Dear Laura, dear Book Club members!
I am quite late in letting you know- all over again! -
just how much I enjoyed my time with you down in Paestum
where we celebrated the Book Club’s 40th Anniversary!
Like all the others who came to the big
occasion, I was extremely sad that Laura was in the end
not able to attend the event due to falling sick and
having to be hospitalized for almost 2 weeks. I was
therefore so relieved ‘seeing’ you back in action once
more, dear Laura, as soon as your e-mails arrived in my
post box again. Stay well and follow your doctor’s
orders if you can approve of them ! After Paestum I
flew to the UK where I bought a get-well card for you
which I still haven’t sent off (much to my shame), but
you will receive it sometime soon since it was meant for
you!! The UK has got such lovely cards and such a
variety to choose from! Whenever I am there I tend to
stock up on my greeting cards and this time it was on
account of your bad luck that I stood in front of a huge
selection of them.
I am, as always, most grateful for your
generous hospitality, dear Margie, and I also urge you
to continue, please, with pestering me to *get on with
booking your flights* for future BIG BOOK CLUB EVENTS.
However, I will have to warn you here and now, that each
time you do, I might still get exasperated with you and
say as much! Which makes me wonder how on earth
friendships survive at all? Perhaps because of our love
of books? Reading a story at the same time as others do
and then getting together to talk about it will
certainly open doors to each other’s thoughts and
feelings. And there we have it : DOORS again Exit West
was a great read and a wonderful choice for our own
small migrating book club members.
I am very happy the bookclub looks well
on its way to continue to thrive for many years yet, and
I would like to thank all of you active members to
remain so welcoming to past members like me. It was
wonderful to see you again, Helle, and I know Fiona was
very sorry that she was unable to join us in Paestum as
well. I missed Gillian, too, who I never imagined I
wouldn’t ever see again. Perhaps she was present without
us knowing, which would be a very comforting and
exciting thought.
You gave me all a lovely and very
special weekend and my thanks go to all of you, RM
Helle Dickerson -
04/05/2018
Dear Bookclub girls,
Many, many thanks for a wonderful
weekend. To celebrate 40 years as 'book worms' was a
treat, and the fact the book discussion was held in the
same spirit as was initially intended made it an even
greater pleasure. The friendly atmosphere and the
diversity of character of the group was a delight.
Not to forget the careful organisation
of the event down to the smallest detail; it felt almost
as if on a school outing with my primary school. Thank
you all, it leaves me with fond memories and hope to see
some of the photos taken in due course on the web page.
With much love to you all, Helle.
RoseMarie Clarke -
02/06/2014
Dear Laura and all the other book-club members,
I wanted to let you know that I loved
the beautiful photos that have appeared on the
castellibookclub page! Needless to say, I was also very
sad to have missed this special gathering and being
together with you for a few days. If, however, this is
going to be a yearly event, I was wondering if a
nostalgic out-of-towner would be allowed to participate
just once in a while????
It's wonderful to read that the
bookclub keeps on thriving, and for those that are not
on the move but have settled in Italy for good, it must
mean a great source of growing friendships.
Way back when we started, there was an
enormous amount of coming and going of "new" faces which
had its own charm, but many good-byes brought some sad
moments, too.
Last but not least, I am really happy
and grateful that the web site is kept so beautifully
updated, too, and therefore am able to enjoy my monthly
visits to all of you.
Love and best wishes (RM)
mstenhouse -
22/10/2011 11:53
I've just been reading the write-up of "The Road" and I
thought it was a really excellent account of our
meeting and our discussion. Quite a feat of literature
in its own right!!!
I'm really happy to have got in with such a wonderful
crowd of intelligent, "simpatiche" women. Looking
forward to seeing you all next meeting,
Margaret
Fiona Morrison - 17/09/2011 14:04
I love reading all the local book club emails. Makes me
feel that I am back in Rome again! Please dont stop them
coming! xF
Roberta - Saturday, September
17, 2011 12:36 PM
Prendo atto che la situazione non e' ancora cambiata da
un anno a questa parte!
Un abbraccio affettuoso.....e buon divertimento!
Roberta
Liz Hopkins -
17/09/2011 23:24
Long time no hear !! I am delighted to receive any
and all emails regarding Casteli Book Club !!Really no
problem for me whatsoever ! I certainly
always enjoy the comments on the books -
some of which I co-incidentally have chosen Without
castelli book club input !! I am Not good at
giving my comments and I apologise for that! But I
really enjoy the website and the comments and thank all
of you who havePut so much time and effort into it
!! I am a midnight emailer !! (the only time in
the day that has space !!) so I won’t make this too
long.
Thinking of you, Love Liz Hopkins x
mstenhouse - 17/11/2010 10:40
Just back from Copenhagen. A quickie to say how much I
enjoyed meeting you all.
Best, Margaret
Christina Cicconi -
15/11/2010 18:44
Dear Margie,
I was interested to read the comments on The Elegance of
the Hedgehog. It was my choice for the bookclub
here a few months ago. There was quite a mixed reaction.
One or two people thought it was pure fantasy and a
fairy tale, the ending particularly came in for
criticism. One person who had lived for years in
Paris read the book both in French and in
translation which she thought was excellent. She much
enjoyed the book and discussed at length the
education of Paloma and her sister which led her to talk
about the education system in France. I do feel maybe it
appealed more to Europeans or to people sho had
lived in Europe rather than English (who, by the way,
don't really consider themselves Europeans!) I liked
many aspects of the book but particularly the wonderful
descriptions, for example Manuela and Renee's tea
ritual.
Hope to get to a bookclub in Rome sometime.
Till then, love to all
Christina
Fiona Morrison -
13/11/2010 20:10
Thanks Margie - I very much enjoy reading everyone's
monthly comments on everything from the suppers and the
company, to the authors and the books themselves. Please
keep them coming. xxF
Laura - 01/09/2010 11:52
Thanks Margie,
I surfed through your site a few nights ago, I
am very slow at wake-ups and obviously enjoy
staying up late, gazing into my computer
screen most of the time! This is a bad habit I got when
I was working for Alitalia, too busy during the day
meeting people, visiting places, airport to hotel and
viceversa, hardly getting a glimpse of the town
sometimes; I felt that the night was mine only, alone in
a 4 star hotel or at home, no phone ringing, nobody to
interrupt you, dim light, a cup of tea with biscuits, my
portable computer and lots of time.....
Anyway, I went through the "all time book
list", it's amazing, except for the classics and the
famous best sellers, I haven't read many of those books!
Then I poked around in the "members only" section,
looked at the pictures and read some of the comments
here and there, there's a lot of stuff and lots of
nice memories for you I guess!
I liked the idea of anniversary reunions, it seems everyone appreciates the fact of
spending more time together to share feelings, ideas,
meals and pajamas! You should organize a meeting every
year, I would enjoy that very much.
To tell the truth, I am honored to be a member of this
club, we surely have something in common even though we
lead differents lives. I can feel that.
Maybe I am getting too romantic here! Wake up Laura!
Ciao, Laura
Christina Cicconi -
venerdì 28 agosto 2009 10.29
Hi Margie! Thanks so much for all the updates which I
enjoy reading even though I don't participate. I would
love to come to a meeting sometime but I am rarely in
Rome. I think you will be inerested to hear
that The Cheltenham Book Festival has published a
list of 60 modern classics and I was AMAZED to see that
Even Cowgirls get the Blues was included.
We are in Lucca till mid September and are finding it
impossibly hot about England where the average
temperature this summer has been about 15 degrees!
