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The Bookish Sort Book Club meets the first Thursday of each month at 5:30 p.m. in the Hawthorne Branch Meeting Room. Join us for lively discussions of fiction and nonfiction titles selected by participants in this vibrant, member-led group!
The Bookish Sort Book Club met in Hawthorne Branch's Meeting Room on Thursday, June 6, 2024 at 5:30 p.m. to discuss The Razor's Edge by Somerset Maugham.
Candice led a discussion of W. Somerset Maugham's novel The Razor's Edge. The title comes from a translation collaboration between Maugham and Christopher Isherwood of a verse in the Katha Upanishad, paraphrased in the book's epigraph as: "The sharp edge of a razor is difficult to pass over; thus the wise say the path to Salvation is hard." Most of us had read the novel as a teenager and liked the book. We discussed whether or not such a novel would appeal to readers, especially younger readers, nowadays. We admitted that we had been too young when we first read the novel, published in 1944.
The novel began when Larry returns to Chicago from serving in WWI, abandoning the conventional and beginning his search for meaning in life which takes him to as far away as India, then returning 10 years later to Paris and re-encountering his former fiancée Isabel, who represents materialism to Larry's spirituality, and her husband, whose wealth was lost in the 1929 financial crash. Isabel's Uncle Templeton provides for all their needs in Paris. Sophie is a former acquaintance of them all who lost her husband and child in an auto accident. She has lost all hope and drifted into drugs and prostitution. Larry is planning to marry and redeem her. Isabel, in her jealousy, sets Sophie up to drink again, and later her dead body in found in the river. According to the final lines of the book, spoken by Maugham, who is an observant character in his own book, each person got what they wanted: Isabel got security, Larry got happiness, and Sophie found peace in death.
We were amazed by Maugham's biography, which included his Paris upbringing, (French was his first language, although he became the most successful writer in English at his time), his parents both died when he was quite young and he went to live an austere childhood with a cleric uncle in England. He eventually studied medicine in Germany and became a physician at the same time as his first novel Liza of Lambeth, drawn from his experiences with the poor who were his patients. At that point he left medicine to write, and produced more than 30 plays, hundreds of short stories and several novels, of which The Razor's Edge was the last. He was married, unhappily, and had a child Elizabeth, but most of his life he spent in the company of men acting as his secretary. He served in both World Wars, ambulance driver and spy. He spent time among the French Riviera set at his home Mauresque, until France fell to the Germans. He died at the age of 91 in Nice.
Upcoming Meetings:
Thursday, Jul. 11 at 5:30 p.m.: cancelled
Thursday, Aug. 1 at 5:30 p.m.: books by Mark Twain (each participant chooses)
Thursday, Sept. 5 at 5:30 p.m: 438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea by Jonathan Franklin
Here are some links to discover new titles and authors.
LibraryThing: Catalog your books online A community of 2,800,000 book lovers. LibraryThing connects you to people who read what you do. LibraryThing is an app and website for cataloging your books and getting recommendations and has been a social cataloging site for book lovers since 2005.
NPR: Books We Love Great reads thoughtfully curated by NPR. What would you like to read? Mix and match the filters below and the years above to explore more than 3,200 recommendations from NPR staff and trusted critics.
Send Sofia (seury@aclib.us) any news or announcements you would like to see added to this blog.
- 2013
Hawthorne Book Club Selections for 2013 Date Title Author September 5 The Yearling Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings October 4 South Moon Under Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings November 7 The Last Runaway Tracy Chavelier December 5 Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston
- 2014
Hawthorne Book Club Selections for 2014 Date Title Author January 2 Housekeeping: A Novel Marilynne Robinson February 6 The Occupation of Eliza Goode Shelley Fraser Mickle March 6 Gone Girl Gillian Flynn April 3 Killing Mister Watson Peter Matthiessen May 1 Queen of October Shelley Fraser Mickle June 5 The Elegance of the Hedgehog Muriel Barbary July 3 People of the Book: A Novel Geraldine Brooks August 7 The Professor and the Madman Simon Winchester September 4 Artifacts Mary Anna Evans October 2 Devil in the White City Erik Larson November 6 Women of the Silk Gail Tsukiyama December 4 The Boys in the Boat Daniel James Brown
- 2015
Hawthorne Book Club Selections for 2015 Date Title Author January 8 The Monuments Men Robert M. Edsel February 5 South of Broad Pat Conroy March 5 The Hunting Dogs John Horst April 2 The Bookman's Tale: A Novel of Obsession Charlie Lovett May 7 Olive Kitteridge Elizabeth Stout June 4 Middlesex: A Novel Jeffrey Eugenides July 9 The Goldfinch Donna Tartt August 6 The Girl on the Train Paula Hawkins September 3 Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Rebecca Skloot October 1 Isaac's Storm Erik Larson November 5 Literary Potluck December 3 The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace Jeff Hobbs
- 2016
