June 24, 2016 -- The Wreath

Next meeting is June 24, 2016. We will discuss The Wreath (a.k.a. The Bridal Wreath) by Sigrid Undset. This is the first book of the Kristin Lavransdatter trilogy. The book is published both alone or as the complete trilogy under the title of Kristin Lavransdatter.

Meeting Information:
Location: Kansas City Public Library, Plaza Branch, Small Meeting Room
Address: 4801 Main Street, Kansas City, MO
Date: June 24, 2016
Time: 7:00 PM

From Wikipedia:
Kristin Lavransdatter is a trilogy of historical novels written by Nobel laureate Sigrid Undset. The individual novels are Kransen (The Wreath), first published in 1920, Husfrue (The Wife), published in 1921, and Korset (The Cross), published in 1922. Kristin Lavransdatter was originally translated into English by Charles Archer and J.S. Scott in the 1920s. A new and complete translation by Tiina Nunnally was released by Penguin Classics in 2005, and is considered by many critics to be the superior of the two, particularly for its clarity, reflective of Undset's "straightforward, almost plain style." For her translation of the third book, Korset (The Cross), Nunnally was awarded the PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize in 2001.

This work formed the basis of Undset receiving the 1928 Nobel Prize in Literature, which was awarded to her "principally for her powerful descriptions of Northern life during the Middle Ages". Her work is much admired for its historical and ethnological accuracy.

May 27, 2016 -- The Book of Ruth from the Bible

Next meeting is May 27, 2016. We will discuss “The Book of Ruth from the Bible.” 
Meeting Information:
Location: Kansas City Public Library, Plaza Branch, Small Meeting Room
Address: 4801 Main Street, Kansas City, MO
Date: May 27, 2016
Time: 7:00 PM

Description from Wikipedia:

The Book of Ruth is a book of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. In the Jewish canon it is included in the third division, or the Writings (Ketuvim); in the Christian canon it is treated as a history book and placed between Judges and 1 Samuel. It is named after its central figure, Ruth the Moabitess, the great-grandmother of David.

The book tells of Ruth's accepting the God of the Israelites as her God and the Israelite people as her own. In Ruth 1:16 and 17 Ruth tells Naomi, her Israelite mother in law, "Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me." The book is held in esteem by Jews who fall under the category of Jews-by-choice, as is evidenced by the considerable presence of Boaz in rabbinic literature. The "Book of Ruth" also functions liturgically, as it is read during the Jewish holiday of Shavuot ("Weeks").

The book is traditionally ascribed to the prophet Samuel, but does not name its author. A date during the monarchy is suggested by the book's interest in the ancestry of David, but Ruth's identity as a non-Israelite and the stress on the need for an inclusive attitude towards foreigners suggests an origin in the fifth century BCE, when intermarriage had become controversial (as seen in Ezra 9:1 and Nehemiah 13:1).