Venue: Online
Date: Thursday, 28th January 2021
Time: 18:00-19:30

In this session of the Dialogue Society Book Group, we will explore Independent People by Halldor Laxness on Thursday, 28th January 2021 at 6pm.

Independent People by Halldor Laxness:

First published in 1946, this is s a humane, epic novel set in rural Iceland. Bjartur is a sheep farmer determined to eke a living from a blighted patch of land. Nothing, not merciless weather, nor the First World War, nor his family will come between him and his goal of financial independence. Only Asta Sollilja, the child he brings up as his daughter, can pierce his stubborn heart. As she grows up, keen to make her own way in the world, Bjartur’s obstinacy threatens to estrange them forever.

"There are good books and there are great books and there may be a book that is something still more: it is the book of your life." New York Review of Books

About the Dialogue Society Book Group

The Dialogue Society Book Group explores the capacity of books to provide windows into different cultural and intercultural worlds. We will be choosing a series of quality novels to read and then to discuss together at relaxed, sociable gatherings at the Dialogue Society. Participants are welcome to suggest books for future sessions.

Participants will need to find a copy of the book chosen for each meeting and will need to read it prior to the meeting.

We will have a conversation about the book and our responses to it. Discussion may cover:

• the quality of the storytelling
• the authenticity and accuracy with which a historical/cultural situation is portrayed
• our personal responses to it

You do not need to be an expert on literature or anything else to join in. The group should be enjoyable for anyone who enjoys a good book and likes discovering new ones.

Prospective books for future sessions (NB we are open to suggestions)

• The Language of the Heart, Joel Epstein
• An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro
• When the Emperor was Divine by Julie Otsuka
• Independent People, Halldor Laxness
• The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway
• The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne
• The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, Sherman Alexie
• The Rest of the Robots, Isaac Asimov
• Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain