BOOK CLUB

Overview
As I mention elsewhere on this website, reading is neither as easy as it seems like it should be, nor is it as
impossible to get better at it as a lot of mediocre readers think. You can get better by practicing reading for
one thing. You can also improve your reading by thinking about how you read, by figuring out what you can
do to improve the quality of your reading, and by making connections between talking about what you read
and writing about what you read. Becoming a better reader will also help you become a better writer. Book
club will give you experience in these kinds of practices that good readers engage in.
Reading journals are one way that we will work on improving our reading this semester; book club is another
way. Reading Journals are an exercise that is meant to help you remember the short reading you do in quality
ways. But Book Club is about the long haul. At some point in your college and life careers youll have to read
something long that takes some time to do and is maybe not what you would pick up to read in your spare
time. Thats what book club is designed to help you do.
What? Did you think I was going to give you some speech about the joy of reading? I admit: I love to read. I
could spend entire days reading. But I know that most people are not that way. Do I think that you can learn
to enjoy reading certain books? Yes. Do I hope youll enjoy the book you read for this class? Absolutely. But
Im not counting on it. My job is to help you read, remember, and usefully write about a book even when you
are not interested in it. Reality is, you will have to read very difficult texts that you do not enjoy all the tme
throughout your college career. The goal of book club is to teach you how to successfully do that.
Welcome to book club.
Details. You will be evaluated on your attendance and effort during book club meetings, the quality of your
book club journals, and your final presentations. On or about the first day of class Ill ask you to pick what
book you want (I use the term pick loosely) from the list below. Youll meet with your book club leader for
the first time during the first few weeks of class and from then on out.
HOW TO DO BOOK CLUB
1. Forming Groups, Picking Texts. During the first days of class, you will get into groups and select your texts
from the four books listed below. You will need to choose your text as a group. Each group will pick a number
that determines the order of which group gets to pick first, second, etc. I tell you this because no two groups
will read the same book, and you may not get to read your first choice. Sorry. Thats life.
2. Where/When Book Clubs meet. As I say here and elsewhere, Book Club is one of the activities you will
participate in in order to earn your 1 credit for ENGL 144. That means that you will meet during the class
period your ENGL144 book club group is scheduled for. Book clubs will start the SECOND week of classes.
They meet in the Academic Achievement Center. For that first meeting, I (or somebody) will take you to where
you will meet your book club facilitator (a volunteer staff, faculty, or administrator from all over campus who
wants to read the book and talk with you about itbe nice to them). This part can seem confusing at first, but
after that first week it will become routine.
3. Read the Book. And I mean it. Read the book on your own time, a little at a time. I would suggest that you
figure out during your first book club meeting how many pages you should be reading per week. Add up the
pages of the book and divide it by the number of book club meetings you have. Keep a few meetings free to
work on your book club presentation. Do not be that person that lets your entire group down by not reading.

4. Write a Book Club Journal. At the start of each book club, youll have the chance to reflect on your reading
in writing. Your book club journals will be like hand written versions of your Reading Journals.
Spend some of the time summarizing what youve read so far. Spend some of the time trying to figure out
what the theme of the book iswhat the author is trying to get you to understand about life and the world and
all of that. You can always write about what you dont understand about the book. Its always a good idea to
take a guess about it anywayIm not so worried about you being right. I want you to try to figure out the
book especially when you dont entirely understand it.
Your book club facilitator will collect your book club journals and get them to me. I will read them and give
you comments on them just like I do for the Readers Notes. When you get those comments back, you can
respond to them in the next journal you write. You can also use my comments to help you talk about the book
in book club.
Youll reflect on the book club journals a couple of times during the semester, so hold on to them when you get
them back.
5. Talk about the Book. After you are done writing your journals, you will have some time to talk about the
book. I would suggest starting the book clubs by reading your journals out loud to each other. That will get
things started. Another thing you could do, as I say above, is read my comments out loud to each other. And
the added bonus there is that it will kill time because it will take awhile for you to figure out my handwriting.
You can also talk about what is confusing to you. You can talk about what is funny or sad or scary or
interesting or boring in the book. Just, you know, talk about the book. It might feel weird at first, but you can
do it.

NOTE: Your facilitator is NOT there to lecture. They just want to help you talk about the book. Theyve given
up their time to work with you. They want you to succeed. So I mean it: be nice to them. And, more than that,
be a fun and interesting part of their day, for crying out loud. Make them want to do this another semester.
Make them look forward to meeting you each week. Make them happy that they gave up their lunch break to
read and talk about a book with you.

6. Do a Little Outside Research; Present it to your groupmates. When I return your book club
journals to you, I will write a note every so often asking you to do a little research on some particular
topic that I think, if you and your group understood it better, you might understand the book better.
The more stuff you know in your head, the easier reading is. You dont have to do a major research
paper when I ask you to do this. You can google it or use Wikipedia. This is low stakes research.
Type up what you learn (like a half page to a full page), and bring it to your book club. Read it to
your groupmates to help you discuss the book. Turn in what you write to your facilitator at the end
of book club and he/she will get it to me. You wont have to do this every week. Different people will
do the research and present periodically throughout the semester. Everyone will go once or twice.

WHEN YOU ARE FINISHED WITH THE BOOK

1. First, write a book cub journal reflection. During the book club meeting when you are all done with the
book, write a reflection on the experience. Write about all of the following
How did writing about the book in the journal help or not help you to read better?

 How did talking about the book with others in the book club help or not help you to read better?
How did doing a little research about parts of your book help or not help you to read better?
Did you learn anything about how you might read other books for other classes from doing this project?
In the end, what did you think of your book?

