One Thousand and One Nights (Arabic , 1706): Historical tales, love stories, tragedies, comedies, poems, burlesques and various forms of erotica. In one story, a misogynist king begins to marry a succession of virgins only to execute each one the next morning, before she has a chance to dishonour him. The tales vary widely. One Thousand and One Nights is a collection of Middle Eastern and South Asian stories and folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. Scholars generally date the collection's genesis to around the 9th century. The stories proceed from a singular, original tale; some are framed within other tales, while others begin and end of their own accord. Some editions contain stories from only a few hundred nights, while others include 1,001 or more.

Presenter: Adam
Commenter: Kristen

Date: 25 May
Time: 19:15 sharp

Format:
1. Members introduction (5 minutes)
2. Club demography (2 minutes)
3. Introducing interesting books (5 minutes)
4. Brief introduction of next book (2 minutes)
5. Book presentation (20-30 minutes)
– A brief history of author’s life
– A short summary of the book
– Main/new ideas that the book brought to the society at the time that it was written
– What were the major implications/reactions at the time that it was written?
– What are the major implications on our daily lives (if any)?
6. Book clip
7. Group discussion led by the commentator (45-60 minutes), member’s personal view about the book, opposing ideas. The discussion will include the following stories:

1. The Merchant and the Demon (or Tale of the Trader and the Jinni)
2. The Fisherman and the Jinni
3. The Story of the Porter and the Three Ladies (The Porter and the
Three Ladies of Baghdad)
4. The Story of the Three Apples
5. The Story of Nur al-Din Ali and Anis al-Jalis (The Story of Nur
Al-Din and His Son)

Some of the volumes are available, free, at:
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search.html/?format=html&default_prefix=titles&sort_order=title&query=one+thousand+and+one+nights

Venue: Librairie-café Les Recyclables: 53, rue de Carouge, Genève

Tram 12/13 arrêt Pont d'Arve ou Augustin,
Bus 1/4/44 arrêt Pont d'Arve ou Plainpalais,
Parking vélo devant l'arcade,
Parking voiture sous le centre commercial Plainpalais-centre

Note: reading the book is not a "must" to attend the meeting!

Look forward to see you all!

To purchase the hard copy, you can send an email to Grégory in Librairie-café Les Recyclables: [email protected]

To join the club: http://www.glocals.com/#/groups/geneva/geneva-book-club-group.htm

To see the upcoming events:http://sites.google.com/site/genevabookclubgbc/event/eevents-2011

To sign up as presenter and/or commenter (please check the above web address first and only register for the books that are marked with “volunteer needed”:
https://spreadsheets0.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dDlMbUVtTnRXdW5KUVpDZ3pLUWNVX2c6MQ#gid=0