The Book Party Page
with Host Bill Moore
Updated 3/3/04, Created 1/1/04

The 2004 Book Party: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (b. 1812 d. 1870)

• 1/29/04 Bill:  "I think this passage in TofTC (below) is surprisingly beautiful, even poetic.  It stands on its own as a meditation on human loneliness.  I didn't expect this in this political/spiritual/adventure/romance novel. Feel free to let me know what you think.  If you request it, I'll post your thoughts."

Charles Dickens - Tale of Two Cities 1859

From Book 1 , Chapter III "The Night Shadows"

A WONDERFUL FACT to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other. A solemn consideration, when I enter a great city by night, that every one of those darkly clustered houses encloses its own secret; that every room in every one of them encloses its own secret; that every beating heart in the hundreds of thousands of breasts there, is, in some of its imaginings, a secret to the heart nearest it! Something of the awfulness, even of Death itself, is referable to this. No more can I turn the leaves of this dear book that I loved, and vainly hope in time to read it all. No more can I look into the depths of this unfathomable water, wherein, as momentary lights glanced into it, I have had glimpses of buried treasure and other things submerged. It was appointed that the book should shut with a spring, for ever and for ever, when I had read but a page. It was appointed that the water should be locked in an eternal frost, when the light was playing on its surface, and I stood in ignorance on the shore. My friend is dead, my neighbour is dead, my love, the darling of my soul, is dead; it is the inexorable consolidation and perpetuation of the secret that was always in that individuality, and which I shall carry in mine to my life's end. In any of the burial-places of this city through which I pass, is there a sleeper more inscrutable than its busy inhabitants are, in their innermost personality, to me, or than I am to them? As to this, his natural and not to be alienated inheritance, the messenger on horseback had exactly the same possessions as the King, the first Minister of State, or the richest merchant in London.

• 2/7/04 Dennis Faulkner Writes: Dickens based his novel on a history by his friend Thomas Carlyle. You can find it mentioned on pages 5 and 17 of this “A Tale of Two Cities” study guide by Glencoe.com (http://www.glencoe.com/sec/literature/litlibrary/pdf/tale_of_two_cities.pdf). Those of you who are not reading the book, may find some useful information in this study guide.
  
  Here's the complete Carlyle work The French Revolution: A History (available for download at a project Gutenberg site).

• 2/7/04 Bill: The place has been chosen. La Chatelaine, in Worthington. Since one of the “two cities” is Paris, French cooking seemed to be one of our options. And since English food lacks a good reputation, that helped us decide. We have room to show the movie and space for about 35 people. The time is still scheduled from 9AM – 2PM. I'll let you know when I get the final cost numbers, but this should be less expensive than last year because this restaurant is cafeteria style. I've experienced the prices and they are so reasonable they are almost un-French.

  Here's a web site with a review of the restaurant: http://columbus.citysearch.com/profile/7839929/

  Please, let me know if you locate other web sites for the restaurant!

  Warning: There are two La Chatelaines. We are NOT meeting at the one on Lane Avenue in Upper Arlington.

• 2/15/04 Bill: The only expense, beyond the $4/person cost to Bill Moore for your souvenir and printing, is your food.
  Here is an overview of the breakfast and lunch choices at La Chatelaine, Worthington. You won't have to choose from the menu in advance.
  The menu is more complete, now, than the first time I published it. This should give you a clear idea of what's available.
  