2. Plan a presentation for the Midyear Symposium for 1st & 2nd Year Students. Each year, Bridgewaters
Office of Undergraduate Research Sponsors a day for 1st and 2nd students to present their research and writing
to the rest of the campus. You will be presenting at this event on the last day of classes. The presentation
should be the last thing you do in book club, and should not be the thing that dominates your conversations
about the book all semester long. Specifics about what you will need to present will come to you after
midterm. But, generally, youll be responsible for helping your audience understand what is important to
know about this book. How you do that will be largely up to you.

ONE MORE THING

Participation in book club is one of the ways you will earn your one credit in ENGL144. And so, in the interest
of making sure this is perfectly clear, I will now repeat the attendance policy as it appears in the Policies for
this course (please note, in particular, the bolded portions of the passage):
Attendance and Preparedness for Class and ENGL144. What happens day-to-day in this class only works if we
are all here and ready to work as much as possible; therefore, attendance is mandatory. Here is my policy on
how absence will affect your evaluation in this class:
You are allowed three absences in ENGL101, free and clear, no excuses necessary.
You are allowed three additional absences in ENGL 144. Again, free and clear, no excuses
necessary.
After your three absences in 101 and 144 (3 absences per class), any and all absences, regardless of the
reason, will adversely affect your final grade in the course you miss them in.
After six absences in 101 and 144 (6 absences per class), you will fail the course you miss them in.
Excessive late arrivals will accumulate to equal at least one absence.

ABOUT ENGL144 AS IT RELATES TO THE ATTENDANCE POLICY FOR 101: As mentioned earlier,
youve been given placement in ENGL144, a one-credit support course for this and your other classes.
ENGL144 consists of work done in Book Club and a weekly meeting with a writing fellow
attached to this course. Attendance at these weekly activities is mandatory for passing
ENGL144 and failure to do so will adversely affect your success in ENGL101. I will receive weekly
attendance and progress reports on these activities. Thus:

 The attendance policy described above applies to the writing conferences you will schedule with your
Writing Fellow: missing a writing conference counts as missing a class.
The attendance policy applies to the book club meetings scheduled directly after this class: missing book
club counts as missing a class.
The attendance policy applies to the study skills sessions meeting scheduled directly after this class
missing a meeting counts as missing a class.

Book Club Books for Spring 2016

FICTION
Please note: All descriptions are Amazon Review descriptions, unless
otherwise noted.
Dubus, Andre, III. House of Sand and Fog. W. W. Norton & Company; Reprint, 2011.
ISBN-13: 978-0393338119 Paperback
House of Sand and Fog opens with a highway crew composed of several nationalities
picking up litter on a hot California summer day. Massoud Amir Behrani, a former
colonel in the Iranian military under the Shah, reflects on his job-search efforts since
arriving in the U.S. four years before: "I have spent hundreds of dollars copying my
credentials; I have worn my French suits and my Italian shoes to hand-deliver my
qualifications; I have waited and then called back after the correct waiting time; but
there is nothing." The father of two, Behrani has spent most of the money he brought
with him from Iran on an apartment and furnishings that are too expensive,
desperately trying to keep up appearances in order to enhance his daughter's chances
of making a good marriage. Now the daughter is married, and on impulse he sinks his
remaining funds into a house he buys at auction, thus unwittingly putting himself and
his family on a trajectory to disaster. The house, it seems, once belonged to Kathy
Nicolo, a self-destructive alcoholic who wants it back. What starts out as a legal tussle
soon escalates into a personal confrontation--with dire results.
St. John Mandel, Emily. Station Eleven. Vintage (June 2, 2015)
ISBN-13: 978-0804172448 Paperback
Kirsten Raymonde will never forget the night Arthur Leander, the famous Hollywood
actor, had a heart attack on stage during a production of King Lear. That was the night
when a devastating flu pandemic arrived in the city, and within weeks, civilization as
we know it came to an end. Twenty years later, Kirsten moves between the settlements
of the altered world with a small troupe of actors and musicians. They call themselves
The Traveling Symphony, and they have dedicated themselves to keeping the
remnants of art and humanity alive. But when they arrive in St. Deborah by the Water,
they encounter a violent prophet who will threaten the tiny bands existence. And as
the story takes off, moving back and forth in time, and vividly depicting life before and
after the pandemic, the strange twist of fate that connects them all will be revealed.
Danticat, Edwidge. The Farming of Bones. Soho Press, 2013.

ISBN-13: 978-1616953492 Paperback

Amabelle Dsir, a young Haitian woman living in the Dominican Republic, has built
herself a life as the servant and companion of the wife of a wealthy colonel. She and
Sebastian, a cane worker, are deeply in love and plan to marry. But Amabelle's world
collapses when a wave of genocidal violence, driven by Dominican dictator Rafael
Trujillo, leads to the slaughter of Haitian workers. Amabelle and Sebastian are
separated, and she desperately flees the tide of violence for a Haiti she barely
remembers.
Boyden, Joseph. Three Day Road. Penguin Books; Reprint edition (April 25, 2006)
ISBN-13: 978-0143037071 Paperback

Best friends Xavier and Elijah are both expert sharpshooters and, using the field craft
they learned hunting in the forests of Hudson Bay, quickly become accomplished
snipers. Elijah is outgoing and boastful, while Xavier is quiet and reserved, but both are
deadly efficient soldiers. A parallel story line tells of Niska, Xavier's aunt, a Cree Indian
prophet and healer, as she tells of the sad decline of Cree culture and waits for her
nephew to come home. As the war drags on, one of the men's addiction to drugs and
killing causes him to take extreme risks; when he finally commits murder to hide the
ugly truth, his friend sees only one solution to save his own soul.