The Plunge: Issue #2

Book Club:

The workmen, (who are paid well for their labor), have built us a roaring fire. They have scattered velvet throws and goose down pillows strategic distances to and from the flames to accommodate our immediate warmth needs, and are just now serving us our weighty, obstinately ornate stack of beautiful books. We don’t thirst, or hunger, (although there is a buffet laid out in case we decide to). There are no pressing calls or emails. We are scholars, keepers of whimsy, learners of the human condition, bosom buddies of the greats, procurers of immortal words, time-travelers of the present. We are the Book Club.

Embarking together on journeys many have taken before, and yet each journey is a unique path. We are an ongoing conversation with the writer and their work, creating a living word. (No, no, not that living word). We visit the halls of Wildfell and witness Dorian Gray sitting for his portrait. We transmute the feelings of a book into tears and sighs and howls. We fill our quiet moments with pictures and ideas from different parts of the world, weighing each with steady, soft hands.

With every turn of the season, we conspire to sharpen our wits and our tongues during what seems to be such a docile pursuit. Such a lavish indulgence it is, to read.

Here are our subjects this Holiday season book club:

Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus, Mary Shelley

Dracula, Bram Stoker

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde

The Story of Beowulf, Beowulf Poet (author unknown) translated by Earnest Kirtlan

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson

The Invisible Man, H.G. Wells

Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka

Hamlet, William Shakespeare

Stunning cover art by Alexis Keltner– 8 original paintings to fit the stories they hold. Our inaugural Classic Collection is literal art on your bookshelf.

 Shall we?

Tara and Susie