Catherine was kind enough to host for our last meeting in her FAB townhouse at Short Pump. How cool it was! The rooftop deck was amazing, and the sky goes on forever there. Thank you so much for hosting Catherine, it was so much fun! And thanks to everyone who brought great food and drink, it is always such a great selection.
We also welcomed a new member to the group, Susan Smithwick, a friend of Lynn's. Once again, our new member came in ready to contribute and had some valuable input. Thanks Lynn for bringing Susan and welcome Susan!
As far as the book, it really sparked some great discussion, very little of which had to do with the text. Overall, our opinion of the book was that it was well-written and interesting. It brought out a very important and little understood part of war, how is an invading (or protecting) army able or to manage the cultural and artistic wealth of the territory it inhabits?
We were impressed, terrifically, with the sense of purpose that the "Monuments Men" displayed. Their intense focus on the amazing ancient art works of the areas motivated them to intense hardships, untold difficulties getting where they needed to go, overcoming inane ignorance of the history around them. Somehow, they found a way to impress upon invading armies to avoid, if not preserve the astonishing ancient treasures of the land they invaded.
Our discussion went way beyond that, way beyond what the armies should have done, to what the art and ancient monuments meant to the overall culture of the area. Did religion drive the culture? Did these ancient churches and monuments really hold the heritage of the surrounding village or region, or has the culture moved way beyond those now?
And how much of war was appropriately waged on these ancient relics of the local populations? It was a bit of a surprise to read how much the Allied Armies destroyed themselves, yet what was the right choice between protecting the cultural heritage of the area and making progress against the Germans? Not an easy choice in many circumstances.
We had an interesting discussion on the modern art involved and how much of it was supposed to be sold to fund the German Army. Although Picasso and his ilk were valuable at the time, they were only 30 years or so removed from their arrival on the art scene. These were the works found recently in an apartment in Germany - thousands of confiscated artwork that never made it to market.
It was another surprise that the Germans had a list of art it wanted and even as it was beaten back from Belgium and France, the army stole art works as it went along. The list was astonishing in its audacity, and the overall German plan no less so.
All in all, we liked the book. The author was so interesting as this was essentially his retirement project, after moving to Europe and learning the amazing story of the people who loved these art works. There was a good bit of well-known history that did not add to this particular story, so could have been deleted, but all in all, a good job.
Our next book is
Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks. We are meeting at Maggie's on TUESDAY October 14 in her new tree house! To make sure we can appreciate it, we are meeting at 5:30, a new time. This book came up in the group and many of us were interested, so it became our October pick! Please note also that the 14th is a Tuesday, we are trying to avoid Columbus Day as some of us are traveling.
November also has some scheduling challenges, so we are meeting on TUESDAY Nov. 11 at Ashley's. Our book is
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh. I don't know if I have ever read this so am really looking forward to it.
December is our annual book swap at my house, on December 8, back to Monday. Bring the book you want everyone to read and we will have a Yankee Swap. Can you believe we are talking about Christmas already?
Thanks to all for coming, it was so much fun and thanks again to Catherine for hosting. See you in October!
