Wasteland by Frederick Kaufman

While Whole Foods is selling Xmas trees in our usual meeting room, we are meeting Tuesday, Dec 18 at 7:30 PM in Room B at the Eloise May Library:   1471 South Parker Road, Denver, CO 80247, the NW corner of Florida & S Parker Road:  http://goo.gl/maps/BzziH.

We are discussing Wasteland by Frederick Kaufman.  Read it on line at  http://billtotten.wordpress.com/2008/02/29/wasteland or find it in The Best American Science and Nature Writing - 2009 on page 135.

 

From Wasteland:  "When I first set off on the trail of waste from the sewer to wherever it finally ended up, no matter how close or far away, I had believed I was Kurtz heading into the heart of darkness; but somewhere along the way I had morphed into Woodward and Bernstein, following the money."

Schedule (Dec 18 @ Eloise May Library)

Granting of permission by the Arapahoe Library District to use library facilities does not constitute endorsement by the Library District Staff or Board of Trustees.

Mystery: Until Gwen by Dennis Lehane

We next discuss Until Gwen on Tuesday, Nov 13 at 7:30 PM in the Community Room at Whole Foods - Tamarac.

Find the work in the Best American Mystery Stories - 2005 on page 113.
Read it on-line at:  Until Gwen

The Heifer by Melissa Hardy

Read "The Heifer" by Melissa Hardy and join us for a discussion in the Community Room on the West side of Whole Foods.  We discuss this at 7:30 PM on Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012.

This work can be found in The Best American Short Stories - 2002 on page 97.

Some questions for discussion:

• Would Aina have been happy had she stayed in Finland?
• Why does the author reflect Genesis 12 with:
  However, the idea of leaving her family and her village and everything that was familiar to her … moving to Canada and marrying Uwe Pahakka filled her brain to bursting.
  

Einstein & the Atom Bomb

Read "Chain Reaction" by Walter Isaacson and join us for a discussion Tuesday Oct 16 in the Whole Foods Tamarac Community Room.

This work can be found Best American Science & Nature Writing - 2009 on page 129.  Or read it at: chain-reaction-from-einstein-to-the-atomic-bomb.  Also read Einstein's letter to Roosevelt, Einstein's letter.

Shooting of John Roy Worth

We discussed The Shooting of John Roy Worth (by Stuart M. Kaminsky) on Oct 2, 2012.  Our basic questions was:  Why did the author end with: 

• "... Wally Czerbiak decided not to die.  And he didn’t." instead of 
•  ... Wally Czerbiak decided to live.  And he did?

Are we are all implicated in the lives of others?

Join us to discuss Puppy by Richard Ford at 7:30 PM, Tuesday, Sept 18 in the Community Room - Whole Foods - Tamarac.  Find it on page 68 of The Best American Short Stories - 2002.  Or read it online at  Puppy in the NewYorker

Question for discussion: 
Do uncomfortable, conflicted spirits … inevitably get resolved … by good will and dedication?

Treat PTSD with a video game: Virtual Iraq

Join us as we discuss Virtual Iraq by Sue Halpern on Tuesday Sept 4 at 7:30 PM in the Community Room at Whole Foods - Tamarac.

Find it on page 116 of The Best American Science and Nature Writing - 2009. 

Or read it on line at http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/05/19/080519fa_fact_halpern.

Schedule Update

Old Boys, Old Girls

We next discuss Old Boys, Old Girls by Edward P. Jones on Tuesday, Aug 21 at 7:30 PM in the Community Room at Whole Foods - Tamarac.

Find the reading in Best American Mystery Stories - 2005, page 80. 

This is also available on line at
New Yorker: Old Boys, Old Girls

A House on the Plains

Read E. L. Doctorow's A House on the Plains and join us for a discussion Tuesday, Aug 7, 2012 at 7:30 PM in the Community Room at Whole Foods - Tamarac.

Doctorow imagines an outwardly respectable, charismatic serial killer as seen by her helpful and obedient son.

 See page 47 of the short story collection.

