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The Book Club Chronicles

Author : Joan H. Parks

Publisher : iUniverse

Page : 284 pages

File Size : 36,85 MB

Release : 2012-06-12

Category : Fiction

ISBN : 9781475929928

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Book Description

In a University town during the present time, ladies have a book club where they are studying The Tale of Genji, the worlds first novel written by a lady from Heian Japan, with a graduate student. The ladies are going through tumultuous times that echo those of the book they are reading; a husband is dying, a marriage is falling apart, a decision about retirement has to be made. Old loves re-appear, the bereaved are able to love again, though not in the same old way, new men appear and court the ladies, loved ones sicken gradually. Houses that were used to bring up children are too large and too complicated for the lives they now lead. Their graduate student goes away for a quarter, perhaps into exile. Will there be a happy ending for any of our ladies? Do our ladies believe in the concept of happy endings? Will they continue reading The Tale of Genji together?



The Book Club Chronicles - Part Five - Hamlet

Author : Joan H. Parks

Publisher : iUniverse

Page : 125 pages

File Size : 34,66 MB

Release : 2016-07-30

Category : Fiction

ISBN : 1532002912

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Book Description

It is early fall when the ladies reconvened their book club. At Katherines suggestion they continued with Shakespeare and studied Hamlet using the text and the version filmed with Sir Patrick Stewart as Claudius as their base. Surprised at their reaction to the characters in Act 1, they quickly realized that seen through the filter of their age and gender that they were the ones most able to mount a defense of Gertrude. They added the Sir Kenneth Branagh version of Hamlet as contrast. Their study of the play is reflected in the talks with the males in their lives: Claire is newly married and her Henry isdetermined to hold on to his corner office; Annies husband, Bill, is facing theend of his career which will effect her in unpredictable ways; Franny, slowly recovering with the help of her therapist, wants to reconcile with Sam and her children; Katherine is convinced that her liaison with Mark will not endure and is determined to enjoy her remaining time with him. A new member, welcomed gingerly into the book club, turns out to be a good addition. The ladies struggled with both the play and with the awareness that because of their age, they and all their friends and mates were seen as obsolete.



The Book Club Chronicles—Part Six—The Tempest

Author : Joan H. Parks

Publisher : iUniverse

Page : 122 pages

File Size : 37,51 MB

Release : 2018-03-28

Category : Fiction

ISBN : 1532045964

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Book Description

The storms of autumn arrive, and the storms of their lives continue. The ladies decide to study Shakespeares The Tempest, wrongly thinking that a comedy will be easier than another of the big tragedies. Finding a suitable filmed version is difficult; reading the text is even more difficult. They struggle, seeing in this late play parts that mirror their own experiences. Claire and Henry struggle in their late-life marriage with the debris and assumptions from their earlier marriages. Annie fights against the physical constraints that come with her aging as Bill wrestles with what he will do after retirement. Katherine is haunted by her past and her brush with cancer and has trouble accepting that Mark is in her life for the duration. Frannie now has grandchildren and a measure of happiness because she has faced the demons of her upbringing. The new members of the book club, Sally and Clarissa, have their own issues as their long-standing friendship shatters. Clarissa is rejuvenated by one new passion and one old passion. All this occurs and is illuminated by their reading of the glorious music and the strange plots of The Tempest.



The Book Club Chronicles, Part Four - Macbeth

Author : Joan H. Parks

Publisher : iUniverse

Page : 98 pages

File Size : 43,50 MB

Release : 2015-06-08

Category : Fiction

ISBN : 1491770066

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Book Description

The ladies having completed their study of Romeo and Juliet move on to Macbeth. It is February in Chicago, a dreary month that seems to last forever. The skies are grey, the streets cold and dangerous, a setting that mirrors Macbeth. The three witches who make their target Macbeth, the ghosts who torment Macbeth and his consort Lady Macbeth resonate with what is happening in their own lives. Katherine is haunted by the certainty that her cancer will recur, and is terrified that she will die alone. Franny is tormented by the ghosts from her past that she thought she had escaped by marrying Sam. Annie, reconciled with Bill is worried about the fate of the artists, writers, and doctors in a culture that exploits those who do the actual work. Claire is disturbed by the play and the pain it is causing her and her friends. All are intensely aware of how little time is left to them and how precious that remaining time is. Changes, welcome or not, come to all the ladies. The Book Club and their friendships provide sustenance and comfort in this unsettled time of their lives.



