The Scandinavia Public Library book group will meet on Tuesday, February 24 to discuss "All the Beauty in the World" by Patrick Bringley.
Fika (beverages and treats) begins at 3:40 p.m. with the discussion following at 4:00 p.m..
Copies of the book are available to pick up at the Scandinavia Library, or you can place a hold through Infosoup:
https://infosoup.bibliocommons.com/v2/search?query=all%20the%20beauty%20in%20the%20world&searchType=title
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Millions of people climb the grand marble staircase to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art every year. But only a select few have unrestricted access to every nook and cranny. They’re the guards who roam unobtrusively in dark blue suits, keeping a watchful eye on the two million square foot treasure house. Caught up in his glamourous fledgling career at The New Yorker, Patrick Bringley never thought that he’d be one of them. Then his older brother was diagnosed with fatal cancer and he found himself needing to escape the mundane clamor of daily life. So he quit The New Yorker and sought solace in the most beautiful place he knew.
To his surprise and your delight, this temporary refuge becomes Bringley’s home away from home for a decade. We follow him as he guards delicate treasures from Egypt to Rome, strolls the labyrinths beneath the galleries, wears out nine pairs of company shoes, and marvels at the beautiful works in his care. Bringley enters the museum as a ghost, silent and almost invisible, but soon finds his voice and his tribe: the artworks and their creators and the lively subculture of museum guards—a gorgeous mosaic of artists, musicians, blue-collar stalwarts, immigrants, cutups, and dreamers. As his bonds with his colleagues and the art grow, he comes to understand how fortunate he is to be walled off in this little world, and how much it resembles the best aspects of the larger world to which he gradually, gratefully returns.
In the tradition of classic workplace memoirs like Lab Girl and Working Stiff, All the Beauty in the World is an “empathic” (The New York Times Book Review), “moving” (NPR), “consoling, and beautiful” (The Guardian) portrait of a great museum, its hidden treasures, and the people who make it tick, by one of its most intimate observers.
***New York Times bestseller***
***Named one of the best books of the year by the New York Public Library, the Financial Times, the New York Post, Book Riot, and The Sunday Times (London).***
***An “exquisite” (The Washington Post) “hauntingly beautiful” (Associated Press) portrait of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and its treasures by a former New Yorker staffer who spent a decade as a museum guard.***
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Book Group meets on the fourth Tuesday of each month from January through November. We do not meet in December. Watch our website calendar or our Facebook page for the most recent updates!
We read books across most genres as well as some non-fiction. Anyone is welcome to attend who has read, or is interested in, the current month's book and would like to participate in friendly discussion. Members are welcome to attend one meeting or all of them as their interests and schedules permit.
Also check out other Arts events in Scandinavia, Music events in Scandinavia, Meetups in Scandinavia.
