Saturday extension of the Book Club!
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Friday Bookclub meets to discuss “Babbitt”
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The March read for the Firday bookclub is “Babbitt” by Sinclair Lewis. Prosperous and socially prominent, George Babbitt appears to have everything a man could wish: good health, a fine family, and a profitable business in a booming Midwestern city. But the middle-aged real estate agent is shaken from his self-satisfaction by a growing restlessness with the limitations of his life. When a personal crisis forces a reexamination of his values, Babbitt mounts a rebellion against social expectations jeopardizing his reputation and business standing as well as his marriage. Widely considered Sinclair Lewis’s greatest novel, this satire of the American social landscape created a sensation upon its 1922 publication. Babbitt’s name became an instant and enduring synonym for middle-class complacency, and the strictures of his existence revealed the emptiness of the mainstream vision of success. His story reflects the nature of a conformist society, in which the pressures of maintaining propriety can ultimately cause individuals to lose their place in the world. “Babbitt “ranks among the important 20th-century works addressing the struggles of people caught in the machinery of modern life, and it remains ever-relevant as a cautionary tale against clinging to conventional values.” This bookclub is currently closed to new members. However there is a new bookclub opening up that will be meeting on a Saturday afternoon once a month. |
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Knit and Natter
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Come along and bring your knitting, Have a natter while you’re sitting, Or learn to knit with wool provided, Needles loaned and stitches guided. Knitted garments are très chic, So be in vogue and start this week!
Knit and natter is a free activity open to all members. No need to reserve, just come in and knit to your heart’s content! |
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Coffee House
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This is a special moment when the community gathers together to talk about everything and anything (…in English of course!) and sips coffee and tea. Coffee House is free and open to all library members. Just drop in, no need to reserve! Coffee house is every Friday except during school holidays. |
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Photo exhibition: “Trompe l’Oeil”
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Library member, Yves Tourmen, will be showing his black and white photographs in the library from March 18th through April 16th during library hours. “I like to play with my camera to experiment with unusual photography. This time I used my camera in two different manners. I played with objects and their shadows to obtain interesting pictures. Secondly, I photographed the full moon at night to obtain short words in Morse code..this task required an enormous amount of time and patience to capture the dashes and dots! |
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Poetry and music
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The library is pleased to have a bilingual reading by two poets, a British poet Tony Lopez* and a French poet Claude Chambard with Tony Baker accompanying them on the piano. Evening starts at 7. Free and open to the public! This program has been made possible with the support of the Ville d’Angers.
*Tony Lopez is an English poet of international repute. His first book to be published in the USA was the widely acclaimed and much anthologised False Memory (The Figures, 1996). He was born in Stockwell in 1950 and grew up in Brixton, South London, where he was educated at local state schools, including Henry Thornton Grammar School. He began work as a freelance writer of fiction for newspapers and magazines, and had five novels published with New English Library between 1973 and 1976.
He attended the University of Essex (BA 1980) and then Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge (PhD 1986), where J.H. Prynne supervised his research on the Scottish poet W.S. Graham. He taught American literature for various colleges at Cambridge. During the early 1980s he made a number of performance art events that were staged in Cambridge, Liverpool, Edinburgh, London and Amsterdam. He taught briefly at the University of Leicester (1986-87) and at the University of Edinburgh (1987-89) and then for twenty years at the University of Plymouth, where he was appointed the first Professor of Poetry in 2000 and Emeritus Professor in July 2009. He is now self-employed, writing and making public art based on text. |
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Pizza and board games
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National Public Speaking Competition for high school students
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The library, the English Speaking Union and the Maison de l’Europe are pleased to invite you to the National Public Speaking Competition where 8 young high school students will be competing to represent France in the International Public Speaking Competition in London in May. Please find your invitation by clicking here. |
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Reading Shakespeare
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Knit and Natter
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Come along and bring your knitting, Have a natter while you’re sitting, Or learn to knit with wool provided, Needles loaned and stitches guided. Knitted garments are très chic, So be in vogue and start this week!
Knit and natter is a free activity open to all members. No need to reserve, just come in and knit to your heart’s content! |
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