What we’re about
'To meet up and to discuss the great works is not a pretence. It is what we were made for. It is who we are.'
Some of us are life-long fans of classical literature and some of us are newcomers. Some of us left school at 13, have been English teachers, or who know English as a non-native language. The only requirement is to read the book, come along and enjoy. The book is chosen on a month-to-month basis. Books chosen are from the Penguin Classics series or something similar so they are easily obtainable, whether in Kindle, paper versions or a local library. Think Homer, Ovid, Cervantes, Steinbeck, George Orwell, the Brontes, Arthur Conan Doyle, Louisa May Alcott, Ernest Hemingway, Victor Hugo, Emile Zola, Mark Twain, Jane Austen, Franz Kafka, Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky - to name a few.
We meet on the top floor of the Shakespeare Hotel, 200 Devonshire Street, Surry Hills, at 7.00pm on the first Thursday of the month. Ask at the bar for directions.
Upcoming events (1)
See all- 23 Tales by Leo TolstoyShakespeare Hotel, Surry Hills
On Thursday December 5 at 7.00pm, we will be discussing 23 Tales by Leo Tolstoy.
23 Tales is a collection of short stories, published as a selection of his best short stories for the first time in 1907. The Tales range from those for children, popular stories, folk stories retold, and Tales given to aid persecuted Jews. The collection is about 250 pages long.
We will be meeting at the usual place - The Shakespeare Hotel (200 Devonshire Street, Surry Hills), in one of the function rooms upstairs (ask at the bar for directions).
Hard copies available on Amazon for about $20, Kindle for $10 and for free at https://www.marxists.org/archive/tolstoy/1906/twenty-three-tales/index.html
Some of the stories read professionally can be found on youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXuofuN6NbQ&list=PLj7yIRHrJAFz6XL4pIqMxRkZ_hO3jyq6X
Contact Dale on here or at dalemills (at) cantab.net for more info.
The format is that that we meet for an hour to discuss the book. During the meeting, people can eat, drink or do neither. Although participation is encouraged, there is no obligation to say anything. We then vote on next month's book and the meeting is closed. Most people stick around for further discussion about the book or anything else!
