Cereus Readers book club meets on the fourth Thursday of every month. Unless otherwise stated, the book club meets in the Lemuria’s Dot Com building. We always welcome newcomers and no previous reading experience of Eudora Welty is required.
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Please note that we’re taking a break for the summer.
We’ll reconvene on Thursday, September 25 at Noon to discuss Virginia Woolf and Eudora Welty.
We’ll be discussing the following selections for September:
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf (Houghton Mifflin edition, introduction by Eudora Welty)
A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf
Two essays in The Eye of the Story by Eudora Welty about Virginia Woolf
THURSDAY, APRIL 24 AT NOON:
After we read The Underground Man by Ross Macdonald and listened to a wonderful talk by Carla Wall on Ross Macdonald in February, we decided to read some more mysteries from Miss Welty’s bookshelf. Here are the three we have selected: The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler; The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie; The Blue Hammer by Ross Macdonald.
THURSDAY, MARCH 27 AT NOON:
We will have a kind of “free meeting” on March 27th since the Welty House will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Eudora Welty Garden being open to the public.
If you’d like to participate, there are a few ways to do so on your own. The Welty House will be open for tours all day. (Please call the house to reserve: 601-353-7762) The garden will be open for self-guided tours all day. Cereus Readers are also invited to the Welty House Luncheon with Julia Reed. The luncheon will be at the Mississippi Museum of Art. Please note that tickets are required to attend the luncheon. Click over to the Welty House website for all of the details.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27 AT NOON:
We will discuss the Mysteries of Ross Macdonald and his friendship with Eudora Welty. Our reading assignments are Sleeping Beauty and Underground Man by Ross Macdonald and Eudora Welty’s review of Underground Man which can be found in Eye of the Story.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 23 AT NOON:
Patti Carr Black will be talking about her book Early Escapades and Eudora Welty as an artist. No advanced reading is required for this meeting. Copies of Early Escapades will be on hand for Patti Carr Black to sign.
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If you’re completely new to Cereus Readers or would just like a recap, please find a full introduction to our book club and a list of what we have read so far.
The goal of the Cereus Readers is to introduce readers to the writing of Eudora Welty–her short stories, essays, and novels–and then to read books and authors she enjoyed herself or were influenced by her.
We meet at noon in the Dot.Com building adjacent to Banner Hall. Feel free to bring your lunch. All books are available at Lemuria, and be sure to ask for the “Cereus Reader” 10% discount when making your purchase for the book club. Please e-mail Lisa if you plan on attending or if you have any questions: lisa at lemuriabooks dot com.
This is a reading group open to all level of readers–anyone interested in learning about Jackson’s most important writer. Eudora Welty considered Lemuria her bookstore, and we want to honor her by discussing her books and authors she loved–meeting in the store where she shopped and signed her books.
After reading many works by Welty, we will read authors and works she herself enjoyed: Jane Austen, Virginia Woolf, E.M. Forster, Chekhov, and mysteries. Finally, we thought we would read authors who have acknowledged Welty as an influence and inspiration such as Ann Patchett, Anne Tyler, and Clyde Edgerton. It’s a bold undertaking, but we plan to be meeting for a while!
Cereus Readers is led by Carolyn Brown (author of A Daring Life: A Biography of Eudora Welty), Carla Wall, Freda Spell, Lee Anne Bryan, and Jan Taylor.
A look back at our reading in 2013:
January 2013: A Daring Life: A Biography of Eudora Welty & “A Sweet Devouring” from The Eye of the Story
February 2013: The Optimist’s Daughter
March 2013: The Golden Apples, Part 1
April 2013: The Golden Apples, Part 2
May 2013: Two short stories: “Where Is the Voice Coming from?” & “The Demonstrators”; An essay by Miss Welty: “Must the Novelist Crusade?”
June 2013: We listened to an audio/video recording of Miss Welty reading “Powerhouse.”
July 2013: The Ponder Heart
August 2013: The Robber Bridegroom
September 2013: We listened to an audio/video recording of Miss Welty reading “Keela, the Outcast Indian Maiden”.
October 2013: Hunter Cole, friend and scholar of Eudora Welty, was our guest speaker. Hunter Cole read a paper titled “Eudora Welty and Her Bachelor of the Arts.” It details the lengthy friendship of Welty and Frank Hallam Lyell and focuses mainly on their year together as students and chums at Columbia University.
November 2013: No meeting due to the holidays.
December 2013: Lemuria displayed a special collection of Eudora Welty books—from trade to fine first editions. Suzanne Marrs and Carolyn Brown were also on hand to sign their books Eudora Welty: A Biography and A Daring Life: A Biography of Eudora Welty respectively.
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