With love Christina
RoseMarie Clarke -
17 December 2008 13:58
Dear Castelli Bookclub, I know your last book club
meeting was on Friday and I wanted to send a few notes
to Jill beforehand. However, as you have all noticed by
now, I never managed to do so. I am still reading the
book and am enjoying it a lot, but have to admit that it
will take me a few more days to finish it. Last week I
took it all the way to Dresden and to the Erzgebirge
where I spent three days in a white winter fairy tale
landscape, as well as marvelling at Dresden’s
beautifully restored Frauenkirche and Semper Opera
House. Needless to say, I didn’t get much reading
done………….however, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, had made a very big
impression on me when I once watched an interview with
her on German TV around the end of 2006 when she
introduced her autobiography in Berlin………at the
beginning of that year I had also listened to her being
questioned about the Mohammed caricatures where she said
the sentence: ”I am here to defend the right to offend”.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali is well known here for her radical and
politically provoking statements. She comes out with
statements that appear to express some simple but
uncomfortable truths, like ….”the more a government
emphasizes the importance of religion and tradition, the
more corrupt it will be”. And when asked about the
Pope’s “infamous” lecture, she very calmly stated: “ You
can discuss and question every statement and sentence in
his lecture except the one that caused so much offence:
that statement is simply true. Moslems should get
outraged about suicide bombers and not about Mohammed
caricatures”…and so on. She turns especially to all
women for “help”. She says that they can speed up the
“humanisation” of Islam after men have been so
instrumental in brutalizing it. Her statements are
eloquent and her calm single-mindedness more than
impressive. I am even more impressed now that I have
almost reached the end of her autobiography. I have seen
her on television, I have listened to her on the radio
and I have read about her in “Emma”, a women’s magazine
run by Alice Schwarzer, Germany’s most famous feminist.
Whether you agree with Ayaan Hirsi Ali or not does not
deflect from the extraordinary development she has gone
through to emerge as such a fearless defender of human
causes, when, for a long period of her life, all she
wanted to do was being good and obedient and appreciated
by her mother. I wished I could have been at Jill’s
house for the discussion……you must have had stacks to
talk about, I am sure, and I am looking forward to
reading the summary of your evening.
Right now I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a
Peaceful and Healthy 2009………2009???? I can’t believe it,
but it must be! Whoever knows how to slow down the
clock??????? And will you all come here -just once- for
a book club get-together before I die????? Next
year????? Love to all of you, RM
Helle Dickerson -
martedì 23 dicembre 2008 18.05
Hello Girls,
Best wishes to you and your families for a Merry
Christmas and a very Happy New Year. Just now we
are busy dressing the tree while listening to Christmas
carols. Our little town is twinkling with all the
traditional lights shining in the windows of every
single house. All we need now is for the landscape
to be covered in snow!
Look forward to seeing you all in the early
spring. I did enjoy Infidel. What a remarkable
woman, and what in insight into the trials and
tribulations of imigrant life.
With love , Helle
Tine Reijmerink - Sunday,
January 13, 2008 1:49 PM
Dear everyone in the Book Club,
It's a long time since I made contact with you.
Let me first of all wish you a very happy, healthy and
fruitful 2008 with lots of books to enjoy.
I know I should have let you know long before
today that I won't be able to attend the reunion,
but I guess you understood that already. I posponed my
answer, trying to work it out with my workschedule, but
failed and -shame on me- then forgot.
Be assured that I still follow your progress via
the website and always enjoy your accounts of the many
books you read. I must confess, I am not keeping up with
you, having tot read Dutch literature and non-fiction
for my work in the bookstore as well.
I wish you a splendid weekend in La bella Italia
and look forward to all the stories about it.
Margery, thank you for still including me in your
mailing list,
With love to you all and in case you pass through
Amsterdam: we moved to Amstelveen, just outside the
city, even nearer to the airport and you all are -as
always- welcome to stay.
Tine Reijmerink
(Ask Margie for details, phone numbers etc as I (Margie)
don't like to put this info on web)
Fiona Morrison -
Saturday, December 29, 2007 5:19 PM
Hi Margie, As I half anticipated, I am afraid I
haven't been able to re-organise things this end to
enable me to come to the reunion. Too long and
complicated to tell you details but please send huge
apologies and happy greetings to all - it's the first
one I have ever missed. Have a great time and I look
forward to the 35th. Love Fi
Christina Cicconi -
Saturday, January 19, 2008 6:54 PM
I was so excited about the book club reunion, but sadly
I am just not going to be able to come. I put off
finally deciding till now hoping I would manage to sort
things out here in time, but its just not possible.
I am half way through the book and I hope to send
comments. I do you all will have a wonderful time.
Please give my love to everyone.
Christina
Gillian Bennett - Tuesday,
January 15, 2008 1:02 PM
Dear Margie, It all sounds greast and I do so wish
I could be with you! Have a great weekend and give
a kiss to Rosemarie for me!
The internet is very on off here in the village, so in
haste while its on I attach the letter I sent to my kids
last weekend. Pots og love to all of you,
Jill
Liz Hopkins -
Sunday, December 02, 2007 1:15 PM
Margie, Margie Margie!!
I have been agonising as to how I could possibly come to
Rome (unfortunately not Rome but La Selva !) It
has just come at such a hectic time in my
life - I just do not think I can!!
I would so love to see you and the few others who I
still know......Would love to have a report on the
entire event
I realise that the book club was kind of
Rose-mary's idea which I was enthusiastic about
and pushed onto you and off it went.... we
are.definitely founder members.....BUT I have been away
for so long and feel quite a few of the ladies I
do not know any more.....if I ever did!
and have not really been in touch - not that
,that should matter!
It would be such fun - and I agree 30 years
is quite something.....sadly I cannot make it!
Lots of love Liz
RoseMarie Clarke - Friday,
April 20, 2007 4:11 PM
I am still deeply engrossed in the Noam Chomsky
book....about half way through! Sometimes I want to put
it aside never to open it again-it's all too much
hideous information, even if only a few of the claims he
makes are true.......On top of that, a FrontPage Article
by David Horowitz called "The Sick Mind Of Noam Chomsky"
that I read through as a kind of balancing attempt
managed to cause total confusion in my mind. There are,
however, one or two clear questions in my mind: how oh
earth does anyone want to become a so-called
world-leader? Unless their only aim is to
gain power and they have no serious intention to sort
the mess out that we are in?? There doesn't seem to be a
way out.....N-O-B-O-D-Y in their right mind could
possibly believe that there is a true workable political
solution to all the problems that have been piling up
into a seemingly insurmountable heap! It isn't as if one
could come in and say: ok, let's start all over again
from the beginning like in any other "game"! In this one
the "players" would never be able to agree on "the
beginning"!!!! I have also come to the conclusion
that it is not a surprise that individual people feel
politically totally impotent and powerless: reading
Chomsky's book leaves one gagging. How and what could we
possibly engage in now to make a difference? I get the
feeling that somewhere along the line we have not paid
enough attention, that we were lulled into a kind of
false security, that we didn't stay alert to the wider
political implications because our own lives seemed
comfortable enough...that we got doped by the big
propaganda machine.
Wished I could be there tonight! Mind our two American
members....they are not "Bush" ...be kind to them!!!
:-):-):-):-) It must be hard enough for them to sit
through all the sparks that will probably be flying. And
remember: the rest of the world's countries are by no
means innocent. They all hang in there in one way or
another! Love RM
RoseMarie Clarke - Sunday,
April 08, 2007 4:42 PM
Happy Easter to all my book club friends!Just a quick
"hello" to let you know that I am still alive and
kicking. I can't believe that only a month and a bit has
passed since my departure from Italy! So much has been
happening that I still feel totally shell-shocked about
the move and the dismantling of my former life and at
the same time the immediate take-over by my new
existence.... very weird, indeed, and very
thought-provoking at the same time. Needless to say that
I miss you all :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( :-( ...I
miss Castel Gandolfo, too, with its people and the
square and the delicious cappuccino!!! However, the
weather has been beautiful here, so I can't complain
about that :-) Yet some tears of sadness and
nostalgia have been shed :-( during some quiet moments!
Julia is spending 12 days with us for her Easter break,
and I must say, that fetching her home this time was so
easy: no more flights and no more endless driving hours!
Lawrence is loving every minute of his freedom. I don't
think he has spent any time at all thinking of FAO: the
house and the garden are fully occupying his mind right
now and he is dreaming of his model airplanes waiting to
be flown....only my list of chores is endless, and other
activities have so far prevented him from indulging in
this former hobby of his. I know that there is a saying
that once you stop working you won't have time for
anything....there really is some truth in it. Although
we still get up at the crack of dawn (old habits die
hard!), at the end of the day we can't help feeling that
there should be a few more hours in a day......