Sigrid

Author : Joan H. Parks

Publisher : iUniverse

Page : 99 pages

File Size : 45,50 MB

Release : 2024-05-17

Category : Fiction

ISBN : 1663262853

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Book Description

Sigrid, a Healer, after enduring rapes and beatings in her captivity cannot bear to be touched, until an Egyptian soldier wins her trust. This volume again meditates on the nature of heroism, how myths are made, and how this small tribe survives and attracts the talented in the midst of the tumult of their time.



Penelope and the Lawyers

Author : Joan H. Parks

Publisher : iUniverse

Page : 94 pages

File Size : 32,83 MB

Release : 2024-07-10

Category : Fiction

ISBN : 1663264511

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Book Description

Penelope asks for help from the lawyer she once knew. He is retired, but his nephew takes care of her. She pays a call to the old gentleman in his aerie above Lake Shore Drive. Thus, this tale of a love deferred commences in all its humor, realism, sweet moments of recounting the drama of their long lives and finally, acceptance of their fates.



Trygve

Author : Joan H. Parks

Publisher : iUniverse

Page : 103 pages

File Size : 12,62 MB

Release : 2022-08-01

Category : Fiction

ISBN : 1663242860

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Book Description

Part 10 of the Late Bronze Age Stores has the kin near the great trade route in what today is Northern Lebanon. Times are desperate. Predators attack from both sea and land. Trygve of the Northerners has to decide about joining with the Kin. The leaders of the Kin have to decide about joining with Trygve and his people. Dalil, the storyteller, has returned to the Kin after many years of roaming. The two groups learn each other’s languages and stories, as they prepare for what may be another great migration.



Two Brothers

Author : Joan H. Parks

Publisher : iUniverse

Page : 90 pages

File Size : 34,80 MB

Release : 2021-05-12

Category : Fiction

ISBN : 1663223068

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Book Description

Part Nine of the Late Bronze Age Stories has the brothers, Diripi and Arudara, returning to the kin in the season of storms acquire a mysterious passenger. Diripi knowing himself to belong on the sea wonders if loneliness is his fate. Arudara, a gifted artist as well as a sailor and trader, needs to spend time on his art. Maeve, from the north country, is conflicted by her haunting past and her present duty. At the close of the bronze age all is in flux, trade routes are destroyed, empires are being dismembered, danger and bloodshed is everywhere, trust is dangerous. How does the kin survive in these hard times? How can Diripi, Arudara and Maeve make a living and live their lives?



Amarna

Author : Joan H Parks

Publisher : iUniverse

Page : 112 pages

File Size : 46,50 MB

Release : 2019-01-26

Category : Fiction

ISBN : 1532067356

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Book Description

Part Eight of the Late Bronze Age Stories has Nahid, driven by prophetic dreams, leaving the hills above the Great Green Sea. With Bakiri and his band of protectors, he sets out for Egypt, Bakiri’s home, and then to Amarna, where their ancestor Thutmose created his greatest work. Amarna was dismantled when the heretic pharaoh Akhenaten died, but Nahid is sure that a treasure still exists for him to find. Bakiri’s daughter, Rabiah, and Nahid fall in love, and they meld his jewelry and her linen garments. He has found his mate, and perhaps the treasure he was meant to find. She insists on being a part of the trip to Amarna. In the course of finding the treasure, Rabiah is put in great danger, and they have to flee Amarna to save Rabiah. Nahid further matures into a wise and protective mate to Rabiah. All are astonished at the secrets revealed by their quick journey to Amarna. The artists will forever have the images of the great art they have witnessed, in their minds and hearts.



Nahid

Author : Joan H. Parks

Publisher : iUniverse

Page : 136 pages

File Size : 36,77 MB

Release : 2017-07-11

Category : Fiction

ISBN : 1532027869

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Book Description

The Late Bronze Age Stories part seven, Nahid, continues the story of this family who are descended from Thutmose, the eighteenth dynasty Egyptian artist. It is unsafe for the kin to remain in northern Mesopotamia for a tribe led by an ambitious man threatens their very existence. Petros the Wise and Kaliq have devised an intricate strategy to move the outnumbered kin to a safer place, but because they have a traitor in their midst, they can tell no one of their plans. Nahid, a young jeweler, sets out along the trade route to locate and bring back lapis. Will his great gifts for jewelry be damaged by the violence he sees? Much is changed during the course of the adventures. Nahid matures as a man and as an artist. The Bedouin and Serena thrown together by his injury become closer, their lives forever intertwined. The kin have to decide whether to honor the traditions of their kin or succumb to the surrounding violence and chaos.