I don’t think I was alone among book club members in feeling that Marriage, An Intimate History didn’t live up to expectations. The biggest overarching problem with the book is its sophomoric writing: paragraphs typically run three sentences long, cheesy pop music quotes are meant as illustration, chapters are arranged chronologically rather than conceptually, and […]
Just a reminder that Book Club meets tomorrow to talk about Stephanie Coontz’s Marriage: An Intimate History. There’s definitely lots of interesting material in it to talk about, so I look forward to it. In the meanwhile, I can’t help but be distracted by the footnotes and want to read books like Anthony Giddens’ Transformation […]
A note to say that the next book club will take up Stephanie Coontz’s Marriage, A History. The meeting will be Thursday, September 29, at the same time (6PM) and place (Espresso Royale near Northeastern). Hope you can make it.
arria
Thanks again to Book Club participants for an interesting and spirited discussion. Next month we’ll tackle Stephanie Coontz’s Marriage, a History.
Part of the enjoyment of a book with the scope as broad as Guns, Germs and Steel is that you end up learning lots of small details that you didn’t know before. And, certainly, knowing […]
I’m just about finished with Guns, Germs, and Steel for next Thursday’s book club gathering. Funnily enough, I turn to the back page, where I see that the paperback edition has discussion questions for reading groups!
Um, they’re not very good questions, so let me point to an interesting blog debate that’s popped up. […]
My friend Derek sends me this link to an interesting James Joyce collection at Cornell. One section, “Selling Ulysses,” includes materials from the book’s promotion and suggests that some middlebrow reception was courted. As for me, I could probably use this cheat sheet, as my one attempt to read the novel back in college failed […]
So… what did I think of the book? First, I should say that this is one book so widely cited and so talked about that I came to it already thinking I knew exactly what the argument would be. Fortunately, I was pleased to find a different book than I expected. Thomas Frank is a […]
Just a reminder that our second book club - discussing Thomas Frank’s What’s the Matter with Kansas? - convenes tomorrow, at 6PM at the Espresso Royale on Gainsborough, near Northeastern and Symphony.
If you’re looking for some extra reading, the TPMCafe bookclub is worth checking out - I found the Todd Gitlin and Thomas Frank […]
I swear it’s coincidence that the book club is taking up What’s the Matter with Kansas? the same week that TPMCafe is starting their book club with the very same. Sadly, this blog has neither budget nor clout to fly Thomas Frank to Boston to join us. But I heartily recommend reading and joining us […]
The next book club will be taking up Thomas Frank’s What’s the Matter with Kansas? Contrary to what I mentioned before we won’t be meeting next Thursday, but the Thursday after, July 28. Meeting time is 6PM, at the Espresso Royale near Northeastern (Gainsborough Street, off Huntington). I’ll research a few outside readings, whether from […]
I’d like to thank those who showed up last week to the book club gathering. I enjoyed the discussion and hope others did, too. The next book will be What’s the Matter with Kansas?, which we’ll take up in a couple of weeks, Thursday, July 21, same time and place. For August, we picked Guns, […]
Just a reminder that tomorrow is the first book club meeting. It’ll be at 6 PM at Espresso Royale near Northeastern (take T to Symphony or Mass Ave. stops, then walk a block to Gainesborough). I’ve gotten some feedback already about how light the read was, so if you’re looking for more heft, do check […]
I’m postponing the first book club a week, in order to accommodate a few schedules. Sorry for any inconvenience. It will now take place on Thursday, June 30, at the same time and place. I finished the book this weekend. It’s a quick read, with lots to talk about, so you should consider reading it […]
It’s official: the first book of the reading group will be Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner’s Freakonomics. For those who’ve not heard much about it, it’s an attempt (written for a general audience) to use economic method to talk about various trends in society. I’ve mentioned the authors’ piece in Slate on black names before; […]
Many of the sources I used in my dissertation were understandably specialist — the previous scholarship of the social problem film, academic articles fleshing out particulars of the historical context, genre theory and criticism. And, too, there were the general theory, econ, and sociology books from Bourdieu, Habermas, Galbraith and C. Wright Mills that I […]