I have had a fine for speeding, so far: 15 Euros, for
doing 57 through a village instead of 50! I was so
p....d off, but will pay, of course. Don't want to spend
the rest of my life in solitary confinement :-):-):-)
Otherwise people here are very friendly, indeed. Thank
God I get treated a little bit like an oddity being
married to an English man and having lived most of my
life abroad. Nobody expects me to behave totally German
(yet!!!) and I hope I can carry on in this
"no-mans-land" for a while. After all one has to have
some time to adjust.
Hope you are all well and have been able to enjoy your
Easter break. It's still difficult for me to believe
that you are there and I am here, because I can still
feel the presence of all of you so strongly! Your Alessi
lemon squeezer has found its firm place in my kitchen
and is permanently in use. Thank you so much
again....and Dominique's "funny-face" sugar bowl gets
just as much attention: it's full of sugar cubes and
always good for a surprise!
Big hug to all of you and stay well!
Lots of Love, RM
Maria Longo -
Monday, April 02, 2007 2:23 PM
many thanks for keeping me in the mailing list of the
book club. I am not receiving it as "spam" It is lovely
to have news and get to the web pages to read re the
books of the month..
Please keep me in the list.
A very Happy and Peaceful Easter to you and your family
Maria
Fiona Morrison -
Sunday, February 25, 2007 1:22 PM
I love these monthly missives -they are what keeps
the pulse of Italy ticking in me! Thank you for doing it
year after year! Can't believe the founder of the Book
Club - Rosemarie is about to finally leave Italy. Is she
planning to return for Book Club evenings? If not - we
must continue to have gatherings of all members VERY
regularly. Give my love to everyone. Love Fi
Maria Longo -
Monday, December 11, 2006 9:24 AM
Dear Margie,
thanks for keeping me informed, it is nice to be part of
the club even if I cannot
participate.
Many years have gone by but the memories of lovely
evenings with you and other
members of it are still with me.
Happy Xmas and a joyful 2007 to you and your family and
to al the members of the club,
love Maria
Fiona Morrison - Saturday,
December 09, 2006 10:52 AM
HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE!! Margie- the Book Club
website is a lifeline! I always enjoy reading the
reports of the evenings, pinch some ides for my much
more staid Book Club here in muddy Buckinghamshire and
always feel I am in touch with all of you. Am planning
to come and join you for a book club discussion some
time this year. Do I find the dates on the website or
can you let me have them?
Lots of love and lots of good things for 2007
from Tom and me.
Dominique - Monday, December
11, 2006 9:29 AM
Dear all
Merry Xmas and all the best for the new year 2007
Love
Dominique
Froukje - Sunday, December
10, 2006 3:17 PM
Thanks Margie and a good and serene December month for
all!
Froukje
Fiona Morrison - venerdì 7
luglio 2006 18.19
HAPPY SUMMER to all of you from me too!!! xxxxxFi
Diane - Monday,
May 03, 2004 7:02 PM
Dear Book Club,
As it happens I read The Dante Club last month and loved
it. I first read Dante when I was a student
at Berkeley a million years ago and then audited a
course at the University of Colorado in 94. So I’m
a Dante fan and as I am also a mystery lover, this
book was ideal for me.
There are a couple of things that jumped out at me
as an American now back living in the USA and in New
England specifically. When I was growing up in
California and later living in Italy, I though of
Puritanism as some sort of quaint thing of the distant
past. Wow, was I wrong. It’s still
here underneath (and, according to me, causing
havoc). Politicians are always talking in hallowed
tones of our “founding fathers” as though they were the
most perfect of men whose ideas were the
best ever and must be revered. To be honest, they
did have a lot of good ideas and there is much in our
constitution and culture that is good. But what
about witch trials, slavery, and I could go on. I
had never thought about it one way or the other but I
was dumbfounded to read that there could be objections
to publishing and selling “The Divine Comedy” in the
USA. What a bunch of prudes!! Also, what
about the ugliness of attitudes towards Italians and the
Irish. Hardly something for Bostonians to be
proud of.
On the other hand, I thought it was great fun that
Longfellow especially but also the other writers were
such important personalities in Boston and Cambridge and
that people recognized them and wanted their
autographs. Back in the early 1900s novelist Edith
Wharton, who was from a high society New York family,
said she was too intellectual for New York and too
fashionable for Boston. In a number of ways the
two cities still have those personalities and once when
I was waiting for Lara near the Harvard campus I struck
up a conversation with a complete stranger and almost
immediately we found ourselves talking about
books.
Helle, I think of you often and wonder how you are
doing. Such wonderful memories of the
reunion. And Colin was so dear to all of us.
Tatiana, I tried to send you an email about a year
ago but it kept getting spit back. I liked your
book very much and it is now out on a “pick a book to
read” shelf in one of the classrooms at the Middle
School where I volunteer. Thanks so much for
having your people send me a copy. What I really
wish is that the school would buy a bunch of copies, but
at least you know that once in a while some kid picks it
up and reads it. And I understand one teacher read
it aloud to her whole class.
I wish I had been there for “The Life of
Py”. I think you were much too nice to the book
and to zoos and you needed me there to rant and rave
about wild animal staying wild and not being
tamed.
Best to all of you. I know I’m a bad
correspondent, but I do check the site and read lots of
your books.
Ciao, Diane
Fiona Morrison - Monday,
April 05, 2004 8:54 AM
HAPPY EASTER TO ALL OF YOU FROM ALL OF US and special
thank yous to Margy for persevering with sending the
news of the Castelli Book Club to all of us overseas
readers.Lots of love, Fi
Christina Cicconi -
lunedì 31 marzo 2003 16.48
Dear all, Thank you so much for the booklet and your
kind messages. I was so terribly sorry not to be with
you all for what sounded like a fabulous weekend. We are
just back from visiting Alice and family in
California. My mother is coming shortly to stay
with us here for a few weeks after which we hope, at
last, to visit Italy again.Thanks Margie for keeping us
up to date with all the books you are reading, I really
appreciate it even though I never get round to sending
comments.
With love, Christina
Jill - giovedì
20 marzo 2003 19.55
Everyone....This is a letter from Jill from Malawi. I
have eliminated her e mail address as I think it
shouldn't be published on the web....have included it in
my email so anyone who wants to can drop her a
line.....
I am missing friends ands family more than I can say,
but I am fine and have enough social contact to avoid
depression so far! Malawians are quite delightful
and I am hugely impressed by the many highly educated
professionals I come across. Across the board they
are quite the most courteous and friendly people I have
met, seeming to have an instinctive sense of decorum and
quiet civility in the way they greet each other. Even
those emerging from their simple mud huts automatically
shake hands and conduct a delightful early morning
dialogue involving enquiries as to how you slept and how
you feel now. First week of work this week, following
our week's orientation in the capital, Lilongwe, during
which time we were gently led into the deprivations of a
volunteer's life staying as we did in a fairly scruffy
college along with the local students, with typically
disgusting loos and dubious smells - a very
far cry from your usual expat lifestyle! First
lessons in Tumbuka - with great confidence I can
say 'Muli uli!' which means 'How are you?' but am
floored by the effusive replies.
A 06.30 departure from my little house in the hills (
yes can you believe it, I'm back to a 05.30 wake up
call!) to walk the little path which takes me down to
the town five km away - through the maize fields where
the corn really is 'as high as an elephant's eye', over
little makeshift log bridges crossing little streams,
across open hillside and down through the wood to
finally after 45 minutes arrive at Mzuzu, then through a
scruffy area of town with open stalls selling everything
under the sun and over to the Education Division
Building in the smarter side of town to arrive exactly
an hour after setting off! Somewhat nervously I
arrive at the main entrance wondering what awaits
me. After about 10 minutes hanging about I am
welcomed by someone who seems to know who I am and from
then on I am introduced to everyone and anyone and it's
always 'Hello, how are you? You are most welcome!'
The word welcome is sung at me at least 20 times a day
and it's lovely!! There are 2 other new Malawian
members of our Inspection team so we make up a team of
7: however there are about 40 people working in our
building. The actual building is typically dirty
and scruffy (rather reminds me of the Italian USL
offices, and certainly is very like government offices
in Brunei) but the individual offices are
pleasant, bright and quite well furnished. The only
other female on our team, Maggie, had obviously decided
that the ladies' toilet needed upgrading I suspect in my
honour so there was much changing of labels and keys and
in fact the ladies is perfectly civilised by Malawi
standards. I shall have my own office with telephone
eventually. I shall be fine working there even if
the hours are diabolically long: 07.30 - 17.00.
