The book... People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks.The meeting date... February 17, 2012.
To Refresh your memory, here is a summary from www.Shelfari.com:
From the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of March , the journey of a rare illuminated manuscript through centuries of exile and war In 1996, Hanna Heath, an Australian rare-book expert, is offered the job of a lifetime: analysis and conservation of the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, which has been rescued from Serb shelling during the Bosnian war.What we said...About ten of us came to this meeting. Not everyone had a chance to finish the read with some having gone from text version to audio due to the complex back and forth nature of the writing. Some of us that finished felt the story drew us in the more we read. Often at times, the historical sections were so tragic that they were difficult to read.
Priceless and beautiful, the book is one of the earliest Jewish volumes ever to be illuminated with images. When Hanna, a caustic loner with a passion for her work, discovers a series of tiny artifacts in its ancient binding—an insect wing fragment, wine stains, salt crystals, a white hair—she begins to unlock the book’s mysteries. The reader is ushered into an exquisitely detailed and atmospheric past, tracing the book’s journey from its salvation back to its creation. In Bosnia during World War II, a Muslim risks his life to protect it from the Nazis. In the hedonistic salons of fin-de-siècle Vienna, the book becomes a pawn in the struggle against the city’s rising anti-Semitism. In inquisition-era Venice, a Catholic priest saves it from burning. In Barcelona in 1492, the scribe who wrote the text sees his family destroyed by the agonies of enforced exile. And in Seville in 1480, the reason for the Haggadah’s extraordinary illuminations is finally disclosed. Hanna’s investigation unexpectedly plunges her into the intrigues of fine art forgers and ultra-nationalist fanatics. Her experiences will test her belief in herself and the man she has come to love. Inspired by a true story, People of the Book is at once a novel of sweeping historical grandeur and intimate emotional intensity, an ambitious, electrifying work by an acclaimed and beloved author.
In mystery form, the story walked us through the reverse chronological history of the Jews and their struggles with those of other faiths who tried to destroy them. The chapters alternate between the present, with Hanna investigating each clue she discovered during her book restoration, and the past, where the storyline jumps to scenes from the book’s history and the people who handled it.
The people who ultimately handled the book include the Muslim librarian who sheltered the book from the Nazi’s, the bookbinder who sold the book’s silver clasps to pay for his STD treatment, the catholic priest whose signature saved it from the burning at the Inquisition, the Jewish girl–dressed as a boy–who painted its marvelous illustrations on the parchment, the scribe who bought the illustrations, wrote the Hebrew text and had the book beautifully bound as a gift.
On another note ... we talked about our pets, our children, our old "room mother" days, our trips, our children's trips, our jobs and of course tap dancing. We were given a little rendition of some beginner steps which included how to do the Buffalo as can be seen (not us) in this video...
Still waiting to get a video of our own club members in action!
