Book Discussion Group, Saturday, March 4, 2017, 2:00 PM, San Leandro Main Library

The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George

From the official biography of Nina George:

Born 1973 in Bielefeld, Germany, Nina George is a prize-winning and bestselling author (“Das Lavendelzimmer” – “The Little Paris Bookshop”) and freelance journalist since 1992, who has published 26 books (novels, mysteries and non-fiction) as well as over hundred short stories and more than 600 columns. George has worked as a cop reporter, columnist and managing editor for a wide range of publications, including Hamburger Abendblatt, Die Welt, Der Hamburger, “politik und kultur” as well as TV Movie and Federwelt. Georges writes also under three pen-names, for ex “Jean Bagnol”, a double-andronym for provence-based mystery novels.

I would provide the usual YouTube video of Nina George talking about The Little Paris Bookshop, except for the fact that all her interviews are in German with German closed captioning.

Instead, let's take a barge trip from Paris to the Mediterranean:

Your conveyance awaits

Some music for the voyage:

Some stops along the way:

The Seine River in Paris

Melun

Montargis

French tango club

Cuisery (the "village of books")

The Saint Benezet Bridge in Avignon (bonus points if you remember the song from high school French class)

Lavender fields in Luberon

Bonnieux in Provence

Another brief musical interlude

Marseille

Sanary-sur-Mer

Book Discussion Group, Saturday, February 4, 2017, 2:00 PM, San Leandro Main Library

The Green Road by Anne Enright

Relevant quote from John Belushi on the luck of the Irish: ... Oh pal. One thing! One thing!!! They love their mothers, boy, oh they love their mothers. It’s momma this, momma that. Oh my Irish mother! Ireland must be heaven, because my mother.. aauugghhh! Aaauugghhh!!!

The Burren Way, County Clare, Ireland

 

A Biography of the Author from The British Council Website

Anne Enright was born in Dublin in 1962, studied English and Philosophy at Trinity College, Dublin, and went on to study for an MA in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia.

She is a former RTE television producer. Her short stories have appeared in several magazines including The New Yorker and The Paris Review, and she won the 2004 Davy Byrnes Irish Writing Award for her short story, 'Honey'. Her short story collection, The Portable Virgin was published in 1991, and won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. Two collections of stories, Taking Pictures and Yesterday's Weather were published in 2008.

Her novels are The Wig My Father Wore (1995), shortlisted for the Irish Times/Aer Lingus Irish Literature Prize; What Are You Like? about twins separated at birth who meet when they are 25, winner of the 2001 Encore Award and shortlisted for the 2000 Whitbread Novel Award; The Pleasure of Eliza Lynch (2002); The Gathering (2007) about a large Irish family gathering for the funeral of a wayward brother which won the 2007 Man Booker Prize for Fiction; and The Forgotten Waltz (2011). Her most recent novel is The Green Road (2015), which won the Irish Novel of the Year.

Anne Enright has also published a book of humorous essays, Making Babies: Stumbling into Motherhood (2004). She lives in Ireland.

Anne Enright Talks about The Green Road

 

Come in, pull up a chair, but don't break the Belleek