What Have I Been Reading

Geraldine Brooks, Pulitizer prize winning author of March, offers up a compelling literary mystery cum character study in her latest novel People of the Book. It is, as the author notes, "a work of fiction inspired by the true story of the Hebrew codex known as the Sarajevo Haggadah."

A talented book restorer with a less than warm family life, Hannah Heath, finds herself employed to repair and authenticate an ancient Hebrew text that has re-surfaced in war torn Sarjevo in 1996. Working from tiny clues embedded in the manuscript itself, Hannah begins to unravel its travels through the centuries and in alternate chapters Brooks elaborates the ancient lives that touched the manuscript in some way. Their own stories of love, courage, and desperation flesh out and resonate with the Hannah's own life-mending journey.

The authenticity of the book restorer's world clearly justifies the volume's dedication "For the Librarians," but what captures the general reader is how the characters throughout the centuries struggle with their own human deficiencies and their competing desires to display principled reactions to the situations they have been placed in.

If you like a mystery, if you like history, if you like books, you will like the People of the Book.

Galesburg Civic Art Center Collection On View at BCA

Join the folks at the Buchanan Center for the Arts, located on the square in downtown Monmouth, Il for the gala opening of the Buchanan Gallery's first exhibition of the 2008 season. A fine selection of paintings, drawings, lithographs, and sculpture from the permanent collection of the Galesburg Civic Art Center will be on display from now until February 9th. The formal opening reception will be on Friday, January 18th from 5-7 pm. Light refreshments will be served. Marjorie Blackwell (pictured above), who curated the show, will be on hand to answer questions about the works.

The Buchanan Center and shop are open daily T-F from 9-5 and Sat 10-2
No admission is charged but donations are gratefully accepted. The Buchanan Center for the Arts is partially supported by grants from the Illinois Arts Council-a state agency.

Buchanan Center for the Arts Winter Classes

Children interested in taking Drama or Art Classes this winter can register now at the Buchanan Center for the Arts in downtown Monmouth, IL.

Theatre classes, under the direction of Missy Metz, will begin on January 22nd and run once a week for six weeks. Art classes, taught by Marjorie Blackwell, will start on Thursday, Jan. 17th.


Adult ceramics instruction will also be offered for eight weeks beginning Jan. 14th.


The children's classes will be taught in the Buchanan Studio classroom while the ceramics classes take place at Monmouth College. You can get further information and prices by calling the BCA at 734-3033. Please reserve your space as quickly as possible as there are limits on enrollment numbers.