What we’re about
Like to read? Like to explore? You’ve found your people! We are a community of spirited readers who discuss books over paired adventures! We’re not your normal book club! Join us here in-person and for online discussions wherever you are on the socials! FB, Insta, TikTok, Website
Newsletter/FB group: Meetup isn’t great at sending out notifications, so to stay up to date with the latest book and activity pairings, sign up for the newsletter at https://mailchi.mp/fc5e0725650d/thenoveltourist and join the community on our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/share/z7aGScVNC95MEbi6/ Audrey, the club founder also posts regularly on books and book pairings on Instagram via @thenoveltourist
We look forward to meeting you soon! Happy reading and adventuring!
Audrey
Upcoming events (2)
See all- Online Discussion - All the Beauty in the World - Member Choice WinnerLink visible for attendees
The results are in! The Nonfiction November winning Member Choice book club book is *All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Art and Me *by Patrick Bringley. I'll post the zoom link the day of the event.
This is our online book club discussion night (last Monday of each month). Stay tuned for the inperson event!
BOOK: *All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Art and Me *by Patrick Bringley
Genre: Nonfiction"The author of this book decided to step back from his job for a time after the untimely death of his brother. Instead, he applied for and was accepted as a museum guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I found his observations of the people and the art work that he experienced during his time at the Met very uplifting and felt that he confirmed the importance of great art to the spiritual well being of us all." - Review by Anne R
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 glamorous fledgling career at The New Yorker, Patrick Bringley never thought 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 the reader’s 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 a surprising, inspiring portrait of a great museum, its hidden treasures, and the people who make it tick, by one of its most intimate observers.
Happy Reading!
Audrey
