Our Book and Film Club is open to all interested adults in the area. All meetings and materials are in English. The meetings will be held on the second Monday of each month, unless otherwise indicated. When are discussing a book, the meeting will start at 7:30PM. When we watch a film, the meeting will start at 7PM. A 10 NIS donation is requested when films are shown.
The schedule for the 2015-2016 is as follows:
August 31 (7PM) – Movie – The Woman in Gold
Directed by Simon Curtis, with a cast including Helen Mirren, Ryan Reynolds, Elizabeth McGovern, and Jonathan Pryce, the film is based on the true story of the late Maria Altmann, an elderly Jewish refugee living in Los Angeles, who, together with her young lawyer, fought the government of Austria for almost a decade to reclaim an iconic painting of her aunt which was confiscated from her relatives by the Nazis.
October 12 – The Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline
An unforgettable story of friendship and second chances that highlight a little known, but historically significant moment in America’s past. A powerful novel of upheaval and resilience, of unexpected friendship and of the secrets we carry that keep us from finding out who we are.
November 9 – Thinking in Pictures by Temple Grandin, PhD.
Temple Grandin is a gifted animal scientist who has designed one third of the livestock handling facilities in the United States. She also lectures widely on Autism because she is Autistic. She is a woman who thinks, feels, and experiences the world in ways that are incomprehensible to the rest of us.
December 14 (7 PM) – Movie – The Imitation Game
Directed by Morten Tyldum, and starring Benedict Cumberbatch, the film is loosely based on the biography Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges. It tells the story of British cryptanalyst Alan Turing, who is hired to decrypt German intelligence codes for the British government during World War II.
January 11 – Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
A tender and satisfying novel set in a time and a place lost forever, gives us a glimpse of the damage that is caused by war–not the sweeping damage of the battlefield, but the cold, cruel damage to the hearts and humanity of individual people. Especially relevant in today’s world, this is a beautifully written book that will make you think. And, more importantly, it will make you feel.
February 8 – Once We Were Brothers by Ronald Balson
Compelling tale of two boys and a family who struggle to survive in war-torn Poland. Two lives, two worlds, and sixty years converge in an explosive race to redemption that makes for a moving and powerful tale of love, survival and ultimately the triumph of the human spirit.
March 14 (7PM) – Movie – Selma
Selma is a 2014 historical drama film directed by Ava DuVernay, with a cast including Tom Wilkinson and Tim Roth. The film is based on the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches led by, among others, Martin Luther King, Jr. and John Lewis. Although the Civil Rights Act of 1964 legally desegregated the South, discrimination was still rampant in certain areas, making it very difficult for blacks to register to vote. In 1965, the city of Selma, Alabama became the battleground in the fight for suffrage. Despite violent opposition, Dr. King and his followers pressed forward on an epic march from Selma to Montgomery, and their efforts culminated in President Lyndon Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
May 9 – The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker
This book is a poignant and inspirational love story set in Burma, spanning the decades between the 1950s and the present. When a successful New York lawyer suddenly disappears without a trace, neither his wife nor his daughter Julia has any idea where he might be…until they find a love letter he wrote many years ago, to a Burmese woman they have never heard of. Intent on solving the mystery and coming to terms with her father’s past, Julia decides to travel to the village where the woman lived. There she uncovers a tale of unimaginable hardship, resilience, and passion that will reaffirm the reader’s belief in the power of love to move mountains. (Note: This book has been substituted for the book “Crime and Punishment,” which was originally scheduled to be the book for May.)
June 20 – The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
Sue Monk Kidd presents a masterpiece of hope, daring, the quest for freedom, and the desire to have a voice in the world. Hetty “Handful” Grimke, an urban slave in early nineteenth century Charleston, yearns for life beyond the suffocating walls that enclose her within the wealthy Grimke household. The Grimke’s daughter, Sarah, has known from an early age she is meant to do something large in the world, but she is hemmed in by the limits imposed on women.
July 11 (7PM) – Movie – A Late Quartet and end-of-year celebration
Directed by Yaron Zilberman, who also is a co-writer, the film stars (Christopher Walken and Philip Seymour Hoffman. As the Fugue String quartet approaches its 25th anniversary, the onset of a debilitating illness to cellist Peter Mitchell, forces its members to reevaluate their relationships. After being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, Peter announces his decision to play one final concert before he retires. Although there are many inter-personal problems among the members of the group, the quartet searches for a fitting farewell to their shared passion of music and perhaps even a new beginning.