Masha Hamilton’s 31 Hours
Summer has officially ended — on September 23, in fact — and now, a few days into October, we feel fall truly approach at Sweet Briar. When we worked outside at Sanctuary Cottage yesterday afternoon doing some fall planting, putting in a few redbuds and dogwoods and azaleas before cold weather sets in and the […]
Small island, small world… lonely place
I loved Small Island when I read it the first time in 2004, the year it was published. I loved it again rereading it this summer, when even its happy ending — orchestrated beautifully by Levy to be both a gain and a loss — does not dim the power of the tremendously painful record of the […]
Contemplating the title
As I read, I am struck again and again by the meaning of “small island.” I think it springs up all over in different ways and suggests different interpretations. At first I was thinking that it simply referred to their place of origin, and then I began to see how it is also the island […]
What Now? by Ann Patchett
Since I really enjoyed Bel Canto, I went to my local library and tried to pick up another of Patchett’s novels. After discovering that all of them were checked out, I tried What Now?, a thin, but powerfully packed work of nonfiction. This little book is basically an extended version of a graduation speech which […]
“Only connect”… and onward and upward
Thank you to all for your comments about Bel Canto, and recently to Zehra for her thoughtful observations about Gen. Her words made me think of the epigraph for E. M. Forster’s beautiful novel Howard’s End, the famous directive, “Only connect…” Perhaps many of you (all of you?) know this novel already… the sentiment is […]
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 […]
Catching Up with Bel Canto
It has been at least five years since I read Bel Canto, and I have to admit that I sailed through it on a fairly superficial level, basically turning page after page to see what would happen next. I was addicted and couldn’t put the book down. Alas, I failed to stop and search and […]
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
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
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
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
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!
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…
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…
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!
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 […]
New titles for Summer 2011
Greetings, all: Welcome back to the Sweet Briar Summer Book Club and our community of readers and writers. I’ve chosen three novels for this summer’s reading: 31 Hours by Masha Hamilton (who will be on campus in November; more on that in a minute); Bel Canto by Ann Patchett; and Small Island by […]