However one can escape fairly easily to shop and take a
long lunch hour if necessary, though I always have to
let one of the team know if I'm going out.
Most of this week has been spent opening Bank accounts,
electricity and water board accounts etc An
astonishing lack of bureaucracy in every area - the
Italians could learn something. All transactions
achieved quickly, simply and without fuss. Would you
believe a bank transfer even from England is
immediate. I can pay in a LLoyds Bank cheque and
it is at once credited, same for transfers from Lilongwe
to Mzuzu - same day. Milan to Rome 3 or 4 if you
are lucky! At the moment I seem to be
spending like there is no tomorrow in order to equip my
very basic accommodation, but in fact have to check my
self when I realise that I am getting frightfully
agitated over spending 200 Mawali kwacha on something
which is in fact the equivalent of £1.50!
Living on £100 a month is certainly going to be a lesson
in life skills. Soon I shall be doing my 'teaching
practice' : 2 weeeks in a local school observing
and teaching so I know what I shall be advising and
inspecting!Please carry on writing to me, your letters
are giving me huge pleasure and now that I am 'on line'
I shall reply individually. Pots of love to
you! Jill
Tine - giovedì
27 febbraio 2003 23.36
Dear Margie,
VERY well done! Really a piece of art. I hope to get a
little spare time now that I finished writing the
bookstore's news letter, so that I 'll send you some of
my pictures if you like, although I don't think you
missed much exept Siena.
I'll try to be quick. Thank you for the web work, it's
lovely.
Love, Tine
Fiona Morrison -
sabato 22 febbraio 2003 18.18
What an unforgettable weekend. Next time, Christina,you
have to be there. Lots of great photos to prove we were
there! Thank you Margy and Rosemarie for all your hard
work and thank you Diane for making such a huge effort
to fly half way across the world to be with all your
fellow wrinklies for the weekend. I think we all mad
memories!! A joll adjunct to the happy weekend - Laura
was proposed to in the Piazza di Spagna by her boyfriend
of 8 years on that Sunday evening; extraordinarily, she
accepted - always said she would be a serial
monogomist!!!- but has gone very broody and content with
the prospect of being Mrs Weeks for ever - and we have
the prospect of a fabulous son in law. They hope to get
married from home (eeeeek!!) sometime towards the
end of the summer. Lots of love to everyone, Fi
Jessica - giovedì 20 febbraio
2003 11.11
Dear all,
I received your card this morning and was very touched
by all the compliments and thank
yous! It is wonderful to get such feedback and since it
is such a rare thing with most 'clients'
I really appreciate it. A big
*THANK YOU* to everyone!
I am happy to hear the weekend was a success and send
best wishes to all.
To the next 25 years!
love Jessica
Jill Bennett - lunedì
17 febbraio 2014 15.12
Margie, Thank you so much for chairing our superb
weekend at Helle's. I was thrilled to be with you
all and to feel once again that wonderful bonding
between everyone - it truly shows what twenty-five years
of sisterhood can achieve! I hope that you had a
safe journey home. I've just arrived back home and
having collected the dogs from their kennels can now
wallow in those wonderful Tuscan memories over a cup of
coffee.
With great affection, Jill B.
Tine - domenica
16 febbraio 2003 23.58
Back again at home after a quiet flight. Thank you again
for all the arrangements you made for me, for bringing
me back in time and for the good company. I'll treasure
the memories of this weekend. If ever you are in
Amsterdam, you're most welcome to stay. Hope to hear
from you after the next meeting,
Love,Tine
Helle - martedì 28 gennaio
2003 16.46
Dear Margery, Have heard from
Jill Bouchiere and she will be coming. Have you
any news on arrival of Diane Quiint? Looking
forward....glad to say our preparations are going
well.
Love Helle.
Helle - mercoledì
15 gennaio 2003 9.55
Dear Friends,
Thanks Margey for your em. We are pressing
ahead to make sure all the beds will be ready and
the houses warm for our weekend. We will be
expecting everyone to turn up for a " Tuscan
Lunch" on Saturday 15th at 1300hrs and supper
etc would be at 2000hrs when we would all discauss
"the Little Prince"no doubt long into the
night.. Between times, according
to fancy, some may wish to visit and
enjoy the surrounds. It is about 35mins to
Siena and 20 mins to Montalcino or
Bagno Vignoni for example. I daresay we will
have an easy morning together on the Sunday and be
ready for lunch at one. There will be no need to
hurry! how great it is that
Diane Q, Tina R and Fi M are definitely coming
and we can hope also Jilly B, Christina C and
Jill Ben will also make it. There will be
beds made ready for all these honoured guests and
you others can bring your bed linen and eiderdowns (we
have pillows and beds for about fourteen in
total). Let's know if there are any other
suggestions.
Love , Helle.
Inge - Friday,
December 27, 2002 2:24 PM
Hi Rosemarie,
Thank you for your mail and Margie's mail I received as
well. Unfortunately I cannot tell you right now whether
I will be present or not. I am
actually on the waitinglist for a minor operation which
might happen in january or later. It would be nice when
I could combine the two going to Holland or coming back.
It would be a lovely combination. As soon as I know I
will let you know.
Well, we keep in touch and wish you a very happy and
healthy 2003.
Love, Inge
Diane - venerdì
20 dicembre 2002 20.54
Dear Margery,
Alitalia is offering a good deal for flights to Roma
right now for all who book before Dec 23. So,
before I make reservations and pay could you be kind
enough to let me know if Feb 15 and 16 still stand as
the reunion dates? Also, anything you would
like me to bring you?? Can I hook a ride from Roma
area to Helle's with you or someone??
I'm excited about going to Roma and seeing you
all. People here are envious and when I talk about
my "book club in Rome" and "our reunion in Tuscany",
they think I led this fabulously glamorous life.
So…see you soon, glamour girls.
In the meantime, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to
all.
Diane Quint
Christina Cicconi -
sabato 30 novembre 2002 11.32
Dear Margie,
We have once again changed our e-mail address! Lets hope
this one will work better. I would love to come to the
anniversay in February but will let you know nearer the
time. We are coming to Italy tomorrow for 10 days but
will be mostly around Florence.
Look forward to seeing you all hopefully in February
love, Christina
Fiona Morrison - martedì 26
novembre 2002 0.46
Dear Margy, It's a wonderful idea and I am certainly
planning to come. Happy Thanksgiving too- bit late.
Fiona
Tatiana - martedì 8 ottobre
2002 10.04
Dear Everybody
Re: the anniversary - if I may I'd like to second
Helle's suggestion. I like the idea of being together
someplace more homey than hotely, and there are
certainly superbly beautiful places around there we can
visit and enjoy. So I vote for Helle's place since
she has so generously offered. See you all the 16th,
Tatiana
Eva - mercoledì
9 ottobre 2002 19.18
Dear Margie,
My opinion about our anniversary is that I would rather
prefer a place like Helles although I don't dare
to expect Helle to "take care" of all of us. But
going to Venice - so beautiful it is, especially in
February, - might create problems . For me it seems
quite complicated to stay there with a big group
like us : it is already complicated for us to
fix a day for our next bookclubmeeting and in
Venice I see us discussing for hours and hours where to
go and when and why....In a place like Helles we are all
under one roof and can shift from one to the other as we
like.
This my suggestion but I am very happy with Venice as
well.
Love from Eva to all of you
Fiona Morrison - martedì 9
luglio 2002 9.12
Dear Margy, Please count me in for any reunion anywhere
in Jan or Feb. If I can do anything from this end, let
me know.
Love Fi
Tine - lunedì
8 luglio 2002 7.15
Dear Margery,
What fun you are planning for us already again! I
usually never look so far ahead in time, but I now can
say that my calender is still empty in January. I would
love to join you again, though I secretly hoped that you
would choose Helle's place as I have never seen that and
you seem to have had a wonderful time there. Anyway,time
permitting I 'll join you anywhere you decide, within
reason.
Also, I do still read the books and your comments as
much as possible. Enjoyed The Red Tent enormously and
will start on Ravelstein soon. I'll try to send my
thoughts on it.