  • Breakfast
  • Breakfast special 2 eggs, bread, homemade potatoes, bacon or sausage, and coffee: $5.75 (incl. tax).
  • Oemlettes (Ham, Mushroom, Vegetable, Fine Herbs). $4.15
  • Croissants and Cookies $1.05 - 2.50
  • Lunch
  • Lunch Special: Small soup, small sandwich, small salad $5.95.
  • Signature Hot Sandwiches, $4.95 each.
    Spinach Brikette
    Spinach Quiche
    Ratatouille (Vegetarian)
    Ham and Bacon
    
  • 1/2 Baguette Sandwich served either Hot or Cold $5.95
    Ham
    Turkey
    Veggie
    Prosciutto and Brie
    
  • Soups:
    Tomato Basil (w/ Chicken Broth)
    Tomato Veggie (Vegetarian)
    French Onion
    
  • Croisantes and Cookies $1.05 - 2.50
  • Pastries (Napoleons and Eclairs). $2.95
  • Soft Drinks and Iced Tea 1.75
  • Coffee 1.50
  • Espresso 1.50
  • Cappuccino 1.90

• 2/15/04 Greg Tidwell: Here are some thoughts by  Edmund Burke (b. 1729, d. 1797) on the French Revolution:
  

  • On the scheme of this barbarous philosophy, which is the offspring of cold hearts and muddy understandings, and which is as void of solid wisdom as it is destitute of all taste and elegance, laws are to be supported only by their own terrors, and by the concern which each individual may find in them from his own private speculations, or can spare to them from his own private interests. In the groves of their academy, at the end of every vista, you see nothing but the gallows.
    
    
  • It is not very just to chastise men for the offences of their natural ancestors: but to take the fiction of ancestry in a corporate succession, as a ground for punishing men who have no relation to guilty acts, except in names and general descriptions, is a sort of refinement in injustice belonging to the philosophy of this enlightened age.
    
    
  • History consists, for the greater part, of the miseries brought upon the world by pride, ambition, avarice, revenge, lust, sedition, hypocrisy, ungoverned zeal, and all the train of disorderly appetites, which shake the public with the same — troublous storms that toss the private state, and render life unsweet.
    
    
  These quotes are taken from Reflections on the Revolution in France , by Edmund Burke, 1789-1790; the entire text of which can be obtained in the Harvard Classics library and is available online at http://www.bartleby.com/24/3/1.html. Edmund Burke was a British statesman who initially began this essay as merely a letter.

  "...the ... Reflections had their origin in a correspondence between the Author and a very young gentleman at Paris, who did him the honour of desiring his opinion upon the important transactions, which then, and ever since, have so much occupied the attention of all men."

  The essay reflects his opposition to atheistical Jacobinism. Among his other works are two speeches sympathetic with the Colonists American Taxation (1774) and Conciliation with America (1775).
  
• 3/3/04 Bill:
  
  • Directions: First: Head to downtown Worthington, Ohio by either A) going West on 161 from I-71 or B) by heading East on 161 from SR-315. Second: Once you get to the light at High Street and 161, head South on High Street. Right after you cross "New England Ave", you will see La Chatelaine on your right side (you will have just passed all parking opportunities unless you can get a spot right in front). If this is all too confusing, see the map link, below.
    
    
  • Parking: There is a little (very little) bit of parking behind the restaurant, and about the same in front. However, there is a large public parking lot owned by the City of Worthington on the N. Side of "New England Ave". To get there you would have to turn right (West) on "New England Ave."
    Another city parking lot is behind the buildings on the East side of High Street. The two buildings in front the parking lot are the Worthington United Methodist Church and the Masonic Temple Museum and Lodge. To get there you would have to turn left (East) on "New England Ave." and turn right where the sign indicates parking at the alley. Park where indicated.
    
    
  • Map:
    Map of La Chatellaine 627 High St
    Worthington, OH 43085-4143
    

  • Program on 3/6:
       8:00 Show up early to eat the LaChatelaine's breakfast if you wish.
       9:00 Welcome
       9:15 Movie begins (early because we don't want to miss out on the lunch goodies)
      11:20 Lunch.
      12:30 Discussion of the book (which began over lunch).
       2:00 Closing.
    

  • Attendance Statistics:
    I expect about 28 or more people, since I last mentioned the subject. There's room for up to 35, so please feel free to come at the last minute if your schedule opens up.