Amersfoort English Book and Movie Club

'THE WAY OF KINGS - The Stormlight Archive 1' by Brandon Sanderson

'Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter.
It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them, and won by them.
One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear to protect his little brother, has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where ten armies fight separately against a single foe, he struggles to save his men and to fathom the leaders who consider them expendable.
Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Like his brother, the late king, he is fascinated by an ancient text called The Way of Kings. Troubled by over-powering visions of ancient times and the Knights Radiant, he has begun to doubt his own sanity.
Across the ocean, an untried young woman named Shallan seeks to train under an eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar's niece, Jasnah. Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan's motives are less than pure. As she plans a daring theft, her research for Jasnah hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war.'

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Read the book and join us for a lively discussion about the contents during our afternoon book club meeting.

PLEASE NOTE:

This is an IN-PERSON event in Amersfoort, The Netherlands. Please cancel your attendance if you cannot join physically.

Looking forward to seeing you all IN REAL LIFE then!

Best regards,
Sandra

'WHEN ALL IS SAID' by Anne Griffin

'If you had to pick five people to sum up your life, who would they be? If you were to raise a glass to each of them, what would you say? And what would you learn about yourself, when all is said?

At the bar of a grand hotel in a small Irish town sits 84-year-old Maurice Hannigan. He’s alone, as usual ­- though tonight is anything but. Pull up a stool and charge your glass, because Maurice is finally ready to tell his story.
Over the course of this evening, he will raise five toasts to the five people who have meant the most to him. Through these stories - of unspoken joy and regret, a secret tragedy kept hidden, a fierce love that never found its voice - the life of one man will be powerful and poignantly laid bare.

Beautifully heart-warming and powerfully felt, the voice of Maurice Hannigan will stay with you long after all is said and done.'

***

Read the book and join us for a lively discussion about the contents during our afternoon book club meeting.

PLEASE NOTE:

This is an ONLINE event. Only 10 attendees are allowed. Please cancel your attendance in advance if you cannot join, so that those on the waitlist can participate.

Looking forward to seeing you all ONLINE then!

Best regards,
Sandra

'YELLOWFACE' by Rebecca F. Kuang

'Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars. But Athena’s a literary darling. June Hayward is literally nobody. Who wants stories about basic white girls, June thinks.

So when June witnesses Athena’s death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse: she steals Athena’s just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese labourers during World War I.

So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song—complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? Doesn’t this piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller? That’s what June claims, and the New York Times bestseller list seems to agree.

But June can’t get away from Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens to bring June’s (stolen) success down around her. As June races to protect her secret, she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.

With its totally immersive first-person voice, Yellowface grapples with questions of diversity, racism, and cultural appropriation, as well as the terrifying alienation of social media. R.F. Kuang’s novel is timely, razor-sharp, and eminently enjoyable.'

***

Read the book and join us for a lively discussion about the contents during our afternoon book club meeting.

PLEASE NOTE:

This is an ONLINE event. Only 10 attendees are allowed. Please cancel your attendance in advance if you cannot join, so that those on the waitlist can participate.

Looking forward to seeing you all ONLINE then!

Best regards,
Sandra

'THE COLOR OF WATER' by James McBride

'In The Color of Water, McBride retraces his mother's footsteps and, through her searing and spirited voice, recreates her remarkable story. The daughter of a failed itinerant Orthodox rabbi, she was born Rachel Shilsky (actually Ruchel Dwara Zylska) in Poland on April 1, 1921. Fleeing pogroms, her family emigrated to America and ultimately settled in Suffolk, Virginia, a small town where anti-Semitism and racial tensions ran high. At 17, after fleeing Virginia and settling in New York City, Ruth married a Black minister and founded the all-Black New Brown Memorial Baptist Church in her Red Hook living room. "God is the colour of water", Ruth McBride taught her children, firmly convinced that life's blessings and life's values transcend race.

Interspersed throughout his mother's compelling narrative, McBride shares candid recollections of his own experiences as a mixed-race child of poverty, his flirtations with drugs and violence, and his eventual self-realization and professional success. The Color of Water touches listeners of all colours as a vivid portrait of growing up, a haunting meditation on race and identity, and a lyrical valentine to a mother from her son.'

***

Read the book and join us for a lively discussion about the contents during our afternoon book club meeting.

PLEASE NOTE:

This is an IN-PERSON event in Amersfoort, The Netherlands. Only 10 attendees are allowed. Please cancel your attendance in advance if you cannot join, so that people on the waitlist can participate.

Looking forward to seeing you all IN REAL LIFE then!

Best regards,
Sandra