Wish you a lovely summer, I've had my vacation already,
so I'll be the only one left in Holland to be working.
Love, Tine.
RoseMarie - venerdì
5 luglio 2002 7.18
Dear Margie & all!
Since I have never been to Venezia I would love to put
my name down for that suggestion.
January or February would be ok as far as I am
concerned, but I would try to
make any date possible because I wouldn't want to miss
the event! Have a lovely summer
and happy reading! Love RoseMarie
Jill - domenica
24 febbraio 2002 21.41
Dear Margie,
Thanks for including me in your mailing still. I
really appreciate that you
haven't completely knocked me off! I'll be getting
the books and reading them
anyway. I really enjoyed Drowning Ruth, I wonder what your reactions
were? Pots of love and best wishes to all of
you.
Jill
Fiona Morrison - lunedì 28
gennaio 2002 11.54
It is very touching that you should persist in sending
me all details of the Book Club. It is wonderful for me
and I don't deserve it because I don't think I have ever
responded. Just know that it is great and much
appreciated.
I do also have a hotmail address - see this one.
Probably better to email me via that because things
sometimes get mislaid enroute to or from Tom! Always planning to do a flying
visit to Rome but haven't yet found a good moment. Our
time in Prishtina is flying by and now the end is in
sight, I am really enjoying it. Nothing to do apart from
work and read. It's very good having a minimum of
possessions and spending lots of time with Tom - more
than we ever have I think. Life is very simple and
satisfying in the sense that one actually sees results
of whatever we are both doing quite quickly. The
Kosovars are lovely; I have a very good bunch in Save
the Children - all incredibly young. Average age in
Kosova is 25ish.
Anyway, hope this year I can join up with you all again
at a book club evening.Love to everyone.
Fiona
Tine - Sunday,
April 01, 2001 2:10 PM
Thank you for faithfully sending the new books of the
group to me every month. You must have changed the april
date quite a bit! Here I was, racing to finish the book
in time for your meeting, determined to be in time for
once and all of a sudden I receive the date for the next
meeting! The book looks very interesting, but I was also
looking forward to hearing how you all had liked the
Harry Potter book!
I know I am in no position to complain, but I do miss
the accounts of your discussions on the web. It ìs a lot
of work of course, but very much appreciated (hint,
hint)...
I must tell you that only thanks to you I finally
started on the Harry Potters having sold (I work in Beth
Johnsons lovely general book store nearby, Margery)
about a thousand of them, but not wanting to join the
hype (can you say that?). I can now see the fascination
it hold for kids and adults alike. Haven't finished it
yet but certainly will now. Anxious to hear your
comments. Will start on M the moment it comes from the
importer.
Hope to hear from you again, keep up the good work
Love,Tine
Christina Cicconi -
venerdì 26 gennaio 2001 17.18
Hope all is well with you and your family.
I was editing my bookmarks and inadvertantly clicked in
the wrong place and all my
Italian bookmarks disappeared including the most
important - Castelli Book Club -
can you send me the address? Although I am a hopeless correspondent I do
enjoy reading all your comments. Our bookclub
here is going fairly well though we haven't had any good
books lately.
love to all, Christina
Evelyn - giovedì
14 dicembre 2000 0.25
At least one little message from me: a very happy
Christmas and prosperous 2001to you too!
I do have a bad conscience, because I never seem to get
round to reading THE BOOK - either I'm away, or reading
something else, or having guests, or being away
again......You know, retired (semi-retired) people
nowadays are difficult to pin down, they're busy all the
time! And personally I find the nicest thing about
a book club is to discuss a book face to face -
electronically it's not even half the fun, no direct
interaction! But quite apart from this, my new life
in Vienna makes me read a lot of books by writers
north of the Alps which I didn't even know existed, so I
can talk about them with my friends without looking
silly. I'm trying to catch up a little on the time
I spent abroad (most of my life!).
Having said this I don't mind at all continuing to
receive your e-mails. One never knows....! If you
don't mind having a "silent" reader....
Best regards,
Evelyn
Tine - Saturday,
October 14, 2000 8:40 PM
Dear Bookclub members,
Happy to hear from you again! I have been wondering
if the malfunctioning of our e-mail been the
reason why I hadn't heard from you during
this summer and fall. Apparently not. I'm happy that I
already read the new title four years ago so I
won't be in a stress to read it before the 26th. By what
I remember of it, it's a rather poetic, philosophical
work which reminded me a bit of 'Le petit Prince' by St.
Exupery; a little naif and idealistic, but captivating
as well. I am very interested to hear the outcome of
your discussions.
I wish you all an interesting evening!
Love, Tine.
Diane - Wednesday,
June 07, 2000 10:45 PM
Dear Margie and Book Club,
By coincidence I read House of Sand and Fog a couple of
months ago and I thinkit was a great choice for the
club. I thought the writer was so good at the art
of storytelling -- it builds and builds and you just
know something is going to happen. I found that
each character sometimes aroused my sympathy nd
sometimes aggravated me. There is so much in
the book that you can talk about and I'm sure you will
have a good discussion. One theme which
particularly struck me was the importance and impact of
communication -- or the lack of it-- in our
lives. So many times in the book, if someone had
said something different at a certain moment everything
would have changed.
I am volunteering this week at the Newport International
Film Festival. Not exactly Cannes but kind of
fun. Have a nice summer everyone and thanks for
keeping in touch.
Love, Diane
Tine - Sunday,
May 28, 2000 4:37 PM
Dear Book Club Members and especially Margery,
Thank you for sending all your information on the books
to read. I always enjoy your choice an d usually buy the
books, but I find that the urge to finish them is not as
strong as when I would be attending your meetings.
Of the last five books I particularly liked 'The
Archivist', beautiful!. 'Angela's Ashes' has been very
well known in our whole family, since daughter Anneke
recommended it to us in '96 (?), when she had to read it
for one of her classes in university in Colorado.
MacCourts second book 'Tis' rather disappointed us
though.
The new book intriges me because I haven't seen it
around yet, so I'll order it straight away tomorrow
morning when I get back to work in the bookstore, which
takes up more and more of my time.
One book, I am surprised you haven't suggested yet, I
would like to recommend to you as Italy dwellers: it is
Jacqueline Park's 'The Secret Book of Grazia dei Rossi',
which concerns the life of Grazia, the secretary to
Isabella d'Este, daughter of a Jewish banker and secret
lover of a Christian prince in Renaissance Italy and all
the complications this gives.
I haven't yet finished the book, but it is very well
written and the author clearly did a lot of research on
the subject.
Well, hope to hear more from you later in the month,
Love,Tine.
Liz - Wednesday,
April 26, 2000 6:20 AM
Read Angela's ashes and loved it, Mark
Hopkins worked on the Paramount film production
of the book - and should you go
and see it wait to the credits and you will
see Mark's name !!! ( I haven't seen the film yet).
lots of love Liz
Maria Longo - martedì 7 marzo
2000 17.38
Many thanks for keeping us informed on the wherabouts of
the Bookclub. Unfortunately I
was unable to read any of the books that were chosen by
you. As a matter of fact I have
been unable to read! But I still hope to manage one day
or the other.....I have been very busy both at home and
at work. till I am well and running around!!!! hope will be able to write more
next time.Have a nice time.
Ciao for now, Maria
Fiona Morrison
giovedì 10 febbraio 2000 8.09
Despite the fact that I never respond to the Castelli
Book Club News, I really look forward to your
communications. I saw Christina last week and resolved
to be more active. 'Cod' she says is a good read so will
introduce it into my rather sedate and elderly book club
here. Hope you are all well.
Love to everyone. Fi
Diane - sabato
22 gennaio 2000 16.11
Dear Book Club,
Hello and a very happy New Year to all of you. We
are leaving in about an hour for a two week trip to
Mexico --Mayan villages and ruins, pretty Colonial sytle
towns and beautiful beaches of the Yucatan. As it
has been bitter cold, snowy and icy here the last week
we are ready! A local library
was nice enough to search around for a copy of the Dream
book for me until they found it in a library at a
college in Connecticutt and got it on loan. Wasn't
that nice? I found the writing sort of hypnotic
(goes withthe theme). What I mean is I would get
angry with our doctor who seemed to me to think he was
such hot stuff -- but at the same time I was caught up
in his adventures and kept reading on to see what would
happen next. The idea of separating fantasy from
reality is much in the news here now with talk about the
influence of violent movies and video games on young
people. At least in the good old Freud days people
seemed to be hooked on love and sex rather than guns and
blood.
