Reading List for 2023-2024

Our first meeting for the 2023-’24 season is less than six weeks away. If you haven’t started yet, you still have time to read George Eliot’s Middlemarch!

Here is a complete list of reading assignments and meeting dates for the coming months:

• October 4 (Wednesday) – Middlemarch by George Eliot
• November 28 (Tuesday) – The Long Ships by Frans Bengtsson
• December 20 (Wednesday) – Mariette in Ecstasy by Ron Hansen
• January 17 (Wednesday) – The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne by Brian Moore
• February 21 (Wednesday, but date is still tentative) – Isaac Bashevis Singer short stories (specific assignments to follow)
• March 20 (Wednesday) – Hamlet by Shakespeare
• April 17 (Wednesday) – Morte d’Urban by JF Powers
• May 15 (Wednesday) – Eifelheim by Michael Flynn
• June 19 (Wednesday) – A Far Cry from Kensington by Muriel Spark

I’m excited about this year’s selections. They run the proverbial gamut (ever wonder what a “gamut” is?) from light to heavy, long to short, comedy to tragedy, and they’ll give us plenty to think about and discuss.

~ Doug

First Two Books for This Fall

Dear Literarians –

Are you still looking for some good summer reading? Here are our first two meeting dates and reading assignments for the 2023/24 season:

October 4, 2023 (Wednesday, 7pm) – We will discuss George Eliot’s masterpiece Middlemarch. Virginia Woolf famously called Middlemarch “one of the few English novels written for grown-up people.” It is a profoundly rich and rewarding book. It’s also rather long, so get an early start if you want extra time.

November 28, 2023 (Tuesday, 7pm) – We will discuss Frans Bengtsson’s The Long Ships. This book is great fun. It begins as a Viking adventure tale but when Red Orm (the protagonist) faces increasingly complex considerations of faith and family, the novel becomes surprisingly deep and satisfying.

Meetings will continue to take place in the Fireplace Room of Aquinas Hall at Holy Rosary parish in Portland. After the first two dates, meetings will settle more regularly to the third Wednesday of each month. 

Watch this space for a complete list of meeting dates and book assignments – coming soon. We’re going to read some great books this year!

Literarians for 2023-24

In early October the Literarians book club will return for the 2023-24 season at Holy Rosary parish in Portland, Oregon. We’re currently working to finalize our book list and meeting dates. Look for updates through the email list and on this page soon. We look forward to seeing everyone again and hopefully growing the club this year!