What we’re about
We are a book club focussing on significant works of fiction, both classics and modern major prize-winners. We meet on the first Thursday evening of each month. Meetings are free and open to the public.
• See what we read and how we select books
http://bit.ly/hmgb-reading-list-doc.
• See our schedule for upcoming discussions
https://www.meetup.com/HoustonMontroseGreatBooks/events/
• Book Selection Team
https://groups.io/g/HMGB-Team
We are affiliated with Houston Great Books http://www.houstongreatbooks.net and recommend that you visit their website for other book clubs of interest.
Meetings
Meeting Orientation
You may attend any or all meetings at your choice, regardless of whether you have read the month's book selection. (We ask that only those who have read the book participate actively in the discussions.)
Upcoming events (4+)
See all- A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh - **Online**Link visible for attendees
A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh - Led by Bettie
Selected by Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of the century, this "absolutely delightful" novel (New York Times) movingly and comically chronicles the breakdown of a marriage and the disintegration of English society in the years after World War I.
After seven years of marriage, the beautiful Lady Brenda Last has grown bored with life at Hetton Abbey, the Gothic mansion that is the pride and joy of her husband, Tony. She drifts into an affair with the shallow socialite John Beaver and forsakes Tony for the Belgravia set. In a novel that combines tragedy, comedy, and savage irony, Evelyn Waugh indelibly captures the irresponsible mood of the "crazy and sterile generation" between the wars.
Buy on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3LBvaeV
You may attend either online on Zoom or in-person
To attend on Zoom: RSVP to this event.
To attend in person: Attend In Person==============================================
We will hold this meeting online using ZOOM. You can join by computer, tablet, smartphone, or listen in with ordinary telephone.Please join 15 minutes prior to scheduled start, in order to say "hi" and test your connection and settings.
PRE-REGISTER NOW, or any time before the meeting with this (easy) three step process:
- RSVP to the meeting. When you do, an "Online Event" link will appear
- Click on the link, and fill in the registration form with your name and email address.
- You will receive almost immediately an email with the actual link to the meeting. Save the email with the link for use at the scheduled time. (If you mislay the email, just repeat step 2).
- A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh - **In Person**Hanover Rice Village, Houston, TX
- Join us in person for the book discussion and after-meeting social hour. To request a spot, please click "Attend" and see details below.
A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh - Led by Bettie
Selected by Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of the century, this "absolutely delightful" novel (New York Times) movingly and comically chronicles the breakdown of a marriage and the disintegration of English society in the years after World War I. After seven years of marriage, the beautiful Lady Brenda Last has grown bored with life at Hetton Abbey, the Gothic mansion that is the pride and joy of her husband, Tony. She drifts into an affair with the shallow socialite John Beaver and forsakes Tony for the Belgravia set. In a novel that combines tragedy, comedy, and savage irony, Evelyn Waugh indelibly captures the irresponsible mood of the "crazy and sterile generation" between the wars.
Buy on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3LBvaeV
==============================================
Instructions for In-Person Attendance- This is a "hybrid" meeting, with some participants in-person and others remote on Zoom. This RSVP is for meeting in person.
- The number of in-person spots is limited, and members who regularly attend our events have priority.
- The number of "Spots Left" will appear zero. Please click "Attend" to join the waitlist, and we will confirm your reservation in a following message.
- After your spot is confirmed, directions to the meeting room will be provided through email and Meetup.com messages.
- While on the waitlist you are welcome to register also for the online session
Don't Be a No-Show! If your plans change, please do cancel your in-person RSVP or Wait List request. Allow someone else to take your place.