I'll be interested to read your thoughts on the book.
Love, Diane
Diane - martedì
30 novembre 1999 21.49
Dear Book Club,
Before I comment on ‘Paradise" I want to pass on the
name of a book I just read, for individual reading or
for the bookclub if somebody is stuck for ideas in the
coming months. It is "Corelli’s Mandolin" by Louis de
Bernieres.Also, Bert tells me he noticed there was an
amazon uk listing on the internet. Is that a way you
could order books?
I’m glad a Toni Morrison book was selected, because I’ve
been meaning to read one but hadn’t gotten around to it.
I found "Paradise" a most interesting and complex book
and I thought the writing and use of language was great.
I liked its humanity and I liked it that it didn’t offer
cut and dried easy answers. I liked some things about
the town and disliked others and the same was true of my
feelings for many individual characters. I was a bit
lazy about keeping straight individuals and their
stories (which name went with which story) but I was
left with a lot of impressions and thoughts. I wish I
could hear your discussion. The various interpretations
of the phrase on the Oven were a good way, I thought, to
show the way blacks in the USA think about themselves
has changed and continues to do so…from "Beware the
Furrow of his Brow" (respect for but also submission to
God, the man of the family, the power of establishment
and rules, to "Be the Furrow" (black power, black is
beautiful). And I found the idea of whether it is better
for any group to isolate itself or go out into the world
and mix it up interesting to ponder. I panic at the idea
of isolation and while I enjoy my quiet, tranquill world
with pretty, changing views I love our trips to NY and
my rides on the subway with all kinds of different
people getting on and off. I find the fact that there is
a "world out there" exciting, invigorating, wonderful……
For me it is beautiful, not frightening or evil.
"Paradise" was a selection of the Oprah Winfrey Book
Club (Margery can explain this one) and I found some
sugested reading and discussion questions on the web.
Too long to give you all of them but here are a few:
--When Patricia tells Richard Misner that "Slavery is
our past" (page 212), he insists that "We live in the
world…The whole world." Which of them is right?
--Is it fair to say that the people of Ruby have
perpetuated racism in the town that was supposed to be a
haven from it? If so, in what does the town"s racism
consist?
--What does Paradise mean within the context of the
book? "How exquisitively human was the wish for
permanent happiness, and how thin human imagination
became trying to achieve it," thinks Misner. Does
Morrison imply that it is impossible to create a
Paradise on earth?
I will be interested to read your comments. Best to all.
Diane
Tine - venerdì
22 ottobre 1999 23.20
Is there anything wrong with the web site or the
bookclub itself? I have been trying to reach the web
site for 2 months now but haven't succeeded. Are you
still continuing the club? If yes I would like to hear
the title of the next book as I would like to keep up
with you.
Please send me a short message if you are busy.
Hope all is well!
Love,Tine Reijmerink.
Helle - mercoledì
15 settembre 1999 20.36
Greetings-hope you have had a good summer. Ours
has been a busy one, what with
house lets and thus enforced holidays to nice parts of
Europe. The most recent
trip spanned over five weeks beginning with a visit to
Jill Bouchiere's in
Normandy-delightful. We then crossed to GB
starting off in Cornwall and
Devon. On route North we had a lovely sojourn with
Christina and Pino- they have
indeed landed on their feet and we felt very happy to be with them. Our holiday
continued visiting friends and finally ending up with Colin's mother for two
weeks. We were lucky to be able to see her into her home again after seven weeks in
hospital and convalesence home following
an operation on a broken femur. Thus I
havn't managed to read your book though
to be truthful even with several attempts have been
unable to get into it.
Sorry-Further i shall not be in Rome for the Bookclub as
we shall have guests staying and
are having to go to Rome the following week. Perhaps there will be a chance to
meet then. I have tried to contact
Gillian but with no luck.
Helle
Christina Cicconi -
lunedì 20 settembre 1999 21.17
On looking at the website I see the bookclub is tomorrow
night. I bought the book and
started to read it but I must say I found it very heavy
going and what with all the activities going on here I
came to a grinding halt. I will
be most interested to read about your discussion and maybe I will be enthused to
have another go.
Love to you all. I hope to be over in November.
Christina
Evelyn - domenica
6 giugno 1999 9.59
Hi Margery!
Nice to read you, after all those years! Maria sent me a
message about the book club and the possibility to take
part via e-mail. I think it's a great idea. I must say
I'm very busy at the moment - until end July, because
I'm working on a project with ESA, and then I may be off
to see my daughter in Brasil (she's been married and
living there for the last 6 years! How time flies...).
So maybe this book I'll have to skip (I will try and buy
it, though).
But can you keep me on the list, and also
tell me at which address on the web one can read
the comments on previous books, as you mention? That
would be interesting. Wish you a very nice summer!
Regards. Evelyn
Tine - martedì
1 giugno 1999 22.32
Dear Bookclub,
Although I didn't finish this month' book, I 'll
try to send you my feelings about it BEFORE your
meeting tomorrow evening.
Well, my opinion about the book as literature is not too
high; the writing style seems to me rather short,
distant and faltering, which makes it hard to enter into
the authors' feelings. It almost seems as if she didn't
have any feelings at all about anything she experienced.
I couldn't help comparing "Siberian Dream" with last
month' book, which also told the life story of a woman
growing up in a - to me- rather onknown culture. Both
ended in the United States, but Sayuri in "Memoirs of a
Geisha" brought her background with her, whereas Irina
left it all behind and lost it in the process.
I hope I will soon be able to read your comments and see
what was your opinion on the book.
Bye for now,Tine.
Diane - giovedì
20 maggio 1999 18.58
Dear Book Club,
I love the web site...please don't take it away! I
read all the books and your comments and appreciate
veery much the time and effort you take to share your
thoughts and reactions. I am so sorry I havent
sentany reaction or comments recently. We have
been spending a lot of time in New York (helping an ill
friend), and though I faithfully carried the books back
and forth and fully intended to send comments, we always
seemed to end up in NY when your discussion evening
approached.
Fairly often I mention to some friend or relative the
book the club is reading. I talked a lot about the
dwarf book and about Poisonwood to various people, and
as a lot of friends are reading Geisha it will be fun to
pass on your comments. Please, never feel
silly. Your words are not disappearing into space
but being read with interest here in Rhode Island (often
with me agreeing or disagreeing aloud, which worries the
cat as she looks around to see whom I am talking
to). I promise I will be better about sending you
feedback morer often.
Love to all of you,
Diane
Maria Longo - lunedì
17 maggio 1999 10.43
Thanks for your note. it must be really frustrating for
you not to receive comments from all of us and I quite
understand your feelings.
I am sorry i do not manage to contribute more to the
book club with comments. Unfortunately though i keep
reading yours many times I did not manage to either buy
or read the book. I do try but then time flies and......
I, just for your info sent the last note to Evelyn, who
now has an e- mail.
Please do NOT delete my name from your list!!!!! Of
course if it is a decision of the Club members not to
take to burden of writing comments and to keep the site
I will accept your decision
I only wish I had more time to spare the experience of
books reading with you all.
Give all my best love and appreciation for all the
effort to all members. Please keep in touch,
ciao for now, Maria
Tine - sabato
15 maggio 1999 21.40
I feel terrible that I didn't write my comments on the
last two books, because I missed the date you were
discussing them, although I read and enjoyed them.
Tomorrow, when I've more time I'll answer your
questionnaire, but please don't stop the home page; I do
enjoy and always read it, of course!
Bye for now,
Tine Reijmerink.
Colin - sabato
15 maggio 1999 17.13
We have just received your em's and also have visited
the Web Page. Congratulations. I am sorry if we
have been less than responsive for some time. We
have indeed had a vey rough spell getting the system
operating here. It transpired we ahd a faulty line
and then there was a virus that had been mbedded on a
start-up disk that meant we could not get the internet
going. With a lot of help such difficulties have
been addressed and no doubt we shall be using the
facilities more: and we will need tolearn a lot to
to get the best out of the facility.
