Library to celebrate Chinese New Year

Warwick — Celebrate the 4704, the Year of the Dog, with a discussion of a story set in China, and a tasting of traditional New Year’s dishes, at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 28, at the Albert Wisner Public Library in Warwick. The library will host a discussion of “Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress” by Dai Sijie. An immediate international bestseller, it tells the story of two hapless city boys exiled to a remote mountain village for reeducation during China’s infamous Cultural Revolution. There the two friends meet the daughter of the local tailor and discover a hidden stash of Western classics in Chinese translation. As they flirt with the seamstress and secretly devour these banned works, the two friends find transit from their grim surroundings to worlds they never imagined. The New York Times Book Review described this book as “Poetic and affecting … The descriptions of life in this strangest of times and places are so riveting that the reader longs for more.” The San Francisco Chronicle called it “a thrilling and truly great work … a richly complex fable.” To add a festive atmosphere a sampling Chinese dishes, said to be auspicious for the New Year, will be served. Copies of the book are available at the library. To reserve a copy and to register for the program, visit the library at 2 Colonial Ave. in Warwick or call 986-1047.