The International Book Club features books by international authors that will take you to worlds and cultures around the globe.

The Book Club is open to all ICU members. Guests are welcome to attend one meeting before being asked to join the ICU.

The Book Club gathers from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. on Mondays on the dates noted below. Meetings are at Coffee Underground at 1 East Coffee Street (at the intersection of Main and Coffee Streets, below Ristorante Bergamo) in Greenville. Light meals, snacks and beverages may be purchased during meetings.

For more information, please contact International Book Club Coordinator Caroline Warthen at (864) 235-5140 or carolinedw@charter.net.

Print a Book Club Schedule

BOOK CLUB SCHEDULE FOR 2011-2012

August 8, 2011 –The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay (South Africa)
Set in South Africa during the 1930s and 1940s, it tells the story of an Anglo-African boy who, through the course of the story, acquires the nickname of Peekay. It is written from the first person perspective, with Peekay narrating (as an adult, looking back) and trusting the reader with his thoughts and feelings, as opposed to a detailed description of places and account of actions.

September 12, 2011 – Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese (India, Ethiopia, US)
Novel written by the Ethiopian born author Abraham Verghese. The story is a riveting saga of twin brothers, orphaned by their mother and forsaken by their father. The boys become doctors as well and Vergheses weaving of the practice of medicine into the narrative is fascinating even as the story bobs and weaves with the power and coincidences of the best 19th-century novel.

October 24, 2011 – Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks (England)
The novel is based on the history of the small Derbyshire village of Eyam that, when beset upon by the plague in 1666, quarantines itself in order to prevent the disease from spreading further. The Plague that hit Eyam is historically similar to the Black Plague in Europe.

November 28, 2011 – Never Let Me Go by Kazou Ishigiro (England)
Set in a darkling alternate-universe version of England, and told with dry-eyed, white-knuckled restraint, Never Let Me Go is an improbable masterpiece, a science fiction horror story written as high tragedy by a master literary stylist.

January 9, 2012 – Married to Bhutan: How One Woman Got Lost, Said I Do and Found Bliss by Linda Leaming(Bhutan)
Tucked away in the eastern end of the Himalayas lies Bhutan�a tiny, landlocked country bordering China and India. Impossibly remote and nearly inaccessible, Bhutan is rich in natural beauty, exotic plants and animals, and crazy wisdom. In this funny, magical memoir, we accompany Linda Leaming on her travels through South Asia, sharing her experiences as she learns the language, customs, and religion; her surprising romance with a Buddhist artist; and her realizations about the unexpected path to happiness and accidental enlightenment.

February 13, 2012 – In The Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin by Erik Larson (Germany)
In the Garden of Beasts is a vivid portrait of Berlin during the first years of Hitler’s reign, brought to life through the stories of two people: William E. Dodd, who in 1933 became America’s first ambassador to Hitler’s regime, and his scandalously carefree daughter, Martha. The rise of Nazi Germany is a well-chronicled time in history, which makes In the Garden of Beasts all the more remarkable.

March 26, 2012 – Leaving Mother Lake: A Girlhood at the Edge of the World by Yang Erche Namu and Christine Mathieu (China/Tibet)
With the help of anthropologist Mathieu, singer Namu describes growing up on the Chinese-Tibetan border in Moso country, "the Country of the Daughters":. Detailing her late-1960s, early-'70s upbringing-she was known in her village as "the girl who was given back three times7quot;-she sheds light on the unique matrilineal Moso culture, with its "walking marriages," where women take as many lovers as they want and the men continue to reside in their mothers homes.

April 30, 2012 – The Beauty of Humanity Movement by Camilla Gibb (Vietnam/ Canada)
Set in contemporary Vietnam, this is the story of a country undergoing momentous change and the story of how family is defined � not always by bloodlines but by the heart.


June 4, 2012 – White Tiger by Arvind Adiga (India)
In this darkly comic d�but novel set in India, Balram, a chauffeur, murders his employer, justifying his crime as the act of a social entrepreneur.


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