Glencarlyn Book Club: "The English Understand Wool"
Let's talk about books at Glencarlyn Library!
Join us at the Library for a book discussion on "The English Understand Wool" by Helen DeWitt.
The Glencarlyn Book Club is held monthly at Glencarlyn Library, on the last Monday of every month. Snacks and drinks will be provided.
We are reading:
- Jan. 28: "Pride & Prejudice" by Jane Austen
- Feb. 25: "The Nickel Boys" by Colson Whitehead
- Mar. 25: "Invisible Women" by Caroline Criado-Perez
- Apr. 29: "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
- May 27: "Happiness Falls" by Angie Kim
- Jun. 24: "Orlando" by Virginia Woolf
- Jul. 28: "The Long Goodbye" by Raymond Chandler
- Aug. 25: "Dubliners" by James Joyce
- Sep. 29: "Pedro Páramo" by Juan Rulfo
- Oct. 27: "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote
- Nov. 24: "The Night Watchman" by Louise Erdrich
- Dec. 15: "The English Understand Wool" by Helen DeWitt
REGISTRATION RECOMMENDED. By registering, you will receive event updates.
A limited number of reserved print copies of the selected book will be available at Glencarlyn Library circulation desk approximately one month before the book club meeting. Books are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Patrons are also encouraged to place holds on available print or digital copies.
For more information, please call 703-228-6548.
- Date:
- Monday, December 15, 2025
- Time:
- 6:45pm - 7:45pm
- Library:
- Glencarlyn Library
- Audience:
- Events for Adults Good for Adults Age 55+
- Categories:
- Book Discussion
- Calendar:
- Arlington Public Library
About the Book:
Raised in Marrakech by a French mother and English father, a 17-year-old girl has learned above all to avoid mauvais ton ("bad taste" loses something in the translation). One should not ask servants to wait on one during Ramadan: they must have paid leave while one spends the holy month abroad. One must play the piano; if staying at Claridge’s, one must regrettably install a Clavinova in the suite, so that the necessary hours of practice will not be inflicted on fellow guests. One should cultivate weavers of tweed in the Outer Hebrides but have the cloth made up in London; one should buy linen in Ireland but have it made up by a Thai seamstress in Paris (whose genius has been supported by purchase of suitable premises). All this and much more she has learned, governed by a parent of ferociously lofty standards. But at 17, during the annual Ramadan travels, she finds all assumptions overturned. Will she be able to fend for herself? Will the dictates of good taste suffice when she must deal, singlehanded, with the sharks of New York?