’s thoughts and minds. This stylistic choice […]


bel canto

Wow Kate, such insightful comments…I wish we’d been at SBC at the same time! I, too am struck by how The Music is the common language connecting all the characters in Bel Canto and the catalyst for so many of the important pivotal moments throughout. Of course, even with The Music, everything would fall apart […]


Understanding

Understanding

Thank you Carrie for choosing such a WONDERFUL book to start the summer reading!  Bel Canto offers everything an astute and engaged reader may look for: excitement, mystery, intrigue, romance, beautiful language and unique, one-of-a-kind characters.  Mr. Hosokawa’s situation is tragic, yet his passion and loyalty to his love of opera is something that gives […]


Thanks, Carrie!

Ordered Bel Canto yesterday from Amazon.  Should be here tomorrow.  A very interesting range of comments on the text among Amazon reviewers.  I’m looking forward to reading it for myself! Tom


Welcome new authors!

Welcome new authors!

Lots of folks are signing on as “authors” on the blog, which is wonderful. I love that incoming students will be able to be in conversation with alums who have since left campus but whose hearts remain here! Here are a couple of procedural matters: please offer a brief bio of yourself at the end […]


Buy local…

Buy local...

A reminder for those who are in the area: the Sweet Briar College Book Shop has copies of this summer’s selections for sale at a 20% discount. Please stop in and purchase a book there, if you like… and you can have a coffee and a muffin while you’re at it!


If three books isn’t enough…

If three books isn't enough...

For those of you who can consume three novels as quickly as I do a pint of Häagen-Daz ice cream, please feel free to amble over to the y:1 program’s blog to review information about next year’s Common Reading text, Reza Aslan’s Beyond Fundamentalism: Confronting Religious Extremism in the Age of Globalization. You might also […]


Distinguished contributors!

Distinguished contributors!

Several members — past and present — of the Sweet Briar community have signed on to contribute posts to the blog. They include: Lea Harvey (class of 1990), now Vice President for Development at Resources for the Future, an independent nonpartisan environmental policy research firm in Washington. Zehra Asghar (‘10), who works as an Urdu […]


June: Ann Patchett’s Bel Canto

June: Ann Patchett's Bel Canto

Ann Patchett’s Bel Canto won both the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize in 2002 and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Named the Book Sense Book of the Year, the novel sold over a million copies in the United States and has been translated into thirty languages. Here’s a description of the […]


July: Andrea Levy’s Small Island

July: Andrea Levy's Small Island

Andrea Levy’s novel Small Island won the Orange Prize for Fiction 2004, the 2004 Whitbread Novel Award, and the Whitbread Book of the Year. It was also named the 2005 Commonwealth Writer’s Prize Best Book and the 2005 Orange Prize’s “Best of the Best” award. A reviewer for Australia’s The Age wrote: ”Small Island is a triumph of poise, […]


August: Masha Hamilton’s 31 Hours

August: Masha Hamilton's 31 Hours

In August, we’ll turn to Masha Hamilton’s novel 31 Hours, the desperate story of a disenchanted young American man coached by Islamic radicals plotting an act of terrorism in New York City. We’re very pleased that Hamilton will visit Sweet Briar for several days this fall, when she’ll meet with students from a number of disciplines — […]


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