Hawthorne Book Club Selections for 2016 Date Title Author January 7 The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry Gabrille Zevin February 4 All the Light We Cannot See Anthony Doerr March 3 To Kill a Mockingbird/Go Set a Watchman Harper Lee April 7 The Shipping News Annie Proulx May 5 Tracks Robyn Davidson June 2 The Razor's Edge W. Somerset Maugham July 7 Water for Elephants Sara Guren August 4 Still Life Louise Penny October 19 And The Good News Is Dana Perino November 3 Literary Potluck December 1 The Human, the Orchid, and the Octopus Jacques Cousteau and Susan Schiefelbein
- 2017
Hawthorne Book Club Selections for 2017 Date Title Author January 5 Major Pettigrew's Last Stand Helen Simonson February 2 Cross Creek Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings March 2 Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck April 6 The Sympathizer Viet Thanh Nguyen May 4 Life of Pi Yann Martel June 1 Little Paris Bookshop Nina George July 6 Lab Girl Hope Jahern August 3 Summer Edith Wharton September 7 *cancelled due to Hurricane Irma* October 5 The Whip Karen Kondazian November 2 Literary Potluck & Choosing Book Club Name, The Bookish Sort Book Club December 7 The Dark Flood Rise Margaret Drabble
- 2018
Hawthorne Book Club Selections for 2018 Date Title Author January 4 The Widow Fiona Barton February 1 *no meeting* March 1 A Man Called Ove: A Novel Fredrick Backman April 5 H is for Hawk Helen MacDonald May 3 Our Souls at Night Kent Haruf June 7 The Handmaid's Tale Margaret Atwood July 5 The Sellout Paul Beatty August 2 The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple Jeff Guinn September 6 Philomena: A Mother, Her Son, and A Fifty-Year Search Martin Sixsmith October 4 My Cousin Rachael Daphne du Maurier November 1 Literary Potluck December 6 Plainsong Kent Haruf
- 2019
Hawthorne Book Club Selections for 2019 Date Title Author January 3 The Bite of History Caroline Anaya February 7 Barracoon Zora Neale Hurston March 7 Why I Live at the P. O. [group read] Eudora Welty April 4 American Philosophy: A Love Story John Kaag May 2 Princess Ruth: Love and Tragedy in Hawaii Jo Ann Lordahl June 6 Gentleman from Moscow Amor Towles July 11 Varina Charles Frazier August 1 The Book Thief Richard Flanagan September 5 *cancelled due to Hurricane Dorian* October 3 Poetry - each member brought a poem to share November 7 Literary Potluck December 5 A Christmas Memory [group read] Truman Capote
- 2020
Hawthorne Book Club Selections for 2020 Date Title Author January 2 Joy School Elizabeth Berg February 6 Where the Crawdads Sing Delia Owen March 5 House on Mango Street Sandra Cisneros April 2 *COVID-19 Closure* June 4 State of Wonder (via Zoom) Ann Patchett July 2 Beekeeper of Aleppo: A Novel (via Zoom) Christy Lefteri August 7 Angela's Ashes (Zoom) Frank McCourt September 3 News of the World (Zoom) Paulette Jiles October 1 Underground Railroad (Zoom) Colson Whitehead November 5 I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Zoom) Maya Angelou December 3 A Child's Christmas in Wales (Zoom) Dylan Thomas
- 2021
Hawthorne Book Club Selections for 2021 Date Title Author January 7 Zoo Station (Zoom) David Downing February 4 The Cellist of Sarajevo (Zoom) Steven Gaolway March 4 A Promised Land (Zoom) Barack Obama April 1 Guests on Earth (Zoom) Lee Smith May 6 A Long Way from Chicago (Zoom) Richard Peck June 3 The Great Alone (Zoom) Kristin Hannah July 1 The Indigo Girl (Zoom) Natasha Boyd August 5 The Overstory: A Novel (Zoom) Richard Powers September 2 The Snow Child (Zoom) Eowyn Ivey October 7 The Vanishing Half (Zoom) Brit Bennett November 4 The Bookwoman of Troublesome Creek (Zoom) Kim Richardson December 2 The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (Zoom) Barbara Robinson
- 2022
Hawthorne Book Club Selections for 2022 Date Title Author January 2 Klara and the Sun (Zoom) Kazuo Ishiguro February 3 The Nightingale (Zoom) Kristin Hannah March 3 Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight (Zoom) Alexandra Fuller April 7 The Warmth of Other Suns (Zoom) Isabelle Wilkerson May 5 The Madness of Crowds (resuming in-person meetings) Louise Penny June 2 The Lincoln Highway Amor Towles July 7 Nomadland: Surviving America in the 21st Century Jessica Bruder, Karen White, et al. August 4 Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America Barbara Ehrenreich September 1 The Midnight Library: A Novel Matt Haig October 6 American Dirt Jeanine Cummins November 3 The Liar's Dictionary Eley Williams December 1 Memory of a Large Christmas Lillian Smith
- 2023
Hawthorne Book Club Selections for 2023 Date Title Author January 5 Bewilderment Richard Powers February 2 Silent Spring Rachael Carson March 2 Ecology of a Cracker Childhood Janisse Ray May 4 Midnight's Children Salman Rushdie June 1 Strength in What Remains Tracy Kidder July 6 Remarkably Bright Creatures Shelby Van Pelt August 3 The Testaments Margaret Atwood September 7 Meeting Cancelled October 5 Booth Karen Joy Fowler November 2 Hidden Figures Margot Lee Shetterly December 7 A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens
- 2024
Hawthorne Book Club Selections for 2024 Date Title Author January 4 A Woman of No Importance Sonia Purnell February 1 Participant's choice of books Sue Grafton March 7 The Secret Lives of Sunflowers Marta Molnar April 4 Island of the Lost: An Extraordinary Story of Survival at the Edge of the World Joan Druett May 2 Lay that Trumpet in Our Hands Susan Carol McCarthy June 6 The Razor's Edge Somerset Maugham July 11 Meeting Cancelled
Interested in other book clubs? The Alachua County Library District has several. You can find more information on our Book Clubs page.