OutBook Book Club

The OutBook Book Club is supported by The Palm Springs Cultural Center and the Palm Springs Public Library. Selections highlight a mix of new LGBTQ releases and influential classics.

OutBook meets on the first Wednesday of the month on Zoom from 7:00 p.m.-8:30 p.m. (PST). To receive meeting information for the OutBook Book Club, please email book club coordinator Hubertus Zegers in advance of the meeting at hwzegers@gmail.com

Click here to see other selections for the OutBook Book Club.

July 7, 2021

The Hours by Michael Cunningham and

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

A daring, deeply affecting third novel by the author of A Home at the End of the World and Flesh and Blood.

In The Hours, Michael Cunningham, widely praised as one of the most gifted writers of his generation, draws inventively on the life and work of Virginia Woolf to tell the story of a group of contemporary characters struggling with the conflicting claims of love and inheritance, hope and despair. The narrative of Woolf's last days before her suicide early in World War II counterpoints the fictional stories of Samuel, a famous poet whose life has been shadowed by his talented and troubled mother, and his lifelong friend Clarissa, who strives to forge a balanced and rewarding life in spite of the demands of friends, lovers, and family.

Passionate, profound, and deeply moving, this is Cunningham's most remarkable achievement to date.

Mrs. Dalloway takes place over the course of a single day in a woman’s life in 1920’s London. There are flowers to buy, outfits to choose, but also a visit from a past lover, and the tragic fate of a young war veteran who cannot adjust to life in post-war London. Virginia Woolf’s supple and mesmerizing account of an ordinary day draws the reader into the minds, perceptions, and emotions of an astonishingly varied and vivid cast of characters. Woolf reminds us that each day, hour, and even minute of our lives harbors the potential to transform us and those around us. The novel ranks among those rare, timeless books that speak to us anew with each reading.

Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) ranks among the major literary figures of all time. With her novels, including To the Lighthouse, Mrs. Dalloway, and The Waves, she reinvented the art of story-telling and shaped modern culture’s self-understanding to the present day. In landmark essays, letters, and diaries, Woolf insisted on a woman’s right to tell her story on her own terms.

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