Join the NOMA Book Club! Each month Book Club reads art-related fiction and non-fiction, and engages in discussion groups, curatorial programs and field trips correlating with each book.

Most Book Club programs start promptly at noon, but please come at 11:30 if you wish to bring a sack lunch and meet with friends. NOMA provides water and soft drinks. Please RSVP for the meetings you wish to attend.

Book Club members may buy their reading selections at the NOMA Museum Shop at a 20% discount. Call the Shop at 504.658.4133 for more information.

To join NOMA Book Club or for more information, contact 504.658.4117 or at bookclub@noma.org.

August’s Selection

An Englishman in Madrid by Eduardo Mendoza

Anthony Whitelands, an English art historian, is invited to Madrid to value an aristocrat’s collection. At a welcome lunch he encounters Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera, founder and leader of the Falange, a nationalist party whose antics are bringing the country ever closer to civil war.

The paintings turn out to be worthless, but before Whitelands can leave for London the duque’s daughter Paquita reveals a secret and genuine treasure, held for years in the cellars of her ancestral home. Afraid that the duque will cash in his wealth to finance the Falange, the Spanish authorities resolve to keep a close eye on the Englishman, who is also being watched by his own embassy.

As Whitelands–ever the fool for a pretty face–vies with Primo de Rivera for Paquita’s affections, he learns of a final interested party: Madrid is crawling with Soviet spies, and Moscow will stop at nothing to secure the hidden prize. (Description available here)