Fourth Friday Coffee Talks: January Wrap-Up

January's Coffee Talk was really fun. If you missed it, not to worry, Sue and Margie will be announcing their February Coffee Talk pick in the February newsletter. Mark your calendars for the Fourth Friday of each month, and join us for a casual discussion about a new book.

Our January pick was actually two books: Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick and The Ambassadors by Henry James. We were inspired to pick both because of the book flap for Foreign Bodies, which says that Ozick wanted to "retrace the story of Henry James's The Ambassadors - the work he considered his best - but as a photographic negative, in which the plot is the same but the meaning is reversed." That really made us curious to check out both books at once.

It probably helps to read The Ambassadors first. In both books, an "ambassador" is sent from the States to Paris to retrieve a young expatriate and convince him to return to the the States. In The Ambassadors, Henry James describes a cultured, refined Paris of the 1890's (and a cultured, refined older lover) that has worked its magic on the expatriate, seeming to make him a better person than he'd been before. Soon the magic starts to work on the ambassador as well, and no one wants to return to the States. Unfortunately, by the time Ozick's characters make it to Paris in the 1950's, the magic of Paris has been destroyed by war and despair. The "photographic negative" that Ozick creates is tragic and sad. However, after reading The Ambassadors, it is still a pleasure to follow the plot and to spot all of the instances in which the meaning and effect has been flip-flopped.

Both books are a recommended read for those who enjoy reading about Americans in Paris, and for any traveler who's ever had the thought: "hey, let's not go home, let's just stay here." I don't know about you, but I swear I have that thought at least once every trip.

January Coffee Talk: Friday, January 28th

The Bookstore thought it would introduce something new this year: a monthly Coffee Talk Readalong! At the beginning of each month we will select a book and announce our selection in the monthly newsletter. You'll have nearly a month to buy, borrow or download the book. Then, on last Friday of the month we will offer bagels and coffee at The Bookstore from 10am until Noon, and customers can stop in to chat any time that morning at their leisure. Kind of like a book club, but way more chill. Come as you are, come when you can! No purchase required.

Sue and I will start in January with a pair of books that go well together. One is new, Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick. It is based on one of that author's favorite classics of all time, The Ambassadors by Henry James. Read one or both of these novels in January, and come to our coffee chat on Friday, January 28th! Or if you don't have time to read, just pop in to see if it sounds like a book you'd be interested in.

Sue has just finished Foreign Bodies, and I have just finished The Ambassadors, and we're ready to switch books. I loved The Ambassadors, set in turn-of-the-century France, featuring a cast of tightly wound Americans and more cultured and open-minded Parisians. I especially liked it because it was the story of a man in his 50's in the midst of rediscovery, proving you're never too old to grow and discover new things. I kept thinking of Joni Mitchell's tune, Free Man in Paris. Now I can't wait to compare The Ambassadors to a more modern and supposedly flip-flopped story of Americans abroad in Foreign Bodies.

All Coffee Talk book purchases are entitled to our usual book club discounts, so stop in and pick yours up today. Hope to see you the last Friday morning of the month!