Last year several social studies majors and my wife and I began a book club that started as an over-the-Christmas-break read of H.G. Wells’ The Island of Dr. Moreau. After Moreau we read The Moon is Down by John Steinbeck, followed by Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle and then Slaughterhouse Five also by Vonnegut. We finished the semester with a reading of Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll.
By May we decided to be more proactive with our book list in order to give a greater number of people an opportunity to read the books and join us. Over the summer I spoke with the pastor of our church about using the basement to host these discussions and making these discussions available to the congregation. He was delighted. We decided that Saturday evenings would be the best time to meet.
On September 26 we will commence with our 2009-2010 book clubs. All are welcomed, and a pasta dinner will be provided by the Palladinos. We will be meeting in our church (Newtown Community Church on route 413, across from St. Mary’s Medical Center) at 5:30 p.m. We will be discussing The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. The Social Studies Committee produced book marks listing the choices for the next nine months. Each discussion will be on a Saturday night at our church, dates to be determined.
Here is the list:
September – The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
October – Do Androids Dream of Electronic Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
November – The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis
December – Into the Wild by John Krakauer
January – The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
February - The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
March – The Call of the Wild by Jack London
April – The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
May - Oedipus Rex by Sophocles
We are looking forward to this time of fellowship and dialogue around these books which raise many worldview questions.
