Venue: Online
Date: Thursday, 11th March 2021
Time: 18:00-19:30

In this session of the Dialogue Society Book Group, we will explore Language of the Heart by Joel Epstein on Thursday, 11th March 2021 at 6pm.

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Language of the Heart by Joel Epstein:

Language of the Heart is a book based on the true story of Ziryab, a musician born Ali Ibn Nafi in Baghdad in the year 789 AD. Few facts are known about his life, but much is known about the fabled Golden Age in which he lived: the age of Aladdin and Scheherazade and Sindbad the sailor, a world of magical realism. The magic of Ziryab is the magic of music - magic more powerful than the wizards and demons he battles. Ziryab’s story is about music - the power of music to move the human heart, the magic of music to delve into the world of spirits, the call of music to reach across barriers of nationality, religion, and language to unify people. Indeed, Music is the Language of the Heart.

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)

• An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro
• When the Emperor was Divine by Julie Otsuka
• 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