New members, visitors, and all book-loving folk are always invited. Please note we have a fragrance-free policy so that all members of the group can enjoy a safe and healthy environment. Copies of the book are readily available from New Lebanon and other area libraries.

About the book:

Chatwin, British author of books that blend travel, memoir, history, and philosophy (In Patagonia, The Viceroy of Ouidah), now goes to Alice Springs, Australia--for an investigation into Aboriginal culture, run-ins with assorted Aussies, and a fragmented meditation on larger anthropological issues. Chatwin's inquiry focuses on the Aboriginal ""songlines"": a labyrinth of invisible pathways which meander all over Australia, the routes taken (according to Creation myths) by legendary totemic beings as they sang the world into existence. Each clan has its own elaborate, largely secret story-song, linked to a particular animal-totem; and the ""songlines,"" which include numerous sacred sites, give rise to complex taboos and rituals (e.g., the ""walkabout"").---Kirkus Reviews