Youth Easy Books

Great Books Discussion Group

Interested in joining a Book Discussion Group?

The Great Books Discussion Group
meets at the Keene Public Library
September through May

(sponsored by the Friends of the Keene Public Library)

Welcome to the 23rd year of our local Great Books discussion group!

blue bullet The group meets at the Keene Public Library (60 Winter Street) in the Trustees' Room on the second floor, which is accessible by elevator or stairway.

blue bullet Meetings are on Thursdays, starting at 7:00 pm and usually end about 8:30-8:45.   

A "GREAT BOOKS" DISCUSSION:

Is NOT:     ... teaching    
                ... lecturing          
                ... imparting facts         
                ... forcing consensus        
                ... accepting authority       		But IS:     ...exploring
               ... questioning
               ... examing ideas
               ... inviting participation
               ... honoring diverse opinio

blue bullet At last spring's potluck supper (our annual end-of-the-year get-together), we voted to use the anthology Great Conversations 4 for our 2009-2010 meetings.

blue bullet One copy of Great Conversations 4 will be available for checkout from the Keene Public Library. Many of the selections are also available online and in other anthologies.

blue bullet Great Conversations 4 can also be ordered from The Great Books Foundation (order number ADU-GC4). The cost is $24.95 plus $4.50 shipping. To order, call 1-800-222-5870 (weekdays, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Central Time) and charge to your credit card. Or order online at the Great Books Foundation website. An order usually takes a week or so to arrive.

blue bullet There is a long break between the Jan. 7th and March 4th meetings, so let's decide in the fall on a longer work to read for the March 4th discussion. Discussion guides for Jane Austen's Emma and for Marcel Proust's Swann's Way are included in the anthology, so we could choose one of them, or an entirely different work. Bring your suggestions to our September meetings.

blue bullet If you would like to know more about the Great Books Reading and Discussion Programs in general, please visit their web site at www.greatbooks.org. To find out more about our local discussion group, please call Ardis Osborn at 352-2198. The group heartily welcomes new people to the discussion group, and will be glad to answer any questions you have about it.

Hope to see you all on Thursday, September 10th, 2009!

GREAT BOOKS MEETING SCHEDULE 2009-2010

Date   
Reading (Links are provided to the full text online, if available.)
Sept. 10, 2009   Shaw - Major Barbara [full-text online]
Sept. 24, 2009 Plato - Meno [full-text online]
Oct. 8, 2009     Chekhov - The Darling [full-text online]
Oct. 22, 2009  Plutarch - Life of Nicias [full-text online]
Nov. 5, 2009     Kawabata - First Snow on Mount Fuji
Nov. 19, 2009 Kant - To Perpetual Peace: a Philosophical Sketch [full-text online]
Dec. 3, 2009 Jackson - The Lottery [full-text online]
Dec. 17 , 2009    Kleist - The Chilean Earthquake [full-text online]
Jan. 7, 2010  Lispector - The Smallest Woman in the World [full-text online]
Mar. 4, 2010 [To be selected]
Mar. 18, 2010 Thoreau - Where I Lived, and What I Lived For** [full-text online]
Apr. 1, 2010 Boland - Lava Cameo
Apr. 15, 2010 Arnold - Culture and Anarchy** [full-text online]
Apr. 29, 2010 O'Brien - The Things They Carried
May 13, 2010 James - Pragmatism: a New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking [full-text online]
May 27, 2010 Mueller - Selected Poems [full-text online]
June 3, 2010 Poems: Bring in a poem or a very brief prose selection (less than a page) that relates in some way to our readings. We'll each read our selection aloud and say something brieftly about why we find it interesting and relevant. The group can discuss questions it may pose.
June 10 or 17? (we'll vote)
Potluck Supper!

**Selection from a longer work

Last updated: 8/5/2009