CG'sbookshelf overview

What’s on the CG’s Bookshelf: Overview

And that’s a wrap!  Our heartfelt thanks for accompanying us the past year on our journey to get know American authors, past and present.  We’ve greatly enjoyed your company and insights along the way as we discussed the authors, themes, and diversity in American literature.  We hope you continue on your own journey to discover ... Read More»

By | 19 October, 2017 | Topics: Amsterdam, Art & Culture, Consul General | Tags:

The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka

What’s on the CG’s Bookshelf: The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka

July’s book is The Buddha in the Attic (2011) by Julie Otsuka.  The novel tracks the lives of a group of young women brought from Japan to San Francisco as “picture brides” in the early 20th century.  Told in the first-person, the novel eloquently evokes the women’s day-to-day struggles in a new land:  meeting their ... Read More»

By | 5 July, 2017 | Topics: Amsterdam, Consul General, Culture | Tags: , , ,

Euphoria by Lily King on CG's Bookshelf

CG’s Bookshelf March: Euphoria by Lily King

Winner of the Kirkus Prize for Fiction in 2014, King’s fourth novel is based loosely on the real-life passionate love triangle between pioneering U.S. cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead (1901-1978) and fellow anthropologists (and second and third husbands) Reo Fortune and Gregory Bateson, while the trio conducted research in Papua New Guinea in the early 1930s. ... Read More»

By | 1 March, 2017 | Topics: Amsterdam, Culture | Tags:

CG's Bookshelf December - Catch 22

What’s on the CG’s Bookshelf: Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

Thanks to the U.S. Consulate’s Youth Advisory Board (comprised of Amsterdam University College students) for recommending this month’s book—“Catch-22” by Joseph Heller.  The iconic 1961 novel, set off the coast of Italy in World War II, chronicles the experiences of Captain John Yossarian and his 256th air corps squadron as they confront the violence and paradoxes prevalent in ... Read More»

By | 1 December, 2016 | Topics: Consul General, Culture, Featured Event | Tags: , , ,

Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich

What’s on the CG’s Bookshelf? Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich

This month’s book is “Love Medicine” by award-winning author Louise Erdrich.  Erdrich won the 2015 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction “for [portraying] her fellow Native Americans as no contemporary American novelist ever has, exploring—in intimate and fearless ways—the myriad cultural challenges that indigenous and mixed-race Americans face.”  “Love Medicine,” the first of Erdrich’s ... Read More»

By | 1 November, 2016 | Topics: Amsterdam, Consul General, Culture, Featured Event | Tags: , , , ,

Ms Cabrera reading The House on Mango Street

CG’s Bookshelf October: The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros

Sandra Cabrera, spouse of CG McCawley, and a proud U.S. citizen of Colombian descent, introduces this month’s book, “The House on Mango Street”, by Mexican-American author Sandra Cisneros. In her 1984 novel, Cisneros chronicles the life of Esperanza Cordero, a young Latina girl coming of age in a poor Chicago neighborhood. This beloved book has ... Read More»

By | 1 October, 2016 | Topics: Amsterdam, Consul General, Culture | Tags: , ,

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