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# Book club features Santa Monica writer
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/book-club-features-santa-monica-writer/
- Published: 2003-12-17T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T03:20:19.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Community, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*COMMUNITY BRIEFS*

*By Daily Press staff*

The Berlin Stories by former resident Christopher Isherwood is the featured book for Santa Monica Citywide Reads this spring.

Scheduled for April 17 through May 1 and sponsored by the Santa Monica Public Library, Citywide Reads is a community reading program that invites residents and visitors to read “The Berlin Stories” (New Directions Paperback). Participants then join in free book discussion groups in libraries, parks and other public venues such as bookstores, coffeehouses, and on a Web site to create a “citywide” book club.

Citywide Reads 2004 celebrates Santa Monica’s own rich literary heritage by featuring Isherwood. 2004 marks the 100th anniversary of the author’s birth and he is being commemorated by a major exhibition, “Christopher Isherwood: A Centenary Celebration,” at the Huntington Library in San Marino from June 12 to Oct. 3\. Isherwood was born in England in 1904, immigrated to America in 1939 and lived in the Santa Monica area until his death in 1986.

Although he wrote many influential novels and memoirs in America, Isherwood’s fictionalized account of life in Berlin between the two world wars is his best-known work. His vivid descriptions of Germany during the tumultuous Weimar period were later adapted to the stage and popularized in the musical film “Cabaret.”

“Isherwood makes pre-World War II Germany come alive in ways that no objective historical account ever could. Viewing this world through the eyes of a young Englishman — who distinctly resembles the author — I felt as though I had experienced those days myself,” says Carol Jago, Santa Monica High School’s English department chair and member of the Citywide Reads Advisory Committee.

Related programs, including “Isherwood in Context,” a panel presentation by experts on Isherwood and Weimar Germany on April 17, and a jazz performance, are being planned. Citywide Reads concludes with special events at the Santa Monica Festival on Saturday, May 1.

For more information, contact Santa Monica Citywide Reads, Santa Monica Public Library, 1324 Fifth St.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 17, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/121703.pdf?ref=smdp.com)