Parking
There is a mixture of free and metered parking on streets around the building. One option is to follow the sign "Retail Parking" at Kelvin and Bolsover that leads to covered metered parking in the retail garage. There is also a large parking garage (1st 2 hours free) three short blocks south on Kelvin at Amherst.After Meeting Socializing
After the meeting ends, you are invited to join us at a near-by restaurant for refreshments and socializing. - Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad - **Online**Link visible for attendees
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad - Led by Leigh
Heart of Darkness is a novella written by Joseph Conrad. It is widely regarded as a significant work of English literature and part of the Western canon. The story tells of Charles Marlow, an Englishman who took a foreign assignment from a Belgian trading company as a ferry-boat captain in Africa. Heart of Darkness exposes the myth behind colonization while exploring the three levels of darkness that the protagonist, Marlow, encounters--the darkness of the Congo wilderness, the darkness of the European's cruel treatment of the natives, and the unfathomable darkness within every human being for committing heinous acts of evil. Although Conrad does not give the name of the river, at the time of writing the Congo Free State, the location of the large and important Congo River, was a private colony of Belgium's King Leopold II. Marlow is employed to transport ivory downriver. However, his more pressing assignment is to return Kurtz, another ivory trader, to civilization, in a cover-up. Kurtz has a reputation throughout the region. This symbolic story is a story within a story or frame narrative. It follows Marlow as he recounts from dusk through to late night, to a group of men aboard a ship anchored in the Thames Estuary his Congolese adventure. The passage of time and the darkening sky during the fictitious narrative-within-the-narrative parallel the atmosphere of the story.
Buy on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3RCgr75
You may attend either online on Zoom or in-person
To attend on Zoom: RSVP to this event.
To attend in person: Go here==============================================
We will hold this meeting online using ZOOM. You can join by computer, tablet, smartphone, or listen in with ordinary telephone.Please join 15 minutes prior to scheduled start, in order to say "hi" and test your connection and settings.
PRE-REGISTER NOW, or any time before the meeting with this (easy) three step process:
- RSVP to the meeting. When you do, an "Online Event" link will appear
- Click on the link, and fill in the registration form with your name and email address.
- You will receive almost immediately an email with the actual link to the meeting. Save the email with the link for use at the scheduled time. (If you mislay the email, just repeat step 2).
- Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad - **In Person**Hanover Rice Village, Houston, TX
- Join us in person for the book discussion and after-meeting social hour.
- The number of in-person spots is limited. To request a spot, please see details below.
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad - Led by Leigh
Heart of Darkness is a novella written by Joseph Conrad. It is widely regarded as a significant work of English literature and part of the Western canon. The story tells of Charles Marlow, an Englishman who took a foreign assignment from a Belgian trading company as a ferry-boat captain in Africa. Heart of Darkness exposes the myth behind colonization while exploring the three levels of darkness that the protagonist, Marlow, encounters--the darkness of the Congo wilderness, the darkness of the European's cruel treatment of the natives, and the unfathomable darkness within every human being for committing heinous acts of evil. Although Conrad does not give the name of the river, at the time of writing the Congo Free State, the location of the large and important Congo River, was a private colony of Belgium's King Leopold II. Marlow is employed to transport ivory downriver. However, his more pressing assignment is to return Kurtz, another ivory trader, to civilization, in a cover-up. Kurtz has a reputation throughout the region. This symbolic story is a story within a story or frame narrative. It follows Marlow as he recounts from dusk through to late night, to a group of men aboard a ship anchored in the Thames Estuary his Congolese adventure. The passage of time and the darkening sky during the fictitious narrative-within-the-narrative parallel the atmosphere of the story.
Buy on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3RCgr75
==============================================
Instructions for In-Person Attendance- This is a "hybrid" meeting, with some participants in-person and others remote on Zoom. This RSVP is for meeting in person.
- The number of in-person spots is limited, and members who regularly attend our events have priority.
- The number of "Spots Left" will appear zero. Please click "Attend" to join the waitlist, and we will confirm your reservation in a following message.
- After your spot is confirmed, directions to the meeting room will be provided through email and Meetup.com messages.
- While on the waitlist you are welcome to register also for the online session
Don't Be a No-Show! If your plans change, please do cancel your in-person RSVP or Wait List request. Allow someone else to take your place.
Parking
There is a mixture of free and metered parking on streets around the building. One option is to follow the sign "Retail Parking" at Kelvin and Bolsover that leads to covered metered parking in the retail garage. There is also a large parking garage (1st 2 hours free) three short blocks south on Kelvin at Amherst.After Meeting Socializing
After the meeting ends, you are invited to join us at a near-by restaurant for refreshments and socializing.