July film/book clubs discussion highlights...

The film club discussed the German film, Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others), which we all found to be a very powerful movie, due both to the political aspects (a tale of a Staasi officer's secret surveillance of a writer and actor couple in 1984 East Germany) and the personal aspects (the officer's transformation from a cold automaton to a "human"). We highly recommend the film!

The book club discussed the Pulitzer-Prize winning nonfiction book, The Founding Brothers, by Joseph Ellis, which gives an accessible but in-depth look at the following key figures in the founding of the United States: Thomas Jefferson, John and Abigail Adams, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, and Aaron Burr. We were all particularly surprised by the book's revealing that Jefferson was not exactly the perfect figure that has been mythologized throughout history, and we were impressed by John and Abigail Adams relationship and how much respect John had for Abigail's opinions - go Abby! Overall, the book does a good job of revealing just how precarious the U.S. was at its founding, and how this important group of men (and a woman) held it together.

August's book club: Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons, by Lorna Landvik, Thursday, August 21, Noon.

August's film club: Both Capote and Infamous, Wednesday, August 20, 7pm.