Thursday February 16

We will read Major Pettigrew's Last Stand: A Novel by Helen Simonson on Thursday, February 16 and we will not read the Paris Wife.

Sweet first seven pages

If you have not gotten into this book, the first seven pages is an example of some of the best writing I've seen anywhere.

Book Selections 2011-2012

August-Sweeter than all the Earth by Rudy Wiebe
September 15-Black Elk Speaks by John G. Neihardt
October 20-We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
November 17-The Unbroken by Laura Hillerbrand
December 15-Endurance, Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansin
January 19-Skeletons at the Feast by Christopher Bohjalian
February 16-The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
March 15-The Quickening by Michelle Hoover
April 19-I know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
May 17-The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan
June 21-Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe
July 19-Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by James Triptree, Jr. (Alice Bradley Sheldon)

Please send me your suggestions for books for next year

If you have any suggestions for books send the suggestions to gdevoogd@csufresno.edu

Meeting at Petunia's Place at 7 pm at Bullard and Palm

April and May we are enjoying one of the jewels of literature, The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevsky. In it the brothers discuss faith, free will, and morality in the backdrop of a modernizing Russia. In April we are also going to discuss the Little Prince.

We have also had very cool discussions about Rainbow's End and the Help. In particular the question arises about what work these book do in shaping society. The Help for example may cause people to be smug about how far we have come in society since the pre-civil rights days. So it doesn't advance the cause of racial equity because people feel satisfied with where we are now.

The group is open to all. We meet at Petunia's Place at 7 pm third Thursdays of the month. The schedule for this year is in this blog.