Schedule

Jack Duggan’s Law -- Tues July 10 @ 7:30PM

Read Jack Duggan’s Law by George V. Higgins and join us for a discussion in the Community Room on the West side of Whole Foods - Tamarac.

The work is found in The Best American Mystery Stories 2005 - page 49.

Read  Seven by MacArthur “genius grant” recipient Edwidge Danticat and join us for a discussion on Tuesday, June 26 at 7:30 PM in the Community Room at Whole Foods - Tamarac.  Ms. Danticat was born in Haiti and came to the U.S. when she was 12. 

See page 35 of the Best American Short Stories - 2002.

This is also a chapter in her book, The Dew Breaker (2004)  See her Facebook page: Edwidge Danticat.

David Grimm: The Mushroom Cloud’s Silver Lining

Tuesday, June 12 @ 7:30PM:
Read The Mushroom Cloud’s Silver Lining by David Grimm and join us for a discussion in the Community Room on the West side of Whole Foods.

The work is found in The Best American Science * Nature Writing 2009 - page 94.

The work regarding neuro-genesis in this article touches on the question:  Are humans different in degree or in kind from animals?

The Cold Equations by Tom Godwin

Tuesday, May 29 at 7:30 PM
Contact me, Mike Levin, for a PDF copy formatted and line-numbered. I started from http://www.spacewesterns.com/articles/105/ .
This moving science fiction story is a 1950's estimation of the perils of space flight and the precautions (or total lack thereof) taken to avoid those perils.

Schedule

Regarding Delmonico:

When Handler says, "There are some who can’t stand to stay in a room like that..." is he talking about the fictional bar (Slow Night), a house of mourning, or a state of mind?

Read Delmonico by Daniel Handler and join us for a discussion in the Community Room on the West side of Whole Foods.
When:  Tuesday, May 15, 2012 at 7:30 PM.
The work is found in The Best American Mystery Stories - 2005 - page 33.

Does "The Red Ant House" by Ann Cummins have an underlying theme? 

 Are the two girls trying not to be invisible? 

 Is the Jewish aversion to shaming people part of the dialogue about one of the girls shaming him, me and his wife? 

Endings usually matter in short stories. Why end with, "It was a dream in the distance."?

Perhaps I'll get some answers when we discuss this Tuesday evening, May 1.

Great Books Discussion Schedule

Short, Cheap, Nearly Great Books

Each of the books we are reading contain about 20 selections and are usually less than 20 pages. 

Purchased used, these books are typically less than $5 each.  Hence, SHORT & CHEAP. 






We meet about every other Tuesday evening from 7:30 PM until 9 PM. 

Find us in the Community Room at Whole Foods Market - Tamarac.  7400 E Hampden Ave, Denver 80237

We follow the Great Books method:
Shared Inquiry

Great Books discussion groups are forums for thoughtful adults to read and discuss significant works of fiction, philosophy, political science, poetry, and drama. Great Books discussions are non-didactic, open-ended gatherings where people of all backgrounds come to talk about substantial literature and the great ideas and issues that literature addresses.
Discussions are lively, engaging, friendly, sometimes contentious, probing, enlightening—and a good deal of fun. Participants challenge their own and others' beliefs and opinions in the light of a rich, thought-provoking text.
The object of a Great Books discussion is not to go home with the "right answer." The object is to examine the many questions raised by a text and to test some of the many possible answers by looking back to the text, using sound reasoning informed by our own experience.


Basic Guidelines for Shared Inquiry

1. Read the selection carefully before participating in the discussion. This ensures that all participants are equally prepared to talk about the ideas in the work.
2. Support your ideas with evidence from the text. This keeps the discussion focused on understanding the selection and enables the group to weigh textual support for different answers.
3. Discuss the ideas in the selection and try to understand them fully before exploring issues that go beyond the selection. Reflecting on the ideas in the text and the evidence to support them makes the exploration of related issues more productive.
4. Listen to other participants and respond to them directly. Directing your comments and questions to other group members, not always to the leader, will make the discussion livelier and more dynamic.
5. Expect the leader to only ask questions. Effective leaders help participants develop their own ideas, with everyone gaining a new understanding in the process. Participants should look to the leader for questions, not answers.