Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973)

Afternoon Book Group Open to the Community Thursday, January 15, 2015 1:00-2:00 p.m. Books & Company Ken will be leading the discussion on The Eternal Wonder by Pearl S Buck A recently discovered novel written by Pearl S. Buck at the end of her life in 1973, "The Eternal Wonder" tells the coming-of-age story of Randolph Colfax (Rann for short), an extraordinarily gifted young man whose search for meaning and purpose leads him to New York, England, Paris, on a mission patrolling the DMZ in Korea that will change his life forever--and, ultimately, to love. Rann falls for the beautiful and equally brilliant Stephanie Kung, who lives in Paris with her Chinese father and has not seen her American mother since she abandoned the family when Stephanie was six years old. Both Rann and Stephanie yearn for a sense of genuine identity. Rann feels plagued by his voracious intellectual curiosity and strives to integrate his life of the mind with his experience in the world. Stephanie struggles to reconcile the Chinese part of herself with her American and French selves. Separated for long periods of time, their final reunion leads to a conclusion that even Rann, in all his hard-earned wisdom, could never have imagined. Ferbuary 19~ Rosie Project--Graeme Simsion

Location: Street: 1039 Summit Ave City: Oconomowoc, Province: Wisconsin Postal Code: 53066-4457 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)

Chinese-born English writer Xiaolu Guo is one of the most distinctive and exciting voices in contemporary literature. She is also an award-winning filmmaker and the Weather Station writer in residence at Free Word, London, a global initiative that places literature and storytelling at the heart of the conversations around climate change.

Xiaolu’s latest novel is I am China. Set in London, Dover and Beijing, I am China tells the story of translator Iona Kirkpatrick, who uncovers a tale of two lovers separated by distance and political intervention. Jian, an exiled musician, is trapped in a detention centre while his girlfriend Mu tries to track him down through desperate letters to the authorities. As Iona is drawn deeper into their story, she resolves to do whatever she can to reunite the couple, irrespective of the consequences.

Xiaolu’s previous novels have been nominated for the Orange Prize and the Dublin IMPAC Award, and her films have featured at the Locarno, Sundance and Venice Film Festivals. One of Granta magazine’s Best Young British Novelists Under 40, Xiaolu will discuss I am China, her body of work, the Weather Stations project, and what it means to be caught between two worlds.

Xiaolu Guo

One of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists under 40, Xiaolu Guo is profound, incisive, funny and often disturbingly accurate. (rodneyvc)… (more)

Mac's Book Club will discuss Pearl Buck's classic novel The Good Earth on Wednesday, November 20th at 7:30 p.m.

Pearl S. Buck was born on June 26, 1892, in Hillsboro, West Virginia .Pearl began to publish stories and essays in the 1920s, in magazines such as The Nation, The Chinese Recorder, Asia, and The Atlantic Monthly. Her first novel, East Wind, West Wind, was published by the John Day Company in 1930. In 1931, John Day published Pearl's second novel, The Good Earth. This became the bestselling book of both 1931 and 1932, won the Pulitzer Prize and the Howells Medal in 1935, and would be adapted as a major MGM film in 1937. In 1938, less than a decade after her first book had appeared, Pearl won the Nobel Prize in literature, the first American woman to do so. By the time of her death in 1973, Pearl had published more than seventy books: novels, collections of stories, biography and autobiography, poetry, drama, children's literature, and translations from the Chinese.

Location: Street: 1820 Coventry Rd Additional: City: Cleveland Heights, Province: Ohio Postal Code: 44118 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)