We will be away quite a lot as from 22 May but will have
a laptop with us and by that I hope Helle will be able
to keep in touch with help from me as she is still a
"computor embryo"!
I'm printing the stuff out for her off the Web:
and there is obviously much of it (it's still
printing!. Will get back once Helle has read it.
Hope we shall see you up here soon as the chance
comes. our best regards
Colin
Christina Cicconi -
Wednesday, April 14, 1999 8:42 PM
On seeing the size of Poisonwood Bible I feared I would
never finish it, however once I started I couldn't put
it down. The first thing that came to my mind was that
the author didn't seem to have any background in Africa
yet she speaks with such authority on the horrors of
colonialism in Congo. She paints a picture of a
population kept in semi slavery by the Belgians. I would
like to think there were good points as well as bad as
with other colonial powers.
Unfortunately my copy of the book has already
disappeared in the general confusion
reigning here - things appear then disappear again in an
amazing way - the first book I unpacked was the
Inferno which I had been searching for for over a year
in Rome. I had wanted to reread the reason for the
father's guilt. As I remember it his comrades went to
their death through no fault of his. Why was he so
paranoid about his cowardice?
Of all the characters I had most sympathy for the mother
- what an impossible situation. Mad husband,
children against her, impossible living conditions and
no easy escape. Hope you had a
good discussion I'll look forward to reading your
comments.
I miss you all
Christina
Tine - lunedì 15 febbraio
1999 16.47
Dear Bookclub members,
What an interesting book you found again for us to read,
although I'm still not sure
about my own reactions to it.
- Did I think the main character "Alex" foolish or
touching? I could clearly see
the dilemma's the boy was fighting within himself; I
could understand his intensity and his urge to be free,
but not the way he handled it. As a mother I could not
imagine how I would have reacted to his disappearance,
and could not feel that he had any right to inflict this
pain on his family, although things had gone wrong there
from the start. I wept for the horrid way he came to his
end, just at the moment he had -probably - made
peace with himself and his loved ones.But, I still got
irritated at the unnecessariness of his death and
Alexis' naivety in thinking he could be master of the
wilderness.
- Did I enjoy the excursions the author took into other
people's lifes disturbing or contributing to the story?
Sometimes I felt the author just added the stories of
Rosellini, Ruess, Watermann and the writers' own
experience to fill up the book to a fullsize novel,
sometimes I really thought them a valuable contribution,
especially the account of Krakauer's ascent of the
Devil's Thumb, where you could feel the author's
involvement.
As you can see, this really is a book I would have liked
to discuss with you and I'm looking very much forward to
hear your comments. Have a nice evening and an
interesting discussion,
Bye, Tine.
PS. I will be in Rome from the 6th till the 15th of
March. You would not by any chance be gathering for the
next book in that period, would you? If so, may I join
you?
Jill Bennett - venerdì 19
febbraio 1999 1.28
Can't wait to read 'The Poisonwood........' Did
you receive my last .mail? Am
hoping to see Christina in the next few days with a
view to starting a Wessex Book Club,
Love, J.B. xxxxx
Tine - giovedì
21 gennaio 1999 0.18
Dear bookclub,
Am I too late to wish you all a happy and healthy 1999?
All the best wishes!
First of all I must apologize for not finishing the
December book, as I understand several of you did. The
busy season and my travelling are to be blamed.
This month's book, Mendel's Dwarf, I thouroughly
enjoyed, though my memory of school learning in biology
were put heavily to the test. What a gift this author
has to mix science and literature into such an
understandable and enjoyable book! I particularly
liked the alternation and similarities between the
Mendel and the Lambert story. The characters are clear
and well defined and recognizable. The titles of the
chapters gave me something to think about, until I found
their reference to the process in genetics. Very
cleverly done. I had to use my dictionary though, which
didn't happen for a long time!
I'm sure you will have a lot more to talk about the book
than I am writing now. I look forward to your commends
and to the new book for next month. Christina, you will
continue to participate by E-mail, when in Britain, I
hope? Good luck with your moving. Hope to hear from you,
Tine.
Diane - mercoledì 20 gennaio
1999 18.58
Dear Book Club,
Wow...Christina is moving to the U.K.. That's big
news. Best of luck to you and feel free to get in
touch if you ever want a little "re-entry
support". I used to call one friend a lot in our
first months back in the U.S. to say things like "My
God, it's 5 in the afternoon and a lot of people are
having dinner!" It helped to have Bert around all
the time to giggle together about certain things.
Now we are serene and settled in, miss some things but
thoroughly enjoy other things that we didn't have in
Europe. Whenever you have the last book club with
Christina, please lift your glasses for me, too.
What an interesting book you have to talk about this
time. Genetics is so fascinating, isn't it?
When I was reading the book the NY Times had a story
about classified ads in Ivy League university newspapers
offering to pay female students for their eggs.
Couples having trouble conceiving wanted a smart child
and in some cases were alumni of the university and
wanted to carry on the tradition of good ole Yale, or
whatever! I was encouraged to read that the female
students they interviewed were quite put off by the ads
and said they wouldn't answer them ( though presumable
some do or people wouldn't continue to advertise).
I found the whole thing quite spooky. Would
love to hear your discussion....maybe all of you
think it makes good sense and I am just an
old-fashioned fuddy-duddy.
On the other hand, think of the wonderful things
genetics can lead to......What is okay and what
isn't? Does it help us to know ahead that we will
probably get Alzheimer's, for example. How
great if we can find a way to correct or eliminate genes
that cause dwarfism (is that a word?) or Down's
syndrome....or is it? Somehow I find a world full
of all kinds of creatures more beautiful and more
interesting. And yet, if it were my child wouldn't
I be delighted if I could swallow a pill and be sure
that my baby would be normal.
Don't be thrown off by the e-mail return address on
this. We are staying with friends in New
York.. I haven't done justice at all to the book,
but did want to at least check in and I look forward to
reading the comments on your discussion.
Cheers, Diane
Jill - martedì
19 gennaio 1999 12.37
I'm so sorry not to have replied to all your messages.
Life has been ridiculously chaotic here. My mother
died at the beginning of December and I have plenty of
complications with my father coping by himself. A great
friend dropped dead on New Year's Eve, the phone line,
including modem, has been off for the majority of six
weeks!!!!!!!!!!! etc.etc. Apart from
that everything is very merry!!!!!!!!! I will have
to print out the photos for you and then send them as
for some reason I just cannot get the computer - which
is in Wiltshire - to send them on to you. I have
tried on numerous occasions, honestly,,,,,,,,, I'm in
North Wales at the moment - enjoy Mendel's Dwarf.
Why don't you get Simon to come and talk to you about
it. He'd love to, I'm sure. He's a great
friend so if you want me to contact him for you, let me
know.
Happy new year to you all - can't wait to be with you
all again,
Jill
Fiona Morrison martedì 19
gennaio 1999 7.04/strong>
I enjoy receiving all your messages and fully intend to
reply to them all ...However ... My only excuse is
entertaining my family at Christmas and the new year,
looking after Hogshaw with dogs, horses etc. and the
tide of asylum seekers and all their difficulties seems
to continue flowing. We have a new premises which we
will be planning to move into ere long - more extra work
and lots of money to do it in. So sending messages to
some of my oldest friends in Italy sometimes gets
shelved. Anyway, have a good evening. We are doing
God of Small Things on the 28th. Can you remember any
pearls of wisdom dropped at the Castelli discussion. I'm
trying to be imprressive in a rather serious and
intellectual set of signoras.
Love Fi
Simon - domenica 17 gennaio
1999 18.09
I'm sorry I can't be there to hear your verdicts - but
I'll be trying to boost sales in the States!
Enjoy your discussion, and if it isn't heated I'll be
very disappointed.
Simon
Simon Mawer
Tel & Fax: +39 06 9995970
Home Page: http://www.aconet.it/private/SimonMawer
Maria Longo - martedì 22
dicembre 1998 9.24
Hello to you all,
it is nice to be able to at least wish you a Merry
Christmas and a Happy new Year.hopefully i will be able
to see some of you during the next year and before the
"Millennium".
Though I am unable to participate actively to the
discussions, through the web site I at least manage to
read your comments, have some news of you all thanks to
Margie and still feel part of the "Club".
