Dudley House Book Club
If you enjoy reading good novels and also love sharing and discussing your ideas with a congenial group, the Dudley House Book Club is your best option. It doesn't matter if you aren't a specialized critic or haven't read more than a few books! For each session a limited number of copies of the selected book will be available three weeks in advance in the Dudley House Library — first come first served.
We ask that anyone wishing to keep his or her copy of the book permanently pay a nominal fee. When you come to a discussion, please bring the book with you: you may either return it at no cost, or opt to keep it for just $5. Charging this small fee allows us to open up the popular Book Club program to a wide range of participants, which should enrich the experience for all of us. Of course, if the supply of copies runs out, you are welcome to obtain your own copy of the book elsewhere and join us for the discussion.
December 2009
Natural History by Dan Chiasson
Natural History (2005) is Dan Chiasson’s second book of poetry, following The Afterlife of Objects (2002). He began writing poetry while earning his doctorate in English at Harvard and is now at Wellesley College, where he teaches American poetry and leads poetry workshops. He is a poetry critic for The New Yorker and for The New York Times Book Review.
Read an interview with Dan Chiasson at GUERNICA: a magazine of art & politics
Read Kay Ryan's review of Natural History in The New York Times
We'll meet to discuss the book on Thursday, December 10, at 7:00pm in the Fireside Room (first floor). Copies will be available at the November meeting and then beginning November 13th in Dudley's library (third floor). For students at the Longwood campus, copies may be reserved by e-mail.
November 2009
The Blithedale Romance by Nathaniel Hawthorne
November's book is THE BLITHEDALE ROMANCE, Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1852 novel about an idyllic communal farm and its characters, about the friendship they form and the havoc they wreak. Hawthorne, the New England master celebrated for The Scarlet Letter, published this lesser-known work just a year after The House of the Seven Gables.
We'll meet to discuss the book on Thursday, November 12, at 7:00pm in the Fireside Room (first floor). Copies will be available on the Literary Shelf of Dudley's library (third floor) beginning in mid-October. For students at the Longwood campus, copies may be reserved by e-mail to jbruno@fas.
October 2009
Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon
October's book is INHERENT VICE, the new bestseller by acclaimed novelist Thomas Pynchon. In this lively tale, Pynchon, working in an unaccustomed genre, gives the reader a view of the 1960s through his main character, detective Doc Sportello. The quirky private eye "comes, occasionally, out of a marijuana haze to watch the end of an era as free love slips away and paranoia creeps in with the L.A. fog." The book has been called "part noir [and] part psychedelic romp," and it's sure to please Dudley readers this October. For a sneak preview, see this review published in late August in the New York Times.
We'll meet to discuss the book on Thursday, October 8, at 7:00pm in the Fireside Room (first floor). Copies will be available on the Literary Shelf of Dudley's library (third floor) beginning Sept. 17. For students at the Longwood campus, copies may be reserved by e-mail to jbruno@fas.
All copies of Inherent Vice are now taken!
September 2009
Firmin by Sam Savage.
September's book is FIRMIN, the unlikely bestseller by debut novelist Sam Savage, which tells the tale of an unusual Boston native seeking some human connections. The trouble is that Firmin happens also to be...a rat. Unable to form friendships with the humans who shun him, Firmin turns to the Boston Public Library, and to its books. Savage's novel has made a huge splash in France and Italy, among other countries, and it's likely to do the same at Dudley this September. For a sneak preview, see this article about the book and its author published last year in the British newspaper, The Telegraph.
We'll meet to discuss the book on Thursday, September 10th, at 7:00pm in the Fireside Room (first floor). Copies will be available beginning the first day of classes in the Dudley Library (3rd floor). For students at the Longwood campus, copies may be reserved by e-mail to jbruno@fas.All copies of Firmin are now taken!
