Rienzi and Bayou Bend Book Club
About
Look to the MFAH for good books and great conversations!
The MFAH presents a unique book club inspired by history. Throughout the year, the two house museums host free discussions about books on life in America and Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries. Meetings alternate between Bayou Bend and Rienzi.
Call 713.639.7800 or 713.639.7759 to reserve your discussion spot, and e-mail historyreading@mfah.org for more information. For dates and details, scroll through the sections below, and check the online calendar.
July Selection
The Age of Comfort: When Paris Discovered Casual—and the Modern Home Began
Discussion
When: Wednesday, July 10, 2013
1:30 p.m. & 6:30 p.m.
Where: Rienzi
More information:
713.639.7800 or 713.639.7759
2012–2013 Book Club Calendar
September 12, 2012 at Bayou Bend
In Small Things Forgotten: An Archaeology of Early American Life by James Deetz
November 14, 2012 at Rienzi
Inheritance: The Story of Knole and the Sackvilles by Robert Sackville-West
January 9, 2013 at Bayou Bend
The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell
March 13, 2013 at Rienzi
Women and Their Gardens: A History from the Elizabethan Era to Today by Catherine Horwood
May 8, 2013 at Bayou Bend
The Sot-Weed Factor by John Barth
Additional Resources for The Sot-Weed Factor: Reading Guide, Definition of Postmodernism, the original 17th-century poem, and a brief history of the novel.
July 10, 2013 at Rienzi
The Age of Comfort: When Paris Discovered Casual—and the Modern Home Began by Joan DeJean
Library
September 2011
At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson
Click here for the reading guide.
October 2011
A History of the World in Six Glasses by Tom Standage
Click here for the reading guide.
November 2011
Taste: The Story of Britain through Its Cooking
by Kate Colquhoun
Click here for the reading guide.
December 2011
Christmas: A Candid History by Bruce David Forbes
Click here for the reading guide.
Click here for a delightful, vintage trailer.
January 2012
Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution by Caroline Weber
Click here for the reading guide.
February 2012
The Age of Homespun: Objects and Stories in the Creation of an American Myth by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
March 2012
The Arcanum: The Extraordinary True Story by Janet Gleeson
Click here for the reading guide.
April 2012
Founding Gardeners: The Revolutionary Generation, Nature, and the Shaping of the American Nation by Andrea Wulf
Click here for the reading guide.
May 2012
Young Romantics by Daisy Hay
Click here for the reading guide.
June 2012
Pets in America: A History by Katherine C. Grier
Click here for the reading guide.
July 2012
Madame du Barry: The Wages of Beauty by Joan Haslip
Click here for the reading guide.
August 2012
Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott
Click here for the reading guide.
September 2012
In Small Things Forgotten: An Archaeology of Early American Life by James Deetz
Click here for the reading guide.
Resources
Selected book club texts, as well as an overflowing array of decorative arts and historical resources, are available at the Kitty King Powell Library and Study Center at Bayou Bend's Lora Jean Kilroy Visitor and Education Center.
Selected book club texts are available for purchase at The Shop at Bayou Bend.
MFAH Members receive a discount.