Love to you all, and keep in touch, ciao Maria
Diane - lunedì
14 dicembre 1998 16.47
Dear Book Club,
First of all, a very Merry Christmas to all of
you. Newport looks very pretty for the holidays;
there are little white lights around and lots of nice
wreaths and not much of the gaudy kitsch that too often
“decorates” American towns. The weather has been
gorgeous and we have made several trips to Boston and
New York to see Lara and Amy. They will both be
home for the holidays.
Now…to the book. I was rolling along just fine at
the beginning, admiring the writer’s craftsmanship and
learning with interest a bit about Canada. Also, I
thought he ws good at drawing characters and I wondered
what would happen to the young schoolmates. At
some point, I began to get cross with our
narrator. He seems to me so cold and even
snobby. The jacket on my copy of the book says he
“offers us profound truths about being human”. I
think he belittles humanity too much.
I can think of some things I would want to talk with you
about if I were there – religion, alternative medecine,
what we do –if anything—today instead of having
“salons”.
I look forward to reading a few of your comments on the
web site as I have a funny
feeling I should like the book better than I do and I am
curious to know your reactions.
Buon Natale!
Diane Q
Tine - martedì 20 ottobre
1998 12.26/strong>
Dear Bookclub,
What fun it is that each book is chosen by a different
member. It helps to get a very diverse view of
contemporary literature! On my own I would never
have ventured to start on a book like "Longitude", but I
can honestly say that I enjoyed it.
My knowledge of the subject was about zero, as I never
asked myself how the longitude and latitude lines on the
globe had been established... It is nevertheless
fascinating to see the importance this discovery had in
its time. The parallel with the discovery of a cure for
cancer made that clear to me. It shows the urgency and
the life saving quality of this longitude problem.
The person of Harrison I found rather intriguing: was he
overly modest or just too conscientious and proud of his
work? What a lot of worry it would have saved him, had
he asked for the prize right after the first clock was
tested!
And that brings me to another lesson I learned from this
book: never to look at these big prizes anymore without
realising how many politics are involved. What about the
Nobel prizes for example.....
Well, that was all from me. I wish you a very enjoyable
evening and discussion and look forward to the next
book. (Hope you finally received the photographs,
Margie!)
Bye to all, Tine.
Diane - lunedì
19 ottobre 1998 22.18/strong>
Dear Book Club
Thank you, thank you, thank you for coming to
lunch. I so enjoyed seeing you all and I found you
all in great form. The weather is beautiful here
now and all the trees are turning red and gold.
It's my first New England autumn and so far it's great.
I spend a lot of time watching water birds from our
windows and decks and am learning a bit about the
different ones.
I haven't quite finished the book yet, but I do have a
few comments to pass on. Boy, was I
ignorant. Who knew that longitude was such a big
problem for so long. Not me. I guess I
thought navigators knew how to figure it out by some
means that was mysterious to me but understandable to
them. It made me think about inventions in
general. Is there anything "big" left to invent or
is it today a matter of refining and perfecting existing
things? The only biggies I could think of were an
efficient and inexpensive way to harness the energy
of sun, water, wind and a magic way to get rid of
waste...you know, you push a button and an entire
landfill or a field full of old cars is zapped
away. Can you think of any big things left to
invent?
I liked the clean, straightforward style of the
writer. I find so much writing today is wordy and
too full of bureaucratic, sociological,psychological,
business or whatever terminology. This writer
demonstrates that even science can be written about in a
way that is interesting and understandable. I
think a good writer needs to organize his or her
thoughts well before writing them down and too many just
ramble on in needlessly complicaated sentences, using
esoteric terminology. If more writers wrote
like this one, I would read more books with scientific
subjects. I'll check in in a few days or a week to see
what the new book is.
Ciao for now. Diane.
Tine - 24 settembre 1998 9.55
Congratulations on the wonderful idea of the Bookclub
website and its professional production! I was
impressed. Thank you for sending it. Unfortunately, I
couldn't reach the page for more then a month as our
computer broke down, just after I read your first
E-mail. So I had to wait. Then I quickly read the site
and the book, which I found in Dutch (!) and .....
didn't find the time to mail you my ideas before the
bookclub meeting. Shame on me! I hope you had a good
discussion on the 16th at Gillians' and
trust that you will continue to pass on the titles of
and comments on the next books
My comments on "Seta" are not very extensive: I
loved the book for its style and dreamy atmosphere. It
felt more like poetry then prose, especially the
repetitions in the description of the journies. These
also helped to build up a little suspension about what
would happen next.
I felt a lot of symbolism of which I would have liked to
discuss with you. The symbol of the open and closed
birdcase is clear, but I don't understand the
significance of why Jean Berbeck stopped talking. Was
Baldabiou part of Joncour? And what kind of person is
Helene really? You can see, I
have more questions then answers and would like to hear
what you all thought about the
book.
About a week ago my son, Maarten, bought a hand scanner
and so we are ableto send you the pictures I took in
February. I hope you will be able to transfer them to
the web side. If that doesn't work I could send them by
post, if you like.
Hope to hear from you soon,
Love,
Tine Reijmerink.
Tine - 23-09-98
Hi!
Here's an other try at sending. I just read all your
remarks on "Seta" and would have loved to be there! What
a great discussion that must have been. Hope to be in
time for the next book. By the way, I also joined a
Dutch bookclub, but so far nothing I can recommend to
you, being all Dutch. Hope to
read more from you,
Bye, Tine.
Maria Longo - 24
settembre 1998 9.59
Dear All,
I read the book in one "fiat". I could not let go, I
found myself so involved!
Such strong feelings and emotions. So far away in
time and places, but at the same time it could have
happened now and here.
Sorry I did not send my comments in time for the
discussion. I was away for my holidays and when I came
back on 14th september i had a lot to do at work and it
just was not possible.
I read all your comments and must say that i
participated to them revoking all the thoughts that came
to my mind as I was reading it. I passed the book to
several friends while on holiday and they were all taken
by Baricco's way of writing, so light , so subtle yet so
strong.
I will try and get "Longitude" and see if I can manage
to read it and send comments before 14th October. (do
you know if there is an italian version I can get hold
of? I will look for it anyway and let you know.
Thanks for all the effort you have done in preparing the
web pages. I felt like if I was participating once again
to the evenings with you.
I have to leave you now, but will get in touch.
Thanks again, a presto,
Maria
Tine - 23
settembre 1998 12.41
Thank you for this message! I have been trying to send
you my mail about 5 times over the last weekend, but
keep getting it back. We thought you had changed your
address. I included some pictures from the anniversary,
so perhaps that's the problem. If this mail comes
through I'll try again. otherwise I try one of the other
members.
Love,
Tine.
Jill Bennett - 22 settembre
1998 23.41
I have a problem with my computer chez Wiltshire at the
moment. I'm so sorry not to have sent photos, articles,
etc. but it's in 'Safe Mode' at the moment and until I
can get someone to fix it, all I can say is Hi
toeveryone.
Luv, Jill B.
Fiona Morrison
20 September 1998 13:02
The Castelli Book Club web-page is fantastic.
Apart from all the info and comments, it just makes me
feel very much part of it all and as close as ever to
you lot. It also gives me loads of ideas for a
book club I started here. We are reading from the Holy
Mountain, William Dalrymple - a very, very good book;
read it if you can. Hope Marjie got my comments;
congratulate her again; a real labour of love and much
appreciated.
Love to you all, Fi
RoseMarie - martedì
8 settembre 1998 11.07
How good to see that people are thrilled with our home
page. Could become really great after we begin to "send"
our discussions for the world to read! And if the
"world" had something interesting to contribute as well,
that would simply be wonderful. Congratulations again,
Margie and Christina for opening our doors to others
that are interested in books and
discussions. Love RoseMarie.
Diane - giovedì
3 settembre 1998 23.45
Dear book club I have had trouble getting an e mail to
you before this. I think it is so exciting you
have a web page!! I will try to get a copy of
Seta. I will be in italy from September 26 to
October 7. I guess that means I won't be there for
a book club session but hope to see as many of you as I
can. More details later. Ciao, ciao.
Life here in Rhode Island is great...we are right on the
water.
Love, Diane Quint