Notes & Quotes
Book Discussions at The Brendlinger Library
by Mary Beth Parkinson, Information Literacy Librarian
Last spring, The Brendlinger Library launched a series of book discussions for interested staff, faculty, students, and members of our surrounding community who enjoy reading and discussing books. The sessions are held monthly during the academic year and the selections include both fiction and non-fiction. While there is a core group of about five individuals who participate in each discussion, the actual group varies depending on the particular book being discussed. Participants are free to attend one discussion or as many as they like, making these book discussions quite different from the typical book group or book club. While titles are generally chosen based on recommendations from participants, they are also selected in connection with a special event and/or guest speaker on campus. Watch for an email message prior to the start of each semester with a list of the semester’s selections.
This spring, the selections include:
A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini.
This discussion took place on Tuesday, January 22nd, from 2:30-3:30 p.m. Barbara Koeller, former Assistant Director of The Brendlinger Library, led the discussion for this compelling story of the special bond that develops between two women in their struggle for survival and told against the backdrop of nearly thirty years of hardship and violence in Afghanistan under Soviet control, civil war, and the Taliban. Hosseini offers insight into the harsh lives of Afghan women who have struggled under a patriarchal culture and legal system that denies women opportunities for education, work, and freedom, while allowing women to suffer the consequences of forced and often violent and abusive marriages. Shining through this bleak picture is the great fortitude of these women and their emotional strength in the face of impossible obstacles.
Democracy’s Edge: Choosing to Save our Country by Bringing Democracy to Life, by Frances Moore Lappe. Tuesday, February19th, from 2:30-3:30 p.m.
Catherine Parzynski, History Instructor, will lead this discussion which connects with Lappe’s visit to the College on Monday, February 25th, to deliver the Richard K. Bennett Lectureship for Peace and Social Justice. Lappe has published several books and is best known for her best-selling Diet for a Small Planet (1971) which illuminated the connection between world hunger and economic injustice. She founded the Institute for Food and Development Policy in San Francisco, California, in 1975. Democracy, Lappe’s most recent book, focuses on the power of the individual to bring democracy to life and affect change through “honest dialogue, mutual respect, inclusivity, and reciprocal responsibilities”. Lappe provides examples to demonstrate her belief that these democratic ideals, articulated through the grassroots efforts of motivated individuals and communities, are forceful enough to challenge powerful private interests and change our world and daily lives. This is a timely and important book, especially for an election year that marks the final months of an administration whose actions have caused the strength of our democracy to come under questions.
Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen. Tuesday, March 25th, 2:30-3:30 p.m.
Tom Fabian, member of the Writer’s Club, will lead the discussion for this novel set during the Great Depression, that tells, in flashback, the story of young man who drops out of Cornell Veterinary school following the tragic death of his parents in a car crash and works his way into a job with the circus where his knowledge is useful in caring for a menagerie of exotic animals. As a 93-year old man, the protagonist recounts his experiences among the midgets, drunks, rubes and freaks he encounters in his life journey with the traveling Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth as well as his love for the animals and his romance with the wife of the sadistic circus boss.
Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides. Wednesday, April 23rd, from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m.
This novel of gender identity and twentieth century America won a Pulitzer Prize in 2003 and was the summer ’07 selection for Oprah’s Book Club. The novel is narrated by “Cal” Stephanides, a third generation Greek American who, having entered the world in 1960 as Calliope Helen, made the traumatic decision at age 14 to begin living her life as Cal, a male. Eugenides subtly draws on Greek mythology to provide a family history, characterized by secrets and misplaced identities, that reach back to a tiny village in Greece from which Cal’s grandparents, actually siblings, immigrated to America to settle in Detroit and begin a family. Conditions that shaped twentieth century America, including post World War II prosperity and the cultural upheaval of the 1960s, provide the backdrop for the novel.
The Brendlinger Library places copies of the book selections on reserve for those interested in participating in the discussions. To reserve your copy of any or all of these books, please call the Library Circulation Desk at 215-641-6596. Faculty, staff and students are welcome to lead discussions as well as to offer book suggestions. All discussions are held in the upstairs Lounge of the Library.
