Anna Gvenetadze

Guest: Anna Gvenetadze, friend and colleague.

Books

The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier"The Lady and the Unicorn" tapestries are a set of six medieval tapestries. Beautiful, intricate and
 expertly made, they are also mysterious in their origin and meaning. Tapestries give an appearance
of order and continuity, as if designed and made by one person, belying the complicated process
required to create them. Weavers, patrons, designers, artists, merchants and apprentices were
involved in their making, and behind them were the wives, daughters and servants who exercised
influences over their men. Like the many strands of wool and silk woven together into one cloth,
so these people came together in a complex dance to create the whole picture. Jean le Viste, a newly
wealthy member of the French court, commissions the tapestries to hang in his chateau. Nicolas, his
chosen designer, meets le Viste's wife Genevieve and his daughter Claude, both of whom take a keen
interest in the tapestries. From Paris, Nicolas moves to a weaver's workshop in Brussels in order
to complete the commission. The creation of the tapestries brings together people who would not
otherwise meet - their lives become entangled, and so do their desires. As they fall in love, are
shunned, take revenge, find unrequited love, turn to the church or to pagan ideals, the tapestries
become to each an ideal vision of life - yet all discover that they are unable to make this ideal
world their own.

This Charming Man by Marian Keyes
'Everybody remembers where they were the day they heard that Paddy de Courcy was getting married'.
Lola has every reason to be interested in who Paddy's marrying-because although she's his girlfriend,
she definitely isn't the bride-to-be. Heartbroken, she flees the city for a cottage by the sea. But
will Lola's retreat prove as idyllic as she hopes? Not if journalist Grace has anything to do with
it. She wants the inside story on the de Courcy engagement and thinks Lola holds the key. Grace knew
Paddy a long time ago. But why can't she forget him?Grace's sister, Marnie, might have the answer
but she also has issues with the past. Her family is wonderful but they can't take away memories of
her first love: a certain Paddy de Courcy. What will it take for Marnie to be able to move on? And
what of the future Mrs de Courcy...Alicia is determined to be the perfect politician's wife. But
does she know the real Paddy de Courcy? Four very different women. One awfully charming man. And
thedark secret that binds them all...

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
In 1872 the mistress of a neighbouring landowner threw herself under a train at a station near
Tolstoy's home. This gave Tolstoy the starting point he needed for composing what many believe to be
the greatest novel ever written. In writing Anna Karenina he moved away from the vast historical
sweep of War and Peace to tell, with extraordinary understanding, the story of an aristocratic woman
who brings ruin on herself. Anna's tragedy is interwoven with not only the courtship and marriage of
Kitty and Levin but also the lives of many other characters.Rich in incident,powerful in
characterization, the novel also expresses Tolstoy's own moral vision. 'The correct way of putting
the question is the artist's duty', Chekhov once insisted, and Anna Karenina was the work he chose
to make his point. It solves no problem, but it is deeply satisfying because all the questions are
put correctly.

Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
On the banks of the Mississippi, Tom Sawyer and his friends seek out adventure at every turn. Then
one fateful night they witness a murder. The boys swear never to reveal the secret and run away to
be pirates and search for hidden treasure. But when Tom gets trapped in a cave with the murderer,
can he escape unharmed?