Provided by Bucks County Community College:
Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
Delve into fascinating books this fall by dropping in on the Bucks County Community College Book Discussion Group. The free, informal gatherings take place from 7:30 to 9 p.m. on the second Thursday of the month during the academic year on the college’s Newtown campus.
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Michael Hennessey, the literature professor who convenes the meetings, says group members come from a variety of backgrounds, but share a love of reading.
“We love to read and consider it a social activity; by that I mean reading is a conversation, first between reader and text,” says Hennessey. “We like to share our thoughts with others to verify how well (or not) we understand the text and its relation to ourselves and the larger world. [The group is] pretty much readers engaging the world through particular lenses or texts that intrigue us.”
The intriguing stories are chosen by the group, Hennessey says. “At the last meeting each semester, participants suggest and ‘sell’ titles they’d like to discuss next semester. We vote on the suggestions. It’s very democratic this way.”
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The fall season continues with Mary Coin: A Novel by Marisa Silver on Thursday, October 9. Inspired by “Migrant Mother,” the Depression-era photograph snapped by Dorothea Lange in 1936, Silver reimagines the lives of both the photographer and the subject. She interweaves the stories of Mary Coin, a young mother grappling with the cruel realities of raising a family during an enduring economic crisis, and Vera Dare, a brilliant young photographer facing life-altering decisions of her own, to create a dual portrait that investigates the depths of the human spirit.
The title for November 13 is TransAtlantic: A Novel by Colum McCann. This soaring novel connects the personal stories of three remarkable women to three iconic crossings of the Atlantic, from Frederick Douglass’s international tour in 1845, to two British aviators who attempt the first nonstop flight across the ocean in 1919, to a U.S. Senator’s peace mission to Belfast in 1998.
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Finally, the semester concludes December 11 with a discussion about Lost for Words: A Novel by Edward St. Aubyn. In this humorous satire, St. Aubyn takes on the publishing industry and the horse-trading and ax-grinding among authors, critics, and hangers-on surrounding literary awards.
At the December 11 meeting, the group will choose titles to be discussed at